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104
SATAPATHA-BRAHMANA,
he means to say, 'the truth for the truth-speaking ;'
Homage be to Heaven and to the Earth!' whereby they make amends to these two, heaven and earth, on whom this All is founded.
22. Having then picked up the prastara, he says, 'Agnidh, does the water boil ? '-'It boils,' replies the Agnidh? Come hither with it!' He holds (the prastara) quite close over the fire. The reason why he does not throw it into the fire is that he (the sacrificer) is to perform therewitha during the days that follow; and in that he holds it quite close over the fire, thereby it is for him as if it were really thrown into the fire. He hands it to the Agnidh, and the Agnidh puts it aside (in a safe place).
THE UPASADS, OR HOMAGES.
Fourth BRÂHMANA. 1. Verily the Upasads (homages or sieges) are the neck of the sacrifice, and the Pravargya is its head. Hence when it is performed with the Pravargyas,
1 According to the Kanva text, this conversation takes the place of the colloquy (samudita) held by the Adhvaryu and the Âgnîdhra, after the prastara has been thrown into the fire at the normal ishti; see I, 8, 3, 20.
? Or, 'in the shape of it (tena),' the prastara representing the sacrificer himself. This sentence seems also to imply, that the sacrificer thereby continues to live during the days that follow.
: The Pravargya, an offering of heated milk, which precedes each performance of the Upasads, except at the first performance of the Soma-sacrifice, when it is prohibited by many authorities, seems originally to have been an independent ceremony, and as such it is treated by most ritualistic books apart from the exposition of the Soma-cult. The Satapatha-brâhmana deals with it in XIV, 1-3 (Våg. S. XXXIX). Its mystic significance appears to have been that of supplying the sacrificer with a new celestial body. There seems to have been a tendency towards exalting its
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