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152
SATAPATHA-BRAHMANA.
9. Now, the Adityas and the Angiras, both of them sprung from Pragâpati, were contending together saying, 'We shall be the first to reach heaven, we shall be the first!'
10. By means of four Stomas, four Prishthas1, and light (simple) hymn-tunes, the Adityas sailed across to the heavenly world; and inasmuch as they sailed (abhi-plu) to it, they (these six-days' periods) are called Abhiplava.
11. By means of all the Stomas, all the Prishthas, and heavy (complicated) hymn-tunes, the Angiras, coming after (the gods), as it were 3, touched (reached) the heavenly world; and inasmuch as they touched (spris) it, it (this six-days' period) is called Prishthya*.
12. It is a six-days' Abhiplava, because it consists of six days; or a five-days' Abhiplava, because it consists of five days, for the last day is the same as the first; or a four-days' Abhiplava, for there are four Stomas (used) in it-the thrice-threefold (trivrit), the fifteen-versed, the seventeen-versed, and the twenty-one-versed one; or a three-days' Abhiplava, for it is of three orders-Gyotis, Go, and
1 Besides the Rathantara and Brihat, used on alternate days for the Hotri's Prishtha-stotra at the Abhiplava, the Vâmadevya and Kâleya-sâmans, used on each day for the Maitrâvaruna's and Akkhâvâka's Prishtha-stotras, seem to be counted here as making up the four Prishtha-sâmans of the Abhiplava-shadaha. For the four Stomas, see p. 148, note.
See ib., and part iii, introd., p. xxi.
The 'iva' would seem here (as, indeed, pretty frequently) to have the meaning of 'eva,' 'indeed,' thus-coming considerably after (the gods). Cf. Ait.-Brâhm. IV, 17, 5, where the Angiras are said to have reached heaven sixty years after the Âdityas.
This etymology is of course not meant to be taken seriously, the word 'prishthya' being derived from 'prishtha,' 'back' (XII, 1, 4, 1).
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