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XIII KÂNDA, 2 ADHYAYA, 7 BRÂHMANA, 7. 317
is Agni (the fire); and the fire indeed cooks it (the horse) together with the he-goats.
3. 'The Nyagrodha with cups,'— for when the gods were performing sacrifice, they tilted over those Soma-cups, and, turned downwards, they took root, whence the Nyagrodhas (ficus indica), when turned downwards (nyak), take root (roha ').
4. 'The cotton-tree with growth,'—he confers growth on the cotton-tree (salmalia malabarica), whence the cotton-tree grows largest amongst trees.
5. 'This male, fit for the chariot,'-he supplies the chariot with a horse, whence the horse draws nothing else than a chariot.
6. 'Hath come hither on his four feet,'therefore the horse, when standing, stands on three feet, but, when harnessed, it pulls with all its feet at one and the same time.
7. May the spotless Brahman protect us!' -the spotless Brahman (m.), doubtless, is the moon:
? Or, whence the Nyagrodhas grow downwards. This refers to the habit of the Indian fig-tree, of sending down from the branches numerous slender roots which afterwards become fresh stems. Cp. the corresponding legend in Ait. Br. VII, 30, told there by way of explaining why Kshatriyas, being forbidden to drink Soma, should drink the juice extracted from the descending roots of the Indian fig-tree. Another reason why the Indian fig-tree (also called
vata') is here connected with the priests' Soma-cups (kamasa), is that this is one of the kinds of wood used in making those cups (cf. Katy. I, 3, 36 comm.).
According to Stewart and Brandis, Forest Flora, p. 31, the cotton-tree (or silk-cotton tree) is a very large tree of rapid growth, attaining a height of 150 ft., and a girth of 40 ft.
• Lit. 'the non-black Brahman,' explained as one who has no black spots; though it is difficult to see why the moon should be favoured with this epithet.
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