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XIII KÅNDA, 4 ADHYÂYA, I BRÂHMANA, 13. 351
Vritra is evil. [The verses, Våg. S. XIII, 14, 15,] 'Agni, the head, the summit of the sky...!! and 'Be thou the leader of the sacrifice and the realm of space (whither thou strivest with auspicious teams: thy light-winning head hast thou raised to the sky, and thy tongue, O Agni, hast thou made the bearer of the offering),' pronounced in a low voice, are the anuvâkyâ and yâgyâ of the chief oblation. The one contains (the word) .head,' the other (the verb)
to be,'--for the head, assuredly, is he that shines yonder : thus it is in order to secure him (the Sun); and as to why (the other) contains (the verb) to be,' —he thereby secures that which is the real, truly existent). The Samyâgyâs? are two virágverses 3; for that-to wit, the Virag—is the metre portions are said to be 'vridhanvant,' or relating to growth,' because the anuvâkyâs used on that occasion are two verses containing forms of the root vridh, 'to grow,' viz. VIII, 44, 12 (agnih pratnena manmana ... kavir viprena vâvridhe, Agni has grown strong by the old hymn,-as the wise one by the priest') and I, 91, II (Soma girbhish två vayam vardhayamo vakovidah ...,
O Soma, we magnify thee (make thee grow) by our songs, skilful in speech'). In the same way the one or the other form is used in different ishtis. At I, 6, 2, 12, the translation, the two butterportions should be offered to the Vritra-slayer (Indra)' should therefore be altered to the two butter-portions relate to the slaying of Vritra' (or, are Vritra-slaying ').
See VII, 4, 1, 41. · That is, the two formulas used with the oblation to Agni Svishtakrit.
: Whilst the normal performance of an ishti requires two trishtubh-verses (Rig-veda X, 2, 1; VI, 15, 14; cf. part i, p. 202, notes 2 and 3) for the invitatory and offering formulas of the oblations to Agni Svishtakrit, two virág-verses are frequently prescribed, certain verses of the Virág-hymn Rig-veda VII, 1, being chiefly used for this purpose; e. g. v. 3 as the anuvákya, and v. 18 as the yagya for the Svishtakrit of the oblation to Aditi at the
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