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SATAPATHA-BRAHMANA,
'Thou art Manu's mare,' for, having become a mare, she (the earth) indeed carried Manu, and he is her lord, Pragâpati: with that mate, his heart's delight, he thus supplies and completes him (Pragapati, the Pravargya, and Sacrificer).
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26. He then lays pieces of (split) Vikankata wood round (the Mahâvira), two pointing to the east', with (Vâg. S. XXXVII, 13), Hail! be thou encompassed by the Maruts!'-the call of 'hail!' he places first, and the deity last; for the call of 'hail!' is he who shines yonder, and the Pravargya also is that (sun): it is him he thus gratifies; and hence he places the call of 'hail!' first, and the deity last.
27. 'Be thou encompassed by the Maruts,' he says; for the Maruts are the (common) people: he thus surrounds the nobility by the people, whence the nobility here is surrounded on both sides by the people. Silently (he lays down) two pointing to the north, silently (again) two pointing to the east, silently two pointing to the north, silently two pointing to the east.
28. He makes them to amount to thirteen, for there are thirteen months in the year, and the
1 That is, along the north and the south sides of the pot, on the burning sheaths of reed grass; or rather on hot cinders heaped thereon. Kâty. XXVI, 3, 9. They would partly serve the purpose of the ordinary (three) enclosing-sticks; and Âpast., indeed, calls them 'paridhi.'
'Literally, the call of 'hail!' (svâhâ-kâra) he makes to be the nearer, and the deity the farther.
That is, along the west and the east sides of the pot. According to Apast. Sr. XV, 8, 1-4, two pieces of wood are laid down alternately by the Adhvaryu and the Pratiprasthâtri, the last pieces being then laid down (on the south side) by the former priest.
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