Satapatha Bramhana Part 03

Author(s): Julius Eggeling
Publisher: Oxford

Page 23

SATAPATHA-BRAHMANA.
the Brihat forms the 'garbha,' or enclosed sâman, of the Agnishtoma-saman1; the Vairûpa the 'garbha' of the third, the Vairaga that of the first, the Såkvara that of the second, and the Raivata that of the fourth, Prishtlastotra. It is doubtless this feature which gives to certain Soma-days the name of 'sarvaprishtha,' or one performed with all the (six) Prishthas. Then, as regards the particular stotras that are chanted in the proper 'prishtha' form, these include not only the four so-called Prishthastotras of the midday service, but also the four Agyastotras of the morning service, as well as the Agnishtomasâman and the three Uktha-stotras of the evening service,in short, all the first fifteen stotras with the exception of the three Pavamâna-stotras. Of the stotras which succeed the Ukthas, on the other hand-viz. the Shodasin, the twelve chants of the three night-rounds, the Sandhi-stotra, and the four Atirikta-stotras-not one is performed in the 'prishtha' form. How often the several verses of the 'prishtha-sâman,' and those of the 'garbha' are to be chanted, of course depends, in each case, not only on the particular stoma which has to be performed, but also on the particular mode (vishtuti) prescribed, or selected, for the stoma. Thus, while all the four Agya-stotras are chanted in the pankadasa, or fifteen-versed-stoma; the four Prishtha-stotras are to be performed in the ekavimsa (of twenty-one verses), the katurvimsa (of twenty-four verses), the katuskatvârimsa (of forty-four verses), and the ashtakatvârimsa (of forty-eight verses) respectively. Now whenever, as in the case of the pankadasa and the ekavimsastomas, the number of verses is divisible by three, one third of the total number of verses is usually assigned to each of the three parts of the stotra, and distributed over the respective (three or sometimes four) verses of that sâman 2.
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1 Either the Rathantara or the Brihat also forms the 'prishtha,' or enclosing sâman, of the first Prishtha-stotra.
2 Whenever the stotra is not performed in the 'prishtha' form, but consists of a single sâman or triplet, the repetitions required to make up the number of verses implied in the respective stoma, are distributed over the three verses of the sâman in such a way that the whole sâman is chanted thrice, each time with various repetitions of the single verses. The usual form in which the
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