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90
SATAPATHA-BRAHMANA.
(Butea Frondosa); for the Palâsa tree, doubtless, is the Brahman', and Agni also is the Brahman: for this reason the Agnis should be of Palâ sa wood.
20. Should he be unable to procure them of Palâsa wood, they may be of Vikankata wood (Flacourtia Sapida); and if he be unable to procure any of Vikankata, they may be of Kârshmarya wood (Gmelina Arborea); and if he be unable to procure any of Kârshmarya wood, they may be of Vilva (Aegle Marmelos), or of Khadira (Acacia Catechu), or of U dumbara wood (Ficus Glomerata). These, doubtless, are the trees that are suitable for sacrificial purposes, and from these trees they (the enclosingsticks) are therefore (taken).
Fourth BRÂHMANA. 1. They should be green (fresh); for that is (what constitutes) their living element, by that they are vigorous, by that possessed of strength: for this reason they should be green.
2. The middle stick he lays down first (on the west side of the fire), with the text (Vâg. S. II, 3), May the Gandharva Visvâ vasu? lay thee around
The Brahman, or supreme spirit ( or, sacred writ), is more than once identified with the Palâ sa tree in the Satapatha Br., as in V, 2, 4, 18; VI, 6, 3, 7; XII, 7, 2, 15; and with the leaf of that tree (palâsasya palâsam) in II, 6, 2, 8. [? Cf. Rig-veda X, 31, 7,
Which was the wood, which was the tree, out of which they fashioned heaven and earth ?' and Taitt. Br. II, 8, 9, 6, Brahma was the wood, Brahma was that tree out of which they fashioned heaven and earth ;' also Ath.-veda X, 7, 38, 'The gods form part of the divine essence (Skambha-Brahma) as branches of a tree.'1
? The genius Visvavasu is already mentioned in Rig-veda X, 85, 21 seq., and X, 139, 4, where Grassmann identifies him with the rainbow (cf. Roth, Nirukta notes, p. 145). See also Sat. Br. III, 2, 4, 2; XIV, 9, 4, 18.
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