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134
SATAPATHA-BRAHMANA.
remote end downwards that a race is propagated. Thereby he also propitiates the lord of seniority; for here among men the father comes first, then the son, and then the grandson: this is the reason why he chooses from the remote end downwards.
11. Having named the ancestral, he says, 'Like as Brahman;'--for Agni is the Brahman (the Veda, or the sacerdotium), and therefore he says 'like as Brahman ;'--'may he bring (the gods) hither!' what deities he bids him bring hither, those he refers to in saying 'may he bring (them) hither.'
12. 'The Brahmanas (priests) are the guardians of this sacrifice;' for guardians of the sacrifice, indeed, are those Brâhmanas who are versed in the sacred writ, because they spread it, they originate it: these he thereby propitiates; and for this reason he says, 'the Brâhmanas are the guardians of the sacrifice.'
13. `N. N. is the man,' thereby he chooses this man for his Hotri; heretofore he was not a Hotri, but now he is a Hotri.
14. The chosen Hotri mutters, has recourse to the deities : in order that he may give the vashatcall to the gods in its proper order, that he may convey the oblation to the gods in its proper order, that he may not stumble, he has thus recourse to the deities.
15. He mutters on this occasion', 'Thee, O divine Savitri, they now choose,'—thereby he has recourse to Savitri for his impulsion (prasava), for Savitri is the impeller (prasavitri) of the gods ;"(thee who art) Agni, for the Hotriship,' thereby he
* Except the beginning, these formulas are entirely different from those given by Asv. S. I, 3, 23-24.
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