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228
SATAPATHA-BRAHMANA,
eat (of the ida): May it be offered for me in all !' thus (he thinks). Five eat of it,—the idà indeed means cattle, and cattle are fivefold : hence five eat of it.
40. Now when he (the Hotri) intones (in a loud voice)?, he (the Adhvaryu) divides the (Agni) cake into four parts, and lays it on the barhis (the sacrificial grass covering the altar). Here it lies in place of the fathers; for there are four intermediate quarters, and the intermediate quarters represent the fathers : for this reason he divides the cake into four parts, and lays it on the barhis 2.
1 Viz. Idå is called hither l' see par. 24. According to Kâty. III, 4, 12, all (the other priests and the sacrificer, probably with the exception of the Brahman) touch the idã (or, according to Karka, they touch the Hotri who holds the idà) whilst the invocation of the idâ takes place. The quartering of the cake, according to ib. 13, is done with the text, 'Make swell, O ruddy one / milk me life; milk me offspring; milk me cattle; milk me brahmahood; milk me kshatriyahood; milk me people! Fatten through the progeny, through the cattle of him who hates us, whom we hatel'
According to Kâty. III, 4, 14, the Adhvaryu puts the four parts on the barhis and assigns one to each priest. But according to the commentary and to other Sätras, it is the sacrificer who allocates the portions by laying them down so as to correspond with the four intermediate regions, commencing in the south-east (or Agni's) region, and saying, 'This for the Brahman,'*This for the Hotri,'. This for the Adhvaryu,"This for the Agnidh.' The sacrificer then shifts his Brahmanical cord from the right to the left shoulder, and while touching the four portions, and looking towards the south (the region of the fathers), murmurs (Vág. S. II, 31), “Here, O fathers, regale yourselves! Like bulls come hither (âvrishầyadhvam) each to his own share!' He then quits his hold of the portions, and murmurs, The fathers have regaled themselves : like bulls they came each to his own share!' See Sat. Br. II, 4,2, 20 seq.; Vâg. S. p. 57. [The Kânva text of the Brahmana does not mention the formulas here any more than does our author.) He then shifts the cord back on his left shoulder, touches water, and hands the portions to the priests for them to eat. Kâty. III, 4, 16-18.
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