{"collection":"Hinduism","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/hin/sbe15/sbe15053.htm","path":"hin/sbe15/sbe15053.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/hin/sbe15/sbe15053.htm","text":"The Upanishads, Part 2 (SBE15), by Max M\u00fcller, [1879]\n1. Verily 2 the dawn is the head of the horse which is fit for sacrifice, the sun its eye, the wind its breath, the mouth the Vaisv\u00e2nara 3 fire, the year the body of the sacrificial horse. Heaven is the back, the sky the belly, the earth the chest 4, the quarters the two sides, the intermediate quarters the ribs, the members the seasons, the joints the months and half-months, the feet days and nights, the bones the stars, the\nflesh the clouds. The half-digested food is the sand, the rivers the bowels 1, the liver and the lungs 2 the mountains, the hairs the herbs and trees. As the sun rises, it is the forepart, as it sets, the hindpart of the horse. When the horse shakes itself 3, then it lightens; when it kicks, it thunders; when it makes water, it rains; voice 4 is its voice.\n2. Verily Day arose after the horse as the (golden) vessel 5, called Mahiman (greatness), which (at the sacrifice) is placed before the horse. Its place is in the Eastern sea. The Night arose after the horse as the (silver) vessel, called Mahiman, which (at the sacrifice) is placed behind the horse. Its place is in the Western sea. Verily, these two vessels (or greatnesses) arose to be on each side of the horse.\nAs a racer he carried the Devas, as a stallion the Gandharvas, as a runner the Asuras, as a horse men. The sea is its kin, the sea is its birthplace.\n73:1 It is the third Adhy\u00e2ya of the \u00c2ranyaka, but the first of the Upanishad.\n73:2 This Br\u00e2hmana is found in the M\u00e2dhyandina text of the Satapatha, ed. Weber, X, 6, 4. Its object is there explained by the commentary to be the meditative worship of Vir\u00e2g, as represented metaphorically in the members of the horse. S\u00e2yana dispenses with its explanation, because, as part of the Brihad\u00e2ranyaka-upanishad, according to the K\u00e2nva-s\u00e2kh\u00e2, it had been enlarged on by the V\u00e2rttikak\u00e2ra and explained.\n73:3 Agni or fire, as pervading everything, as universally present in nature.\n73:4 P\u00e2gasya is doubtful. The commentator suggests p\u00e2d-asya, the place of the feet, i.e. the hoof The Greek P\u0113gasos, or \u1f35\u03c0\u03c0\u03bf\u03b9 \u03c0\u03b7\u03bb\u03bf\u03af, throws no light on the word. The meaning of hoof would hardly be appropriate here, and I prefer chest on account of uras in I, 2, 3. Deussen (Ved\u00e2nta, p. 8) translates, die Erde seiner F\u00fcsse Schemel; but we want some part of the horse.\n74:1 Guda, being in the plural, is explained by n\u00e2d\u00ee, channel, and sir\u00e2h; for we ought to read sir\u00e2 or hir\u00e2grahane for sir\u00e2, p. 22, l. 16.\n74:2 Klom\u00e2nah is explained as a plurale tantum (nityam bahuvakanam ekasmin), and being described as a lump below the heart, on the opposite side of the liver, it is supposed to be the lungs.\n74:3 'When it yawns.' \u00c2nandagiri.\n74:4 Voice is sometimes used as a personified power of thunder and other aerial sounds, and this is identified with the voice of the horse.\n74:5 Two vessels, to hold the sacrificial libations, are placed at the Asvamedha before and behind the horse, the former made of gold, the latter made of silver. They are called Mahiman in the technical language of the ceremonial. The place in which these vessels are set, is called their yoni. Cf. V\u00e2gas. Samhit\u00e2 XXIII, 2.","title":"The Upanishads, Part 2 (SBE15): Brihad\u00e2ranyaka Upanishad: I, 1","type":"page"}