{"collection":"Hinduism","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/hin/sbr/sbe41/sbe4102.htm","path":"hin/sbr/sbe41/sbe4102.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/hin/sbr/sbe41/sbe4102.htm","text":"Satapatha Brahmana Part III (SBE41), Julius Eggeling tr. [1894]\nTHE first of the three K\u00e2ndas contained in the present volume continues the dogmatic discussion of the different forms of Soma-sacrifice, in connection with which two important ceremonies, the V\u00e2gapeya and R\u00e2gas\u00fbya, are considered. From a ritualistic point of view, there is a radical difference between these two ceremonies. The R\u00e2gas\u00fbya, or 'inauguration of a king,' strictly speaking, is not a Soma-sacrifice, but rather a complex religious ceremony which includes, amongst other rites, the performance of a number of Soma-sacrifices of different kinds. The V\u00e2gapeya, or 'drink of strength' (or, perhaps, 'the race-cup'), on the other hand, is recognised as one of the different forms (samsth\u00e2) which a single Soma-sacrifice may take. As a matter of fact, however, this form hardly ever occurs, as most of the others constantly do, in connection with, and as a constituent element of, other ceremonies, but is almost exclusively performed as an independent sacrifice. The reason why this sacrifice has received a special treatment in the Br\u00e2hmana, between the Agnishtoma and the R\u00e2gas\u00fbya, doubtless is that, unlike the other forms of Soma-sacrifice, it has some striking features of its own which stamp it, like the R\u00e2gas\u00fbya, as a political ceremony. According to certain ritualistic authorities 1, indeed, the performance of the V\u00e2gapeya should be arranged in much the same way as that of the R\u00e2gas\u00fbya; that is, just as the central ceremony of the R\u00e2gas\u00fbya, viz. the Abhishekan\u00eeya or consecration, is preceded and followed by certain other Soma-days, so the V\u00e2gapeya should be preceded and followed by exactly corresponding ceremonies.\nThe preceding K\u00e2nda was chiefly taken up with a detailed discussion of the simplest form of a complete Soma-sacrifice, the Agnishtoma, serving as the model for all other kinds of one-day (ek\u00e2ha) Soma-sacrifices; and it also adverted incidentally to some of the special features of such of the remaining fundamental forms of Soma-sacrifice as are required for the performance of sacrificial periods of from two to twelve pressing-days--the so-called ah\u00eena-sacrifices--as well as for the performance of the sacrificial sessions (sattra) lasting from twelve days upwards. As the discussion of the V\u00e2gapeya presupposes a knowledge of several of those fundamental forms of Soma-sacrifice, it may not be out of place here briefly to recapitulate their characteristic features.\nThe ek\u00e2ha, or 'one-day' sacrifices, arc those Soma-sacrifices which have a single pressing-day, consisting of three services (or pressings, savana)--the morning, midday, and third (or evening) services--at each of which certain cups of Soma-liquor are drawn, destined to be ultimately consumed by the priests and sacrificer, after libations to the respective deities have been duly made therefrom. At certain stated times during the performance, hymns (stotra) are chanted by the Udg\u00e2tris; each of which is followed by an appropriate recitation (sastra) of Vedic hymns or detached verses, by the Hotri priest or one of his assistants. An integral part of each Soma-sacrifice, moreover, is the animal sacrifice (pasubandhu); the number of victims varying according to the particular form of sacrifice adopted. In the exposition of the Agnishtoma, the animal offering actually described (part ii, p. 162, seq.) is that of a he-goat to Agni and Soma, intended to serve as the model for all other animal sacrifices. This description is inserted in the Br\u00e2hmana among the ceremonies of the day preceding the Soma-day, the animal offering to Agni-Soma being indeed a constant feature of that day's proceedings at every Soma-sacrifice; whilst the slaughter of the special victim, or victims, of the respective sacrifice takes place during the morning service, and the meat-oblations are made during the evening service of the pressing-day. The ritualistic works enumerate a considerable number of 'one-day' sacrifices, all of them with special features of their\nown; most of these sacrifices are, however, merely modifications of one or other of the fundamental forms of ek\u00e2has. Of such forms or samsth\u00e2s--literally, 'completions,' being so called because the final chants or ceremonies are their most characteristic features--the ritual system recognises seven, viz. the Agnishtoma. Atyagnishtoma. Ukthya, Shodasin, V\u00e2gapeya 1, Atir\u00e2tra, and Aptory\u00e2ma.\nThe Agnishtoma, the simplest and most common form of Soma-sacrifice, requires the immolation of a single victim, a he-goat to Agni; and the chanting of twelve stotras, viz. the Bahish-pavam\u00e2na and four \u00c2gya-stotras at the morning service; the M\u00e2dhyandina-pavam\u00e2na and four Prishtha-stotras at the midday service; and the Trit\u00eeya (or \u00c2rbhava)-pavam\u00e2na and the Agnishtoma-s\u00e2man at the evening service. It is this last-named chant, then, that gives its name to this sacrifice which, indeed, is often explained as the 'Agnishtoma-samsthah kratuh 2,' or the sacrifice concluding with 'Agni's praise.' The term 's\u00e2man,' in its narrow technical sense, means a choral melody, a hymn-tune, without reference to the words set thereto. Not unfrequently, however, it has to be taken in the wider sense of a chanted verse or hymn (triplet), a chorale; but, though the distinction is evidently of some importance for the ritual, it is not always easy to determine the particular sense in which the term is meant to be applied, viz. whether a specified s\u00e2man is intended to include the original text set to the respective tune, or whether some other verses to which that tune has been adapted are intended. In the case of the Agnishtoma-s\u00e2man, however, the word 's\u00e2man' cannot be taken in its narrow acceptation, but the term has to be understood in the sense of 'a hymn chanted in praise of Agni.' The words commonly used for this chant, are the first two verses of Rig-veda S. VI, 48, a hymn indeed\nadmirably adapted for the purpose of singing Agni's praises. For the first verse, beginning 'yag\u00f1\u00e2-yag\u00f1\u00e2 vo agnaye,' the chief tune-book, the Gr\u00e2mageya-g\u00e2na, has preserved four different tunes, all of which are ascribed to the Rishi Bharadv\u00e2ga: one of them has, however, come to be generally accepted as the Yag\u00f1\u00e2yag\u00f1\u00eeya-tune \u03ba\u03b1\u03c4\u1fbd \u1f10\u03be\u03bf\u03c7\u03ae\u03bd, and has been made use of for this and numerous other triplets 1; whilst the other tunes seem to have met with little favour, not one of them being represented in the triplets arranged for chanting in stotras, as given in the \u00dbha and Uhya-g\u00e2nas. Neither the Yag\u00f1\u00e2yag\u00f1\u00eeya-tune, nor its original text, is however a fixed item in the chanting of the Agnishtoma-s\u00e2man. Thus, for the first two verses of Rig-veda VI, 48, the V\u00e2gapeya-sacrifice 2 substitutes verses nine and ten of the same hymn, and these are chanted, not to the Yag\u00f1\u00e2yag\u00f1\u00eeya, but to the V\u00e2ravant\u00eeya-tune, originally composed for, and named after, Rig-veda I, 27, 1 (S. V. I, 17; ed. Calc. I, p. 121) 'asvam na tv\u00e2 v\u00e2ravantam.'\nThe Ukthya-sacrifice requires the slaughtering of a second victim, a he-goat to Indra and Agni; and to the twelve chants of the Agnishtoma it adds three more, the so-called Uktha-stotras, each of which is again followed by an Uktha-sastra recited by one of the Hotrakas, or assistants of the Hotri. As the evening service of the Agnishtoma had only two sastras, both recited by the Hotri, the addition of the three sastras of the Hotrakas would, in this respect, equalize the evening to the morning and midday savanas. The word 'uktha' is explained by later lexicographers either as a synonym of 's\u00e2man,' or as a kind of s\u00e2man 3; but it is not unlikely that that meaning of the word was directly derived from this, the most common, use of the word in the term 'uktha-stotra.' The etymology of the word 4, at all events, would point to the\nmeaning 'verse, hymn,' rather than to that of 'tune' or 'chant;' but, be that as it may, the word is certainly used in the former sense in the term 'mahad-uktha,' the name of the 'great recitation' of a thousand brihat\u00ee verses 1, being the Hotri's sastra in response to the Mah\u00e2vrata-stotra at the last but one day of the Gav\u00e2m-ayana. And, besides, at the Agnishtoma a special 'ukthya' cup of Soma-juice is drawn both at the morning and midday pressings, but not at the evening savana. This cup, which is eventually shared by the three principal Hotrakas between them, is evidently intended as their reward for the recitation of their 'ukthas.' At the Ukthya-sacrifice, as might have been expected, the same cup is likewise drawn at the evening service. Though it may be taken for granted, therefore, that 'uktha' was an older term for 'sastra,' it still seems somewhat strange that this terns should have been applied specially to the additional sastras and stotras of the Ukthya-sacrifice. Could it be that the name of the additional Ukthya-cup, as a distinctive feature of this sacrifice, suggested the name for the sastras and stotras with which that cup was connected, or have we rather to look for some such reason as Ait. Br. VI, 13 might seem to indicate? This passage contains a discussion regarding the different status of the Hotrakas who have ukthas of their own, and those who have not; and it then proceeds to consider the difference that exists between the two first and the third savanas of the Agnishtoma in respect of the Hotrakas\u2019 ukthas. It is clear that here also, the term 'uktha' can hardly be taken otherwise than as referring to\nthe sastras--though, no doubt, the stotra is sometimes said to belong to the priest who recites the sastra in response to it--and this paragraph of the Br\u00e2hmana reads almost like the echo of an old discussion as to whether or not there should be recitations for the Hotrakas at the evening service of a complete Soma-sacrifice. If, in this way, the question of uktha or no uktha had become a sort of catchword for ritualistic controversy, one could understand how the term came ultimately to be applied to the three additional stotras and sastras.\nNot unfrequently, the Ukthya is treated merely as a redundant Agnishtoma, as an 'Agnishtomah sokthah,' or Agnishtoma with the Ukthas 1. Considering, however, that the term Agnishtoma, properly speaking, belongs only to a Soma-sacrifice which ends with the Agnishtoma (s\u00e2man), and that the addition of the Uktha-stotras also involves considerable modifications in the form of most of the preceding chants, a new term such as Ukthya, based on the completing and characteristic chants of this form of sacrifice, was decidedly more convenient. In regard to the composition of the preceding stotras, with the exception of the M\u00e2dhyandina-pavam\u00e2na and the Agnishtoma-s\u00e2man, the Ukthya, indeed, may be said to constitute a parallel form of Sacrifice beside the Agnishtoma 2, the succeeding samsth\u00e2s following the model of either the one or the other of these two parallel forms.\nThe Shodasin-sacrifice requires, as a third victim, the\nimmolation of a ram to Indra; and one additional chant, the shodasi-stotra, with its attendant sastra and Soma-cup. The most natural explanation of the name is the one supplied, in the first place, by Ait. Br. IV, 1 (as interpreted by S\u00e2yana)--viz. the sacrifice which has sixteen, or a sixteenth, stotra 1. But, as the name applies not only to the sacrifice but also to the stotra and sastra, the Br\u00e2hmana further justifies the name by the peculiar composition of the shodasi-sastra in which the number sixteen prevails 2. Very probably, however, the name may have belonged to the sacrifice long before the sastra, for symbolic reasons, had assumed the peculiar form it now presents.\nIn this summary of the characteristic features of the forms of Soma-sacrifice presupposed by the V\u00e2gapeya, no mention has yet been made of the Atyagnishtoma, or redundant Agnishtoma, which usually occupies the second place in the list of samsth\u00e2s. This form of sacrifice is indeed very little used, and there can be little doubt that it was introduced into the system, as Professor Weber suggests, merely for the sake of bringing up the Soma-samsth\u00e2s to the sacred number of seven. This sacrifice is obtained by the addition of the shodasi-stotra to the twelve chants of the Agnishtoma, as well as of the special Soma-cup and sacrificial victim for Indra, connected with that chant. It may thus be considered as a short form of the Shodasin-sacrifice (though without the full complement of stotras implied in that name), which might have suited the views of such ritualists as held the sastras of the Hotrakas at the evening service to be superfluous 3.\nThe distinctive feature of the Atir\u00e2tra-sacrifice, as the name itself indicates, is an 'overnight' performance of chants and recitations, consisting of three rounds of four stotras and sastras each. At the end of each round\n[paragraph continues] (pary\u00e2ya) libations are offered, followed by the inevitable potations of Soma-liquor. That the performance, indeed, partook largely of the character of a regular nocturnal carousal, may be gathered from the fact, specially mentioned in the Aitareya Br\u00e2hmana, that each of the Hotri's offering-formulas is to contain the three words--'andhas,' Soma-plant (or liquor), 'p\u00e2,' to drink, and 'mada,' intoxication. Accordingly, one of the formulas used is Rig-veda II, 19, 1 ap\u00e2yy asy\u00e2\u093dndhaso mad\u00e2ya, 'there has been drunk (by Indra, or by us) of this juice for intoxication.' The twelve stotras, each of which is chanted to a different tune, are followed up, at daybreak, by the Sandhi-stotra, or twilight-chant, consisting of six verses (S\u00e2ma-veda S. II, 99-104) chanted to the Rathantara-tune. This chant is succeeded by the Hotri's recitation of the \u00c2svina-sastra, a modification of the ordinary 'pr\u00e2tar-anuv\u00e2ka,' or morning-litany, by which the pressing-day of a Soma-sacrifice is ushered in 1. The Atir\u00e2tra also requires a special victim, viz. a he-goat offered to Sarasvat\u00ee, the goddess of speech. As regards the ceremonies preceding the night-performance, there is again a difference of opinion among ritualists as to whether the shodasi-stotra, with its attendant rites, is, or is not, a necessary element of the Atir\u00e2tra 2. Some authorities 3, accordingly, distinctly recognise two different kinds of Atir\u00e2tra,--one with, and the other without, the shodasin. In K\u00e2ty\u00e2yana's S\u00fbtra, there is no allusion to any difference of opinion on this point, but, in specifying the victims required at the different Soma-sacrifices, he merely remarks (IX, 8, 5) that, 'At the Atir\u00e2tra there is a fourth victim to Sarasvat\u00ee.' This would certainly seem to imply that there are also to be the three preceding victims, including the one to Indra peculiar to the Shodasin. \u00c2sval\u00e2yana (V, 11, 1) also refers incidentally to the shodasin as part of the\n[paragraph continues] Atir\u00e2tra, though it is not quite clear from the text of the s\u00fbtra whether it is meant to be a necessary or only an optional feature of that sacrifice. The Aitareya Br\u00e2hmana (IV, 6), on the other hand, in treating of the Atir\u00e2tra, enters on a discussion with the view of showing that the night-performance of that sacrifice is in every respect equal to the preceding day-performance; and accordingly, as the three services of the day-performance include fifteen chants and recitations (viz. the twelve of the Agnishtoma, and the three Ukthas), so, during the night, the three rounds of in all twelve stotras, together with the sandhi-stotra, here counted as three stotras (triplets), make up the requisite fifteen chants. This Br\u00e2hmana, then, does not recognise the shodasin as part of the Atir\u00e2tra, and, indeed, the manuals of the Atir\u00e2tra chants which I have consulted make no mention of the shodasi-stotra, though it is distinctly mentioned there among the chants of the V\u00e2gapeya and the Aptory\u00e2ma. The passage in the Aitareya, just referred to, also seems to raise the question as to whether the Atir\u00e2tra is really an ek\u00e2ha, or whether it is not rather an ah\u00eena-sacrifice. On this point also the authorities seem to differ; whilst most writers take the Atir\u00e2tra. and the analogous Aptory\u00e2ma, to be 'one-day' sacrifices, the T\u00e2ndya Br\u00e2hmana (XX) and L\u00e2ty. IX, 5, 6 class them along with the Ah\u00eenas 1; and they may indeed be regarded as intermediate links between the two classes of Soma-sacrifice, inasmuch as, in a continued sacrificial performance, the final recitations of these sacrifices take the place of the opening ceremony of the next day's performance. Such, for instance, is the case in the performance of the Atir\u00e2tra as the opening day of the Dv\u00e2das\u00e2ha, or twelve days\u2019 period of sacrifice; whilst in the performance of the twelfth and concluding day, which is likewise an Atir\u00e2tra, the concluding ceremonies of the latter might be considered in\na manner superabundant. It is probably in this sense that L\u00e2ty. (IX, 5, 4) calls the overnight performance of the last day of an ah\u00eena (e. g. the Dv\u00e2das\u00e2ha) the yag\u00f1apukkha, or tail of the sacrifice, which is to fall beyond the month for which, from the time of the initiation, the ah\u00eena is to last.\nThe Aptory\u00e2ma-sacrifice represents an amplified form of the Atir\u00e2tra. It requires the shodasi-stotra and the ceremonies connected with it as a necessary element of its performance; whilst its distinctive feature consists in four additional (atirikta-) stotras and sastras, chanted and recited after the \u00c2svina-sastra, the concluding recitation of the Atir\u00e2tra. These four chants are arranged in such a manner that each successive stotra is chanted to a different tune, and in a more advanced form of composition, from the trivrit (nine-versed) up to the ekavimsa (twenty-one-versed) stoma. In the liturgical manuals, the Aptory\u00e2ma, moreover, performs the function of serving as the model for a sacrificial performance with all the 'prishthas 1.' Though this mode of chanting has been repeatedly referred to in the translation and notes, a few additional remarks on this subject may not be out of place here. When performed in its 'prishtha' form, the stotra is so arranged that a certain s\u00e2man (or chanted triplet) is enclosed, as the 'garbha' (embryo), within some other s\u00e2man which, as its 'prishtha' (i.e. back, or flanks), is chanted a number of times before and after the verses of the central s\u00e2man. The tunes most commonly used for forming the enclosing s\u00e2mans of a Prishtha-stotra are the Rathantara and Brihat; and along with these, four others are singled out to make up the six Prishtha-s\u00e2mans \u03ba\u03b1\u03c4\u1fbd \u1f10\u03be\u03bf\u03c7\u03ae\u03bd, viz. the Vair\u00fbpa (with the text S\u00e2ma-veda II, 212-13), Vair\u00e2ga (II, 277-9), S\u00e2kvara 2 (chanted on the Mah\u00e2n\u00e2mn\u00ee verses,\n[paragraph continues] Aitar. \u00c2r. IV), and Raivata 1 s\u00e2mans., These six s\u00e2mans are employed during the six days\u2019 sacrificial period called Prishthya-shadaha, in such a way that one of them, in the order in which they are here enumerated, is used for the first, or Hotri's, Prishtha-stotra on the successive days of that period. In that case, however, these stotras are not performed in the proper 'prishtha' form 2, i.e. they have no other s\u00e2man inserted within them, but they are treated like any other triplet according to the particular stoma, or mode of composition, prescribed for them. But, on the other hand, in the Aptory\u00e2ma, when performed 'with all the Prishthas,' not only are a number of stotras chanted in the proper 'prishtha' form, but the 'prishtha' element asserts itself in yet another way, viz. by the appearance of all the six 'Prishtha-s\u00e2mans' in the course of the performance of the different stotras, in this way:--the Rathantara-tune forms the middlemost of the seven triplets of which the Madhyandina-pavam\u00e2na is composed;\nthe Brihat forms the 'garbha,' or enclosed s\u00e2man, of the Agnishtoma-s\u00e2man 1; the Vair\u00fbpa the garbha of the third, the Vair\u00e2ga that of the first, the S\u00e2kvara that of the second, and the Raivata that of the fourth, Prishtha-stotra. 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 Prishtha-stotras of the midday service, but also the four \u00c2gya-stotras of the morning service, as well as the Agnishtoma-s\u00e2man and the three Uktha-stotras of the evening service,--in short, all the first fifteen stotras with the exception of the three Pavam\u00e2na-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-s\u00e2man,' 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 \u00c2gya-stotras are chanted in the pa\u00f1kadasa, 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 katuskatv\u00e2rimsa (of forty-four verses), and the asht\u00e2katv\u00e2rimsa (of forty-eight verses) respectively. Now whenever, as in the case of the pa\u00f1kadasa and the ekavimsa-stomas, 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 s\u00e2man 2\n[paragraph continues] To illustrate this tripartite composition, the Hotri's Prishtha-stotra, performed in the twenty-one-versed stoma. may be taken as an example. For the 'prishtha,' the manuals give the Brihat-s\u00e2man, on its original text (S\u00e2ma-veda II, 159,160, 'tv\u00e2m id dhi hav\u00e2mahe,' arranged so as to form three verses), though the Rathantara may be used instead 1. For the 'garbha,' or enclosed s\u00e2man, on the other hand, the Vair\u00e2ga-s\u00e2man (with its original text, S. V. II, 277-9, 'pib\u00e2 somam indra mandatu tv\u00e2') is to be used, a most elaborate tune 2, with long sets of stobhas, or musical ejaculations, inserted in the text. Of the twenty-one verses, of which the stoma consists, seven verses would thus fall to the share of the 'garbha,' and seven verses to that of the prishtha,' as chanted before and after the 'garbha.' Thus, in accordance with the formula set forth in p. xxii, note 2, the three verses (a, b, c) of the Brihat would be chanted in the form aaa-bbb-c; then the verses of the Vair\u00e2ga-s\u00e2man (as 'garbha') in the form a-bbb-ccc; and finally again the Brihat in the form aaa-b-ccc. Stotras, the total number of verses of which is not divisible by three, of course require a slightly different distribution. Thus, of the third Prishtha-stotra, the stoma of which consists of forty-four verses, the two parts of the 'prishtha' obtain fifteen verses each, whilst the 'garbha' has only fourteen verses for its share.\nThe V\u00e2gapeya, the last of the seven forms of a complete Soma-sacrifice, occupies an independent position beside the Atir\u00e2tra and Aptory\u00e2ma, whose special features it does not share. Like them, it starts from the Shodasin, to the characteristic (sixteenth) chant (and recitation) of which it acids one more stotra, the V\u00e2gapeya-s\u00e2man, chanted to the Brihat-tune, in the Saptadasa (seventeen-versed) stoma, and followed by the recitation of the V\u00e2gapeya-sastra. The Saptadasa-stoma, indeed, is so characteristic of this sacrifice that--as has been set forth at p. 8 note\nbelow--all the preceding chants, from the Bahishpavam\u00e2na onward, are remodelled in accordance with it. Besides, over and above the three victims of the Shodasin-sacrifice, the V\u00e2gapeya requires, not only a fourth one, sacred to Sarasvat\u00ee, the goddess of speech, but also a set of seventeen victims for Prag\u00e2pati, the god of creatures and procreation. As regards other rites peculiar to the V\u00e2gapeya, the most interesting, doubtless, is the chariot-race in which the sacrificer, who must be either of the royal or of the priestly order, is allowed to carry off the palm, and from which this sacrifice perhaps derives its name. Professor Hillebrandt 1, indeed, would claim for this feature of the sacrifice the character of a relic of an old national festival, a kind of Indian Olympic games; and though there is perhaps hardly sufficient evidence to bear out this conjecture, it cannot at least be denied that this feature has a certain popular look about it.\nSomewhat peculiar are the relations between the V\u00e2gapeya and the R\u00e2gas\u00fbya on the one hand, and between the V\u00e2gapeya and the Brihaspatisava on the other. In the first chapter of the fifth book, the author of this part of our Br\u00e2hmana is at some pains to impress the fact that the V\u00e2gapeya is a ceremony of superior value and import to the R\u00e2gas\u00fbya; and hence K\u00e2ty\u00e2yana (XV, 1, 1-2) has two rules to the effect that the R\u00e2gas\u00fbya may be performed by a king who has not yet performed the V\u00e2gapeya. These authorities would thus seem to consider the drinking of the V\u00e2gapeya-cup a more than sufficient equivalent for the R\u00e2gas\u00fbya, or inauguration of a king; they do not, however, say that the R\u00e2gas\u00fbya must be performed prior to the V\u00e2gapeya, but only maintain that the V\u00e2gapeya cannot be performed after the R\u00e2gas\u00fbya. The R\u00e2gas\u00fbya, according to the Br\u00e2hmana, confers on the sacrificer royal dignity (r\u00e2gya), and the V\u00e2gapeya paramount sovereignty (s\u00e2mr\u00e2gya). It might almost seem as if the relatively loose positions here assigned to the R\u00e2gas\u00fbya were entirely owing to the fact that it is a purely Kshatriya ceremony to which the\n[paragraph continues] Br\u00e2hmana has no right, whilst the V\u00e2gapeya may be performed by Br\u00e2hmanas as well as Kshatriyas. But on whatever grounds this appreciation of the two ceremonies may be based, it certainly goes right in the face of the rule laid down by \u00c2sval\u00e2yana (IX, 9, 19) that, 'after performing the V\u00e2gapeya, a king may perform the R\u00e2gas\u00fbya, and a Br\u00e2hmana the Brihaspatisava.' With this rule would seem to accord the relative value assigned to the two ceremonies in the Taittir\u00eeya Samhit\u00e2 (V, 6, 2, 1) and Br\u00e2hmana (II, 7, 6, 1), according to which the V\u00e2gapeya is a 'samr\u00e2tsava,' or consecration to the dignity of a paramount sovereign, while the R\u00e2gas\u00fbya is called a 'varunasava,' i.e., according to S\u00e2yana, a consecration to the universal sway wielded by Varuna 1. In much the same sense we have doubtless to understand the rule in which L\u00e2ty\u00e2yana defines the object of the V\u00e2gapeya (VIII, 11, 1), viz. 'Whomsoever the Br\u00e2hmanas and kings (or nobles) may place at their head, let him perform the V\u00e2gapeya.' All these authorities, with the exception of the Satapatha-Br\u00e2hmana and K\u00e2ty\u00e2yana, are thus agreed in making the V\u00e2gapeya a preliminary ceremony, performed by a Br\u00e2hmana who is raised to the dignity of a Purohita, or head-priest (so to speak, a minister of worship, and court-priest), or by a king who is elected paramount sovereign by a number of petty r\u00e2gas; this sacrifice being in due time followed by the respective installation and consecration ceremony, viz. the Brihaspatisava, in the case of the Purohita; and the R\u00e2gas\u00fbya, in that of the king. In regard to the Brihaspatisava, which these authorities place on an equality with the R\u00e2gas\u00fbya, our Br\u00e2hmana finds itself in a somewhat awkward position, and it gets out of its difficulty (V, 2, 1, 19) by simply identifying the Brihaspatisava with the V\u00e2gapeya, and making the V\u00e2gapeya itself to be 'the consecration of Brihaspati;' and K\u00e2ty\u00e2yana (XIV, 1, 2) compromises matters by combining the two ceremonies in this way that he who performs the V\u00e2gapeya is to perform the Brihaspatisava for a fortnight before and after the V\u00e2gapeya.\nThe R\u00e2gas\u00fbya, or inauguration of a king, is a complex ceremony which, according to the Srauta-s\u00fbtras, consists of a long succession of sacrificial performances, spread over a period of upwards of two years. It includes seven distinct Soma-sacrifices, viz. 1, the Pavitra, an Agnishtoma serving as the opening sacrifice, and followed, after an interval of a year (during which the seasonal sacrifices have to be performed), by 2, the Abhishekan\u00eeya, an Ukthya-sacrifice, being the consecration (or anointing) ceremony. Then follows 3, the Dasapeya, or 'drink of ten,' an Agnishtoma, so-called because ten priests take part in drinking the Soma-liquor contained in each of the ten cups. After another year's interval 1, during which monthly 'offerings to the beams (i.e. the months)' are made, takes place 4, the Kesavapan\u00eeya, or hair-cutting ceremony, an Atir\u00e2tra-sacrifice; followed, after a month or fortnight, by d, and 6, the Vyushti-dvir\u00e2tra, or two nights\u2019 ceremony of the dawning, consisting of an Agnishtoma and an Atir\u00e2tra and finally 7, the Kshatra-dhriti, or 'the wielding of the (royal) power,' an Agnishtoma performed a month later. The round of ceremonies concludes with the Sautr\u00e2man\u00ee, an ishti the object of which is to make amends for any excess committed in the consumption of Soma-liquor.\nThe fifth book completes the dogmatic discussion of the ordinary circle of sacrifices, some less common, or altogether obsolete, ceremonies, such as the Asvamedha (horse-sacrifice), Purushamedha (human sacrifice), Sarvamedha (sacrifice for universal rule), being dealt with, by way of supplement, in the thirteenth book.\nWith the sixth K\u00e2nda, we enter on the detailed explanation of the Agnikayana, or building of the fire-altar, a very solemn ceremony which would seem originally to have stood apart from, if not in actual opposition to, the ordinary sacrificial system, but which, in the end. apparently by some ecclesiastical compromise, was added\non to the Soma ritual as an important, though not indispensable, element of it. The avowed object of this ceremony is the super-exaltation of Agni, the Fire, who, in the elaborate cosmogenic legend with which this section begins, is identified with Prag\u00e2pati, the lord of Generation, and the source of life in the world. As the present volume contains, however, only a portion of the Agnikayana ritual, any further remarks on this subject may be reserved for a future occasion.\nSince the time when this volume went to press, the literature of the Soma myth has been enriched by the appearance of an important book, the first volume of Professor A. Hillebrandt's Vedische Mythologie, dealing with Soma and cognate gods. As it is impossible for me here to enter into a detailed discussion of the numerous points raised in the work, I must content myself for the present with the remark that I believe Professor Hillebrandt to have fully established the main point of his position, viz. the identity of Soma with the Moon in early Vedic mythology.\nxi:1 See Katy. Sr. XIV, 1, 7; L\u00e2ty. Sr. VIII, 11, 7-11.\nxiii:1 In this enumeration the V\u00e2gapeya is often placed between the Atir\u00e2tra and Aptory\u00e2ma; L\u00e2ty. V, 4, 24.\nxiii:2 Thus on Sat. Br. V, 1, 3, 1 \u00c2gneyam agnishtoma \u00e2labhate, S\u00e2yana remarks, 'agnih st\u00fbyate\u093dsminn ity agnishtomo n\u00e2ma s\u00e2ma, tasmin vishayabh\u00fbta \u00e2gneyam \u00e2labhate, etena pasun\u00e2\u093dsmin v\u00e2gapeye\u093dgnishtomasamstham kratum ev\u00e2nushthitavan bhavati.' In IV, 2, 4, 9 seq., also, the term 'agnishtoma' would seem to apply to the final chant rather than to the whole sacrifice.\nxiv:1 Each S\u00e2man-tune is usually chanted thrice, either each time on a special verse of its own, or so that, by certain repetitions of words, two verses are made to suffice for the thrice-repeated tune.\nxiv:2 So also does the Agnishtut ek\u00e2ha, cf. T\u00e2ndya Br. XVII, 7.\nxiv:3 S\u00e2yana, to Sat. Br. IV, 3, 3, 2, explains it by 'stotra;' but see IV, 2, 3, 6-9 where it undoubtedly refers to the recited verses (rik), not to the s\u00e2man.\nxiv:4 Viz. from root 'vak' to speak. I cannot see the necessity for taking p. xv 'brihad vakas' in Rig-veda VII, 96, 1 in the technical sense of Brihat-tune, as is done by Prof. Hillebrandt, in his interesting essay, 'Die Sonnwendfeste in Alt-Indien,' p. 29, merely because it is used there in connection with Indra; whilst he himself is doubtful as to whether it should be taken in the same sense in III, 10, 5 where it occurs in connection with Agni. Though the Brihat-s\u00e2man is no doubt frequently referred to Indra, and the Rathantara to Agni, the couplets ordinarily chanted to them (Rig-veda VI, 46, 1-2 and VII, 32, 22, 23) are both of them addressed to Indra. Both tunes are, however, applied to verses addressed to all manner of deities.\nxv:1 See Catalogue of Sanskrit MSS. of the India Office, No. 434. In Kaush. Br. XI, 8, 'sadasy ukth\u00e2ni sasyante,' also, the word has undoubtedly the sense of sastra, or (recited) hymn. In part i, p. 346, note 3 of this translation read 'great recitation or sastra,' instead of 'great chant.'\nxvi:1 See, for instance, T\u00e2ndya Br. XX, 1, 1.\nxvi:2 Perhaps the most characteristic point of difference between these two forms in which the fundamental stotras are chanted is the first (or Hotri's) Prishtha-stotra at the midday service. Whilst the Agnishtoma here requires the Rathantara-tune chanted on the text, S\u00e2ma-vela S. II, 30, 31; the Ukthya, on the other hand, requires the text, S. V. II, 159, 160, chanted to the Brihat-tune. Professor Hillebrandt, l.c., p. 22, has, indeed, tried to show that these two tunes play an important part in early India in connection with the celebration of the solstices. A similar alternation of s\u00e2mans to that of the Hotri's Prishtha-stotra obtains at the third, or Br\u00e2hman\u00e2kkhamsin's Prishtha-stotra; the Naudhasa-s\u00e2man (II, 35, 36) being used at the Agnishtoma, and the Syaita-s\u00e2man at the Ukthya-sacrifice. As regards the second (or Maitr\u00e2varuna's) and fourth (or Akkh\u00e2v\u00e2ka's) Prishtha-stotras, on the other hand, the same s\u00e2man--viz. the V\u00e2madevya (II, 32-341 and K\u00e2leya (II, 37, 3S respectively--is used both at the Agnishtoma and Ukthya.\nxvii:1 This is also the explanation of the term given by S\u00e2yana in his commentary on T\u00e2ndya Br. XII, 13, 1.\nxvii:2 See this translation, part ii, p. 402, note 1.\nxvii:3 See part ii, p. 402, note 2, where it is stated that the tenth and last day of the Dasar\u00e2tra is an Atyagnishtoma day, called Aviv\u00e2kya, i.e. one on which there should be no dispute or quarrel.\nxviii:1 See part ii, p. 226 seq. On the present occasion the Pr\u00e2tur-anuv\u00e2ka is, however, to consist of as many verses as, counting their syllables, would make up a thousand brihat\u00ee-verses (of thirty-six syllables each). The three sections of the ordinary morning-litany from the body of the \u00c2svina-sastra which concludes, after sunrise, with verses addressed to S\u00fbrya, the sun.\nxviii:2 Cf. L\u00e2ty. Sr. VIII, 1, 16; IX, 5, 23 with commentary.\nxviii:3 Notably T\u00e2ndya Br. XX, 1, 1 seq.\nxix:1 The Aitareya Br\u00e2hmana (VI, 18) in discussing the so-called samp\u00e2ta hymns inserted in continued performances, with the view of establishing a symbolic connection between the several days, curiously explains the term 'ah\u00eena,' not from 'ahas' day, but as meaning 'not defective, where nothing is left out' (a-h\u00eena).\nxx:1 From \u00c2sval\u00e2yana's rule (IX, 11, 4), 'If they chant in forming the garbha (i.e. in the 'prishtha' form), let him (the Hotri or Hotraka) recite in the same way the stotriyas and anur\u00fbpas,' it seems, however, clear that the Aptory\u00e2ma may also be performed without the Prishthas.\nxx:2 The original text of the S\u00e2kvara-s\u00e2man is stated (by S\u00e2yana on Aitar. Br. IV, 13; Mah\u00eedhara on V\u00e2g. S. X, 14, &c.) to be S\u00e2ma-veda II, 1152-3, 'pro shv asmai puroratham,' but the S\u00e2ma-veda G\u00e2nas do not seem to give the tune p. xxi with that text, but with the Mah\u00e2n\u00e2mn\u00ee verses (ed. Bibl. Ind. II, p. 371). The T\u00e2ndya Br. XIII, 4 (and comm.), gives minute directions as to the particular p\u00e2das of the first three Mah\u00e2n\u00e2mn\u00ee triplets which are singled out as of a s\u00e2kvara (potent) nature, and are supposed to form the three stotriy\u00e2 verses of the s\u00e2kvara-s\u00e2man, consisting of seven, six, and five p\u00e2das respectively. The as\u00e2kvara p\u00e2das are, however, likewise chanted in their respective places, as is also the additional tenth verse, the five p\u00e2das of which are treated as mere supplementary (or 'filling in') matter.\nxxi:1 That is, the V\u00e2ravant\u00eeya-tune adapted to the 'Revat\u00ee' verses. The V\u00e2ravant\u00eeya-tune is named after its original text, Rig-veda I, 27, 1, 'asvam na tv\u00e2 v\u00e2ravantam' (S\u00e2ma-veda, ed. Bibl. Ind. I, p. 121). When used as one of the Prishtha-s\u00e2mans it is not, however, this, its original text, that is chanted to it, but the verses Rig-veda I, 30, 13-15, 'revat\u00eer nah sadham\u00e2da' (S\u00e2ma-veda II, 434-6, ed. vol. iv, p. 56), whence the tune, as adapted to this, triplet, is usually called Raivata. The Raivata-s\u00e2man, thus, is a signal instance of the use of the term 's\u00e2man' in the sense of a chanted verse or triplet.\nxxi:2 The statement, in part ii, p. 403 note (and repeated in the present part, p. 6, note 2), that, while the Prishtha-stotras of the Abhiplava-shadaha are performed in the ordinary (Agnishtoma) way, the Prishthya-shadaha requires their performance in the proper Prishtha form, is not correct. In both kinds of shadaha, the Prishtha-stotras are performed in the ordinary way (viz. in the Agnishtoma or Ukthya way, see p. 4 note); but whilst, in the Abhiplava, the Rathantara and Brihat s\u00e2mans are used for the Hotri's Prishtha-stotra on alternate days, the Prishthya-shadaha requires a different Prishtha-s\u00e2man on each of the six days. The two kinds of shadahas also differ entirely in regard to the sequence of stomas prescribed for the performance of the stotras.\nxxii:1 Either the Rathantara or the Brihat also forms the 'prishtha,' or enclosing s\u00e2man, of the fist Prishtha-stotra.\nxxii:2 Whenever the stotra is not performed in the 'prishtha' form, but consists of a single s\u00e2man 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 s\u00e2man in such a way that the whole s\u00e2man is chanted thrice, each time with various repetitions of the single verses. The usual form in which the p. xxiii ekavimsa is performed may be represented by the formula aaa-bbb-c; a-bbb-ccc; aaa-b-ccc, making together twenty-one verses.\nxxiii:1 \u00c2sval. Sr. IX, 3, 4-5.\nxxiii:2 It is given somewhat imperfectly in the ed. Bibl. Ind. V, p. 391.\nxxiv:1 Vedische Mythologie, p. 247.\nxxv:1 Cf. S\u00e2\u1e45kh. Sr. XV, 13, 4, 'for it is Varuna whom they consecrate.'\nxxvi:1 The Br\u00e2hmana (V. 5, 2, 2), however, would rather seem to dispense with this interval by combining the twelve oblations so as to form two sets of six each.","title":"Satapatha Brahmana Part III (SBE41): Introduction","type":"page"}