Adhyāya 4: Soma Sacrifice — preparation

^ We have reached this earth's place of sacrificing, the place

Great Ones* milk : pioduct of the cows ; the fresh butter with which

Purify me the Lord of Thought ! Purify me the Lord of ^ Speech ! Purify me God Savitar with perfect strainer, with the beams of Siirya !

Svihd : Ave ! All-hail ! Tlie 9aenjice : ' I grasp, or take hold of ' being underatood. Various bondings of fingers and final closing of the hands are prescribed Djjfam and Prithivt : Heaven aud Earth.

These formulas, with the oblations which they accompany, are specially call«*d Audgrabhana or Uplifting, because they raise the Suorific«'r to heaven. Resolution : the intention or purpose of sacrificing.

May every mortal man elect the friendship of the guiding God.

Two blaok-antelope skins, tacked together and stretched on the ground for consecration purposes, are addressed and touched. CounterparU : in full accord, as used in sacred ceremonies, with the recited verses and chanted hymns of sacrifice. The white on the skins resembles the Kik, and the black the Sftman. Thou art, etc. : he kneels with his right knee on the skin.

Strength of Augirases art thou. Wool-soft, bestow thou strength on me. Thou art the garment-knot of Soma. Vishnu's refuge art thou, the Sacrificer's refuge.

Waters that we have drunk ! become refreshing, become^ auspicious draughts within our belly. Free from all sin and malady ai>d sickness, may they be pleasant to our taste, divine Ones, immortal, strengtb- eners of eternal Order. ^ This is thy sacrificial form.

Thie, etej micturiens, he taVes up with the horn a lump of earth or floniethiug similar, and addresses embodied sacrifice : This earth is thy sacrificial form. i. e, place meet for worship. Ye : the waters of which ho relieves himself. Be thou : lie throws down the lump of earth.

With a prayer to the Guardian Agni he goes to sleep.

Uttered oti awnking. VaUvdnara: All -men's ; frieDdly or dear to all AryAU TDen.

This is the formula for the Hiranyavatl-Ahuti or Oflfering with Gold. Having jioured the butter left in the dhruvA ladle into the juhfl, he throws on the butter a piece of g(^d tied with Darbha grass. This (1) : the butter. ThU (2) : the gold which is identified with light. So in old IJorthem poetry gold is called the gleam of Ocean ; the fire of Oran ^» Scottish stream) ; the sun of the d^ep. See Oorpus Poeticum Boreale,

Thine : VAk's, as represented by the cow which is to be given in exchange for the Soma required for the sacrifice. Pure art thou: he addresses the piece of gold which he takes up.

Rudra : as Lord of Cattle. ^

Aditi's head : the surface of the earth. Thee : an oblation of clarified butter. Footstep of Idd : be addresses the footprint of the cow identified with Id4, a Goddess of Devotion, the daughter of Manu or man thinking on and worshipping the Gods. In thee are riches : he gives the impressed earth to the Sacrificer. Mine : the Sacrificer replies. Let us not :

Spoken by the matron, on whom the cow has been made to look. Dakshind ; or Guerdon, the Soma-cow. See verse 19.

The BowU: heaven and earth, so called from their hemispherical appearance. But see Hillebrandt» Vedische Mythologie, I. p. 1 77, and Ludwig, Ueber die Neuesten Arbeiten auf dem Qebiete der Rgveda- lorschuog, p. 87. For living creatwes, thee : I tie thee (Soma) up in the wrapper, the ends of which are brought together, for the good of living creatures who will be benefited by the sacrifice.

Tkee : the Soma What is pure : gold brought for the purchase.

He gives the she^goat to the Soma-seller and takes the Soma with his right hand in exchange, reciting the formula. Appt'oach us : O Soma. Indra : the Sacrificer ( endowed during the ceremony with the attributes of Indra) on whose bared thigh the Soma is placed. Anghdriy etc.: the names of the seven Guardians of the celestial Soma, purchased from them

Recited by the Sacrificer. ImmoHals : especially Soma.

Now have we entered on the path that leads to bliss without / a foe,

Over the woods the air hath he extended, put milk in kine / and vigorous speed in horses,

He addresses the antelope-skin which he hangs up in front of the Soma-cart. Wise One : the All-knowing Sun. The skin, representing the Sim and Agni, will keep off evil spirits.

Approach, ye oxen, fit to bear the yoke ; be yoked without

Spoken by the Sacrificer. Lord of the World : Soma is addressed. Stations : the PatnisaiA or Matron's Hall, the HavirdhAna or Oblation- Store, and other places in the sacrificial enclosure.

The Bacrifioer recites the text taken from R V. X. 37. 1. VarwMCs end Mitra*$ eye: BArya, the Sun represented by the Soma. Dyaus : Zeus, Heaven or Sky personified.

Thou art a prop for Varuna to rest on. Te are the pins that / strengthen Varuna's pillar.

Such of thy glories as with poured oblations men honour,