1. Pragâpati produced creatures. Having produced creatures, and run the whole race, he became relaxed 1. From him, when relaxed, the vital air went out from within: then his vigour went out of him. That having gone out, he fell down. From him, thus fallen, food flowed forth: it was from that eye on which he lay that his food flowed. And, verily, there teas then no firm foundation whatever here.
2. The gods spake, 'Verily, there is no other foundation than this: let us restore even him, our father Pragâpati; he shall be our foundation.'
3. They said unto Agni, 'Verily, there is no foundation other than this: in thee we will restore this our father Pragâpati; he shall be our foundation.'--'What will then be my reward?' said he.
4. They spake, 'This Pragâpati is food: with thee for our mouth we will eat that food, and he (Pragâpati) shall be the food of us, having thee for our month.' He said, 'So be it!' Therefore the gods eat food with Agni as their mouth; for to whatsoever deity men offer, it is into Agni that they offer, since it is with Agni for their mouth that the gods thus took in the food.
5. Now the vital air which went out from within him is no other than the wind that blows yonder; and the vigour which went out of him is yonder sun; and the food which flowed from him is all the food which there is within the year.
6. The gods heated him in the fire; and when the
8. Now that same foundation which the gods thus restored is the foundation here even to this day, and will be so even hereafter.
9. And the Pragâpati who became relaxed is this same Agni who is now being built up. And when that fire-pan lies there empty before being heated, it is just like Pragâpati, as he lay there with the vital air and the vigour gone out of him, and the food having flowed out.
10. He heats it on the fire, even as the gods then heated him (Pragâpati). And when the fire rises over it thus heated, then that same vital air which went out from within him comes back to him, and he puts it into him. And when, putting on the gold plate, he wears it, he puts into him that very vigour which had gone out of him. And when he puts on kindling-sticks, he puts into him that very food which had flowed from him.
12. This (terrestrial) world in truth is his (Pragâpati's) Gârhapatya (hearth); and what fire there is in this world that to him is the fire on the Gârhapatya. And what space there is between the Âhavanîya and the Gârhapatya, that is the air 3; and that wind in
13. The Âhavanîya truly is his head; and the fire which is on the Âhavanîya is that vital air of his in the head. And as to why it (the Âhavanîya) has wings and tail, it is because that vital air in the head has wings and tail 2;--the eye is its head, the right ear its right wing, the left ear its left wing, the vital air its central body 3, and the voice is the tail (and) the foundation (the feet): inasmuch as the vital airs subsist by eating food with speech (voice) 4, the voice is the tail, the foundation.
14. And what space there is between the Âhavanîya and Gârhapatya, that is the body (trunk); and the fire on the Âgnîdhrîya is to him that vital air inside the body. The Gârhapatya is his foundation; and the fire on the Gârhapatya is his downward vital air.
15. Now some build it (the Gârhapatya) in three layers, saying, 'There are here three downward vital airs.' Let him not do so: they who do so do what is excessive,--one amounting to twenty-one, one amounting to the Anushtubh, and one amounting to the Brihatî; for this (altar) is of one single form--a
17. And, again, there are twenty-one enclosing-stones; the formula the twenty-second; the formula for the sweeping, the saline earth and its formula, the sand and its formula, the filling (soil) and its formula; with four (formulas) he pours (the two fires) together; with a fifth he unties (the pan); then this (Nirriti) with three 3,--the anushtubh verse consists of thirty-two syllables: this then is an anushtubh.
18. Then there are these two formulas 4, and they are indeed an anushtubh--the Anushtubh is speech: thus what twofold form of speech there is, the divine and the human, loud and low, that is those two.
19. The Gârhapatya pile thus is those three
21. That same Anushtubh, speech, is threefold. That fire, taking the form of the vital air, goes along with it (speech),--the fire which is on the Âhavanîya (altar) is the out-breathing, and yonder sun; and the fire which is on the Âgnîdhrîya is the through-breathing, and the wind which blows yonder; and the fire which is on the Gârhapatya is the in-breathing, and what fire there is here in this (earth-) world. And verily he who knows this makes up for himself the whole Vâk (speech), the whole vital air, the whole body (of Pragâpati).
23. As to this they say, 'As the Gârhapatya is this (terrestrial) world, the Dhishnya hearths the air, and the Âhavanîya the sky, and the air-world is not separated from this (earth-) world, why then, after building the Gârhapatya, does he build the Âhavanîya, and (only) then the Dhishnyas?' Well, at first these two worlds (heaven and earth) were together; and when they parted asunder, the space which was between (antar) them became that air (antariksha); for 'îksha 2' indeed it was theretofore, and 'Now this "îksha" has come between (antarâ),' they said, whence 'antariksha' (air). And as to why, after building the Gârhapatya, he builds the Âhavanîya, it is because these two worlds were created first. Then, going back, he throws up the Dhishnya hearths, just to prevent discontinuity of
312:1 Literally, fallen asunder, i.e. broken to pieces, or disjointed ('opened,' Delbrück, Synt. F. V, p. 385). 314:1 Or, in whatever part of this (year) from henceforward he should not do so. 314:2 It is very doubtful whether. this second clause of the oratio directa is really meant to belong to Vâmakakshâyana's argument, or whether it is the author's own, in which case it has to be taken with what follows. 'Lest he should . . . pieces, he (first) restores him,' &c. That is, he is not to place him (Pragâpati) in an upright position, until he has been completely restored. The particular form of the participle qualifying Pragâpati (vikhidyamâna) might seem to favour the former alternative; see, however, paragraph 23, antayoh samskriyamânayor, 'after the two ends have been perfected.' 314:3 In this and the following paragraphs the ordinary position of subject and predicate seems often reversed: in the present case one would expect--that air is to him the space between the two fires. 315:1 Viz. the sacrificial ground thus becomes identical with the universe, i.e. with Pragâpati. 315:2 That is, it is (like) a bird. The word 'prâna' might almost be rendered here by 'the living being.' 315:3 In the text this is reversed, the head is the eye, the right wing the right ear, the left wing the left ear, the central body the vital air, which can scarcely be the construction intended by the author. 315:4 Or, with the mouth. In VIII, 5, 4, 1; X, 5, 2, 15, 'vâk' is identified with the tongue. 316:1 Viz. XII, 47-54 (XII, 53, consisting of two formulas). 316:2 That is to say, these thirty-two items form, as it were, an Anushtubh verse consisting of thirty-two syllables. 316:3 See VII, 2, 1, 1 seq. 316:4 I do not see what other formulas can be intended here except those addressed to the enclosing stones, concluding with the sâdana,' or 'settling' formula, viz. Vâg. S. XII, 53; see above, VII, 1, 1, 30; though these do not exactly yield thirty-two syllables, but thirty-four (see, however, paragraph 22). Our available MSS. of the commentary are unfortunately defective at this place.--On the artificial manipulation of making up imaginary metres by the mere number of syllables, irrespective of their real prosodic value, see Professor Weber, Ind. Stud., VIII, p. 23 seq. 317:1 Or, the Dhishnya hearths (see paragraph 23), which are more properly situated between the Gârhapatya and the Âhavanîya fireplaces. See the plan of the sacrificial ground in part ii; where, however, the Âhavanîya of the Prâkînavamsa (hall), or the so-called sâlâdvârya (hall-door fire), would represent the Gârhapatya for the Âhavanîya of the Mahâvedi. 318:1 The same latitude in the computation of the number of syllables constituting a metre is conceded, Ait. Br. I, 6. 318:2 ? That is, 'visible,' or, 'capable of being seen through.'
