1. By means of the Surâ-liquor Namuki, the Asura, carried off Indra's (source of) strength, the essence of food, the Soma-drink. He (Indra) hasted up to the Asvins and Sarasvatî, crying, 'I have sworn to Namuki, saying, "I will slay thee neither by day nor by night, neither with staff nor with bow, neither with the palm of my hand nor with the fist, neither with the dry nor with the moist!" and yet has he taken these things from me: seek ye to bring me back these things!'
2. They spake, 'Let us have a share therein, and we will bring them back to thee.'--'These things
4. Wherefore it has been said by the Rishi (Rig-veda S. VIII, 14, 13), 'With foam of water, Indra, didst thou sever the head of Namuki, when thou wert subduing all thine enemies.' Now, Namuki is evil: having thus, indeed, slain that evil, his hateful enemy, Indra wrested from him his energy, or vital power. Let him who has an enemy perform the Sautrâmanî: he thereby slays that evil, his hateful enemy, and wrests from him his energy, or vital power. In his (Namuki's) severed head there was the Soma juice mixed with blood. They loathed it. They perceived that (means of) drinking separately (one of) the two liquids,--'King Soma, the drink of immortality, is pressed 1;'--and having thereby made that (Soma) palatable, they took it in (as food).
5. With (Vâg. S. XIX, 1), 'Thee, the sweet (liquor I mix) with the sweet (Soma),' he compounds (the ingredients for the preparation of) the Surâ-liquor 2, and makes it palatable;--'the strong
8. There are both milk and Surâ-liquor; for milk is Soma, and the Surâ-liquor food: through the milk he secures the Soma-drink, and through the Surâ-liquor food. And milk is the nobility (chieftaincy), and Surâ-liquor the peasantry (clan); the milk he purifies after purifying the Surâ-liquor: he thus produces the nobility from out of the peasantry, for the nobility is produced from out of the peasantry.
9. With (Vâg. S. XIX, 3), 'Purified by Vâyu's
10. With, 'Purified by Vâyu's purifier is the forward-flowing, exceeding swift Soma,' he purifies (the liquor) in the case of one who has vomited Soma: in a suitable manner he thus purifies him (the Sacrificer);--'Indra's faithful companion:' whatever energy, or vital power, had passed away from him with that (Soma), that he now restores to him.
11. With (Vâg. S. XIX, 4), 'She purifieth thy liquor,' he, for prosperity, purifies (the Surâ) in the case of one wishing for prosperity;--'thy Soma, she, the daughter of Sûrya:' the daughter of Sûrya (the sun) assuredly is Faith, and by faith that (liquor) becomes Soma juice, and by faith he makes it to be Soma-juice;--'with the perpetual tail,' for with a tail-whisk that (liquor) is purified.
12. With (Vâg. S. XIX, 5), 'The Brahman
13. With (Vâg. S. XIX, 6), 'Yea, even as the owners of barley cut their barley 2. . .,' (the Adhvaryu) fills (three) cups of milk,--barley-stalks are Soma-stems, and milk is Soma juice: by means of Soma he thus makes it Soma-juice. With a single (verse) he fills them: singly and solely on the Sacrificer he thus bestows prosperity, for milk is prosperity.
14. With (Vâg. S. XIX, 7), 'Separately, indeed, a seat, acceptable to the gods, hath been prepared for you two,' he fills the (three) cups
16. And the cups of milk are the vital airs, and the cups of Surâ-liquor the body: thus, were he
18. And the cups of milk are cattle, and the cups of Surâ-liquor food: thus, in that both cups of milk and cups of Surâ-liquor are taken, he indeed secures for himself both cattle and food.
19. And the cups of milk are domestic animals, and the cups of Surâ-liquor wild animals: thus, in that both cups of milk and cups of Surâ-liquor are taken, he indeed secures for himself both domestic and wild animals. And he mixes the cups of milk with both cultivated and wild-growing (fruit), whereby both cultivated and wild-growing food is secured to the domestic animals.
20. As to this they say, 'In that there are those wild beasts, this is a form of that cruel deity; and if he were to mix the cups of milk with hairs of those beasts, he would thrust the cattle into the mouth of Rudra, and the Sacrificer would be without cattle let him not mix them, or cattle would not be secured by him, for Rudra is the ruler of animals.' The cups of Surâ-liquor alone he mixes with hairs of those
22. With two eagle-feathers, the Adhvaryu and Pratiprasthâtri purify the Sacrificer, turned towards the cast behind the altar-ground 1, both upwards and downwards,--this is a form of the in-breathing and the upward breathing: the in-breathing and the upward breathing he thereby secures; for both upwards and downwards this breath passes along the body. With (Vâg. S. XIX, 1I), 'Uniting ye are: unite me with happiness 2!' he touches the cups of milk: with prosperity and fame he thereby endows him. With, 'Disuniting ye are: disunite me from evil!' he touches the cups of Surâ-liquor: he thereby keeps him from evil.
223:1 Vâg. S. XIX, 72 seq. On the myth cp. Muir, O. S. T., vol. v, p. 94.
223:2 The preparation of the Surâ is described in Kâty. XIX, i, 20-21 and comms., and by Mahîdhara on Vâg. S. XIX, 1, in the following way. Having purchased (a) malted rice (sashpa), malted barley (tokma), and fried rice (lâgâh), and (b) various vegetable substances (called with the generic name of nagnahu) serving as spices and ferments, such as the bark of Vatica robusta, three XII, 8, 2, 8-10).
225:1 The two Vedis are prepared, in front of the Âhavanîya, by the Adhvaryu and Pratiprasthâtri respectively in a way similar to those required for the Varunapraghâsâh, see part i, p. 392, note. There is some space between them, but not more than will allow a seat to stand on both Vedis (XII, 8, 3, 6). The dimensions (of the northern altar-ground) are in accordance with those of the mahâvedi (measuring thirty-six prakramas or steps long, twenty-four on the hind (west) side, and thirty-six (or thirty) on the front (east) side), except that the unit of measure, in this case, is one-third prakrama,--the area being thus equal to one-ninth of the mahâvedi (some authorities, however, making it one-third). Behind the two Vedis two mounds (khara) are thrown up for the three cups of milk, or three cups of Surâ-liquor respectively, to be deposited thereon. On the northern Vedi an uttara-vedi (high-altar), occupying about one-third of its area, is prepared, on which a sacrificial fire (taken from the Âhavanîya) is afterwards laid down for the use of the Adhvaryu in making libations from the cups of milk; another fire being laid down on the southern mound for the use of the Pratiprasthâtri in making libations from the cups of Surâ-liquor.
226:1 This performance thus takes place on the fourth day. Behind the mound of the southern Vedi a hole is dug, and an ox-hide spread over it. On this skin the unstrained liquor (parisrut) is either poured, a fine strainer (made of bamboo) being then laid thereon so that the clear liquor percolates through the holes, and the dregs remain below; or the strainer is placed on the skin, and the unstrained liquor is poured on it so as to allow the clear liquor to flow through on the skin. The liquor is then poured into a pan (sata), and further purified by a whisk of cow and horse-hair being drawn through it, or the liquor being strained through the hair.
227:1 This takes place on the northern Vedi, by means of a wooden (reed) vessel and a strainer of goat's and sheep's hair.
227:2 For the complete verse, see V, 5, 4, 24.
228:1 That is to say, in drawing the cups he draws alternately a cup of milk, and a cup of Surâ; Kâty. Sr. XIX, 2, 21. According to ib. 22, the three cups of milk may, however, be drawn first, and then the cups of liquor.
230:1 That is, behind the mahâ-vedi, near the antahpâtya-peg, where the purchase of the ingredients for the preparation of the Surâ had taken place.
230:2 Cf. V, 1, 2, 18, where the same two formulas are used whilst the Soma and Surâ-cups are first held together, and then withdrawn from each other; and the terms 'samprik' and 'viprik' were accordingly taken in a passive sense, 'united' and 'disunited;' whilst here the active sense seems preferable, the term 'viprik' probably referring to the tendency of fiery liquor for producing broils.
