1. Pragâpati assigned the sacrifices to the gods; the Asvamedha he kept for himself. The gods
3. With parched groats he makes offering; for that--to wit, parched groats--are a form of the gods 1: it is the gods he thus gratifies.
4. With grain he makes offering; for this--to wit, grain--is a form of the days and nights 2: it is the days and nights he thus gratifies.
5. With parched grain he makes offering; for this--to wit, parched grain--is a form of the Nakshatras 3 (lunar asterisms): it is the Nakshatras
6. But, verily, he who offers the oblations straight
7. As to this they say, 'Were he to offer both either by day or by night, he would confound day and night with one another 2.' With 'To the Dawn hail!' he offers before the sun has risen, and with 'To Heaven hail' when it has risen, to avoid confusion between day and night.
295:2 There are three Sutyâs, or Soma-days, at the Asvamedha--viz. an Agnishtoma, an Ukthya, and an Atirâtra--the most important XIII, 3, 1, 4); and that the animal sacrifice of this day requires twenty-one sacrificial stakes, with twice eleven victims, two of which are tied to the central stake; see note on XIII, 2, 5, 2. The offerings referred to in the present Brâhmana, are performed, not during the day itself, but during the following night, as a preliminary to the important features of the second Soma-day.
296:1 Viz., according to the commentary, because of the (particles of) groats being connected with each other.
296:2 The commentary does not explain this comparison. It would seem to suit better the parched grain.
296:3 Viz. on account of the capability (samarthatvât) of the (raw) grains; but whether this is meant to refer to their power of germinating and growing is not explained.
297:1 These eleven anuvâkas consist of altogether 149 such short dedicatory formulas--addressed to the vital airs, the regions, the waters, wind, fire, &c.--each ending with 'svâhâ (hail).' These are followed, in anuvâka 34, by formulas addressed to the cardinal numbers from 1 to 101; succeeded by two formulas addressed to the dawn and to heaven respectively,--all of these again ending with 'svâhâ.' The Annahomas themselves, offered by the Adhvaryu's assistant, the Pratiprasthâtri, are not, however, limited to any number; but their performance is to be continued throughout the night in such a way that each of the four three-hours’ watches of the night is to be taken up with as many oblations of one of the four kinds of offering materials--in the order in which they are enumerated in the text--as can be got into the space of three hours. The formulas addressed to the cardinal numbers--(which are on no account to extend beyond 101)--are apparently supposed amply to suffice to fill up the time till dawn, when the Adhvaryu makes an oblation of ghee to the Dawn, followed by one to Heaven (or the realm of light) after sunrise.
297:2 That is, in offering with the formulas addressed to the cardinal numbers.
297:3 That is to say, without repeating any formula, or commencing again from the beginning, when the whole series is exhausted.
298:1 That is, without stopping.
298:2 There is no 'iti' here; and the quotation, therefore, may perhaps extend to the end of the paragraph.
