1. Pragâpati desired, 'Would that I obtained all my desires! would that I attained all attainments!' He beheld this three days’ Soma-sacrifice, the Asvamedha, and took possession of it, and sacrificed with it: by sacrificing therewith he obtained all his desires, and attained all attainments; and, verily, whosoever performs the Asvamedha sacrifice obtains all his desires, and attains all attainments.
2. Concerning this they say, 'In what season is the beginning (to be made)?'--'Let him begin it in summer,' say some, 'for summer is the Kshatriya's season, and truly this--to wit, the Asvamedha--is the Kshatriya's sacrifice.'
3. But let him rather begin it in spring; for
5. The Adhvaryu prepares for them a priest's mess of rice sufficient for four persons: the meaning of this has been explained 2. Four bowlfuls, four double handfuls, four handfuls: twelvefold this is--twelve months are a year, and the year is everything, and the Asvamedha is everything--thus it is in order to his gaining and securing everything.
6. Those four priests eat it: the meaning of this has been explained. He (the Sacrificer) gives to them four thousand (cows) in order to his gaining and securing everything, for a thousand means everything, and the Asvamedha is everything. And (he gives them) four gold plates weighing a hundred (grains): the meaning of this has been explained 3.
7. The Adhvaryu then, hanging a gold ornament (nishka) round him, makes him mutter (Vâg. S. XXII, 1), 'Fire thou art, light and immortality,'--for gold, indeed, is fire, light 4, and
9. When the evening-offering 2 has been performed, he lies down with his favourite wife behind the Gârhapatya hearth, with his head towards the north. At the same place 3 the other (wives) also lie down. He lies in her lap without embracing her 4, thinking, 'May I, by this self-restraint, reach successfully the end of the year!'
10. When the morning offering has been performed, the Adhvaryu performs a full-offering 5 with a view to his (the Sacrificer's) gaining and securing everything, for the full means everything, and the Asvamedha is everything. At this (offering) he releases speech by (bestowing) a boon,
12. For the object of (gaining) the road, and in order not to lose the mouth (mukha) of the sacrifice, he then prepares an ishti-offering 1 to Agni. For, indeed, all the deities have Agni for their mouth, and in the Asvamedha are (contained) all objects of desire: 'Having, at the outset (mukhatah), gratified all the gods, may I obtain all my desires!' so he thinks.
13. For this (offering) there are fifteen kindling-verses 2; for fifteenfold is the thunderbolt, and the thunderbolt means vigour: with the thunderbolt (of) vigour the Sacrificer thus from the first repels evil. The two butter-portions relate to the slaying of Vritra 3, with a view to the repelling of evil, for
15. For this (offering) there are seventeen kindling-verses 1, for the obtainment of the Asvamedha, for Pragâpati is seventeenfold, and the Asvamedha is Pragâpati. The two butter-portions are possessed of 'growth 2,' even for the growth of the Sacrificer. [The verses, Vâg. S. XXXIV, 41, 42,] 'Pûshan, in thy sway we [shall never suffer harm, we (who) here are singers of thy praises],' and 'The hymn (?) lovingly composed by desire of praise hath reached
348:1 Or, along with these, included in them (are the assistant priests).
348:2 See XIII; 1, 1, 1; 4 (cf. II, 1, 4, 4).
348:4 Perhaps Mahîdhara is right in taking 'sukram' here in the sense of 'seed' (Agner vîrvam); cf. II, 1, 1, 5; XIII, 1, 1, 4.
349:2 That is the evening performance of the Agnihotra.
349:3 Tad eva tatraiva, comm.
349:4 So
350:1 Viz. a cake (on eight kapâlas) to Agni Pathikrit, 'the path-maker'--or, according to Âsv. Sr. X, 6, 3, to Agni Mûrdhanvat ('forming the head,' so called from the formulas used containing the word 'head).' For a similar special offering to the same deity see XII, 4, 4, 1 (cf. XI, 1, 5, 5).
350:2 See part i, p. 95 seqq. (especially I, 3, 5, 5-7).
350:3 The two Âgyabhâgas, or butter-portions to Agni and Soma, are said to be 'Vritra-slaying' (vârtraghna), or to relate to the slaying of Vritra, when their anuvâkyâs, or invitatory formulas, are the two verses Rig-veda VI, 16, 34 (agnir vritrâni gaṅghanat, 'May Agni slay the Vritras'), and I, 91, 5 (tvam somâsi satpatis tvam râgota vritrahâ, 'Thou, O Soma, art the true lord, thou art the king and the slayer of Vritra,' &c.). This is the case at the Full-moon sacrifice, whilst at the New-moon sacrifice the two butter-portions
351:2 That is, the two formulas used with the oblation to Agni Svishtakrit.
351:3 Whilst the normal performance of an ishti requires two trishtubh-verses (Rig-veda X, 2, I; VI, 15, 14; cf. part i, p. 202, notes 2 and 3) for the invitatory and offering formulas of the oblations to Agni Svishtakrit, two virâg-verses are frequently prescribed, certain verses of the Virâg-hymn Rig-veda VII, 1, being chiefly used for this purpose; e. g. v. 3 as the anuvâkyâ, and v. 18 as the yâgyâ for the Svishtakrit of the oblation to Aditi at the
352:2 That is, they are performed with two invitatory formulas containing the verb 'to grow,' see p. 350, note 3. Whilst our Brâhmana thus prescribes the two invitatory formulas used for the butter-portions of the New-moon sacrifice, Âsvalâyana (Sr. X, 6, 6) prescribes two verses containing the verb 'as' (or 'bhû'), viz. Rig-veda V, 13, 4, tvam agne saprathâ asi; and I, 92, 9, soma yâs to mayobhuva ûtayah santi dâsushe tâbhir noNext: XIII, 4, 2. Second Brâhmana
