34. Extolling a certain rice-mess offering.
[Atharvan.—aṣṭarcam. brahmāsyāudanam. trāiṣṭubham: 4. bhurij; 5. 3-av. 7-p. kṛti; 6. 5-p. atiçakvarī; 7. bhurikçakvarī; 8. jagatī.]
Found in Pāipp. vi. Used in Kāuç. (66. 6), in the sava sacrifices, with the brahmāsyāudana sava, to accompany the making of pools and channels in the rice-mess, filling them with juices (rasa), and setting on the ground, with surā and water, knob-bearing plants as specified in the text. Doubtless it is on account of this treatment that the rice-mess in question is called viṣṭārin 'out-strewn, expanded.'
Translated: Muir, OST. v. 307 (vss. 2-4); Ludwig, p. 437; Griffith, i. 176; Weber, xviii. 136.
1. The bráhman [is] its head, the bṛhát its back, the vāmadevyá the belly of the rice-mess; the meters [are] the (two) sides (wings ?), truth its mouth; the viṣṭārín [is] a sacrifice born out of fervor (tápas).
Ppp. reads çiras in a, and its d is viṣṭā yajñas tapaso ‘dhi jātaḥ. The comm. explains brahman as signifying here the rathantara sāman, and also satyam in c as "the sāman so called; or else the highest brahman"; viṣṭārín he makes to mean vistīryamāṇāvayava.
2. Boneless, purified, cleansed with the purifier, bright (çúci), they go to a bright world; Jātavedas burns not away their virile member; in the heavenly (svargá) world much women-folk is theirs.
Ppp. makes pūtās and çuddhās exchange places in a; and there is confusion in its text. The comm. explains anasthās by na vidyate asthyupalakṣitaṁ ṣāṭkāuçikaṁ çarīram eṣām, and strāiṇam by strīṇām samūho bhogārtham; the "they" are the performers of the sava sacrifice. The Anukr. does not notice the redundancy of a syllable in c. ⌊There should be a space between prá and dahati.—Regarding sensual pleasures in heaven, see Muir's note. l.c.; Zimmer, p. 413; Lanman, Skt. Reader, p. 379 end, 380; and Weber's note; cf. also AB. i. 2214.⌋
3. Whoso cook the viṣṭārín rice-mess, ruin (ávarti) fastens not on them at any time; [such a one] stays (as) with Yama, goes to the gods, revels with the soma-drinking (somyá) Gandharvas.
Ppp. has kutas for kadā in b, and sāumyāis in d. The pada-text writes ávartiḥ without division, yet the comment to Prāt. iii. 46 quotes the word as exemplifying the combination of final a and initial ṛ; the comm. understands and explains it as a-vartti! somya he paraphrases with somārha. The metrical irregularities (11 + 12: 10 + 11 = 44) are ignored by the Anukr.
4. Whoso cook the viṣṭārín rice-mess, them Yama robs not of their seed; becoming chariot-owner, [such a one] goes about upon a chariot-road; becoming winged, he goes all across the skies.
Ppp. has in c rathāyān īyate. ⌊In the metrical definition, the Anukr. seems confused here; but vs. 4 appears to be intended.⌋
5. This, extended, is of sacrifices the best carrier; having cooked the viṣṭārín, one has entered the sky; the bulb-bearing lotus spreads (sam-tam), the bísa, çālū́ka, çáphaka, mulālī́: let all these streams (dhā́rā)
