i. 1. 2.a Thou[1] art the substance of the sacrifice.[2]
b The Rakşas is burned up, the evil spirits are burned up.[3]
c The Vedi[4] hath come to the sacrificial straw,
Made by Manu, fashioned with the Svadhā call.
The sages fetch it from in front,
The delightful straw for the gods to sit on here.[5]
d Thou art impelled by the gods.
e Thou art made to grow by the rains.
f O divine straw, let me not hit thee either across or along,[6]
g Let me hit thy joints,
h Let me come to no harm in cutting thee.
i O divine straw, rise with a hundred shoots,
Let us rise with a thousand shoots.
k Guard from the contact of earth.
l I gather thee with good gathering.[7]
m Thou art the girdle of Aditi, the cord of Indrāṇī.
n Let Pūşan tie a knot for thee, that knot shall mount me.
- ↑ The parallel texts, KS. i. 2; Kaps. i. 2; MS. i. 1. 2, differ very considerably in content and arrangement. The Mantras accompany the collecting of the sacrificial straw and its tying with a cord; see TB. iii. 2. 2; KS. xxxi. 1; KapS. xlvii. 1; MS. iv. 1. 2; BÇS. i. 2; ĀpÇS. i. 3; MÇS. i. 1. 1; Hillebrandt, Neu- und Vollmondsopfer, p. 8.
- ↑ ghoșad is very obscure: KS. and MS. have goșad, apparently 'sitting among the cows'; the comm. takes it as 'wealth'; probably ghoşad is no more than an error for goșad.
- ↑ The reference to burning shows that some implement must have been heated: the Sūtras make out that it is an asida, a sickle for cutting the straw, or a horse's rib, the latter not being heated. The use of fire against demons is world-wide; see Frazer, Adonis, Attis, and Osiris2, pp. 254 seq.
- ↑ dhişaṇā probably here means the Vedi; cf. Hillebrandt, Ved. Myth. i. 179–181; Pischel, Ved. Stud. ii. 86, quotes Dhisană as a goddess in VS. i. 19=MS. i. 1. 7 (see on TS. i, 1. 6), but the Vedi seems more probably meant. The inversion of expression by which the Vedi is made to approach the straw, instead of the straw the Vedi, is not difficult in the priestly terminology.
- ↑ KS. and KapS. here tad āharanti, MS. has táyâvahante or táyā vahante, which it explains (iv. 1. 2) as referring to the Dhişaṇā, which all the Brāhmaṇas equate with Vidyā. But tá â vahanti is much more probable and tȧyâ may be a case of a rare Sandhi (Macdonell, Vedic Grammar, p. 66, n. 8); tad is no more than an easy correction.
- ↑ KS., MS. iv. 1. 2, and MCS. i. 1. 1. 33 have mâdhó mópári párus ta ṛdhyāsām, which clearly must have the sense that in cutting the straw the cutter must cut at the joints, not above nor below. It is doubtful whether the accusative is one of the direct object, 'reach', 'hit', or merely one of content, 'as to the joint may I be successful.' Either view is possible; cf. Delbrück, Altind. Synt. p. 176. PW. vi. 322 accept the accusative as one of the direct object but the examples are not decisive, e.g. stómam RV. i. 41. 7; úpastutim, viii. 70. 13; kâmam ÇB, i. 3. 5. 10. Even makhásya çiraḥ (VS. xxxvii. 3) may be taken as an accusative of content.
- ↑ The Sūtras use this Mantra in the ritual after ȧdityai râsnāsi and before indrāṇyai saṁnȧhanam.
