Satapatha Bramhana Part 03

SR No.: 007679
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Julius Eggeling
Publisher: Oxford
Publication Year: 1894
Total Pages: 2382
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 45 MB

Page 393

364
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SATAPATHA-BRAHMANA.
the altar-site);—the lotus-leaf is a womb: he hereby puts a womb to it (for Agni to be born from).
8. And, again, why he puts down a lotus-leaf ;the lotus means the waters, and this earth is a leaf thereof : even as the lotus-leaf here lies spread on the water, so this earth lies spread on the waters. Now this same earth is Agni's womb, for Agni (the fire-altar) is this earth, since thereof the whole Agni is built up: it is this earth he thus lays down. He lays it down so as not to be separated from the truth: he thereby establishes this earth on the truth ;
-hence this earth is established on the truth; and hence the truth is this earth, for this earth is the most certain of these worlds.
9. [He lays it down, with Vâg. S. XIII, 2] “The waters' back thou art, the womb of Agni,' for this earth is indeed the back of the waters, and the womb of Agni ;-'around the swelling ocean,' for the ocean indeed swells around this earth ;'growing great on the lotus,' that is, 'growing, flourish thou on the lotus;'-'spread out with the extent, with the breadth, of the sky!' with this he strokes along the leaf),--for this Agni is yonder sun, and no other extent but that of the sky is able to contain him: he thus says (to the leaf), "Having become the sky, contain him!' He lays it down with a Svarâg verse, for self-rule (svârâgya) belongs to the waters. Having settled ' it, he pronounces the Sadadohas? upon it: the significance of this has been explained.
10. He then puts the gold plates thereon. Now
See p. 301, note 3. · Viz, the one the Sacrificer wore round his neck during the initiation period. See VI, 7, 1, 1 seq.
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