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I 22
SATAPATHA-BRAHMANA.
Punaskiti. This (altar), doubtless, is that same Agni whom in the beginning the vital airs, the Rishis, made up? He now builds him up again ; and inasmuch as he again (punas) builds up (ki) that (Agni) already built, therefore also it is (called) Punaskiti.
18. [He lays down the first brick, with, Vâg. S. XV, 491, With what fervour the Rishis entered upon the sacrificial session,'—he thereby means those Rishis (the vital airs) ;- kindling the fire and gaining the light,'—that is, 'kindling the fire, and gaining the heavenly world; '- upon that firmament I place the Fire,'—the firmament, doubtless, is the heavenly world ;-'whom thinkers call the straw-spreader,'—the thinkers (or men) are they who are wise; and straw-spreader' he says, because he (Agni) has ever the (sacrificial) straw spread for him.
19. [The second brick, with, Vâg. S. XV, 50], "With our wives let us follow him, O gods! with our sons and brothers, or our golden treasures; '--that is, 'let us follow him with our all; '-'gaining the firmament in the world of righteousness;'--the firmament, doubtless, is the heavenly world: thus, 'gaining the heavenly world in the world of righteousness; '-'above the third luminous back of the sky,'—for this, indeed, is the third luminous back of the sky where this (Agni) now burns
1 See part iii, p. 143.
9 That is, on this altar where the fire will soon be burning. It seems also to refer to the sun burning over the third heavenas the counterpart of the Agni of the fire-altar.
