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190
SATAPATHA-BRÂHMANA.
the gods restored (recruited) him beforehand with food, with these oblations; and in like manner does this (Sacrificer), now that he (Agni) is about to go forward, restore him beforehand with food, with these oblations.
5. He takes (ghee) in five ladlings, for fivefold divided is that vital air in the head,—the mind, speech, the breath, the eye, and the ear-he thus lays that fivefold divided vital air into this head. [He offers it, with, Vâg. S. XVII, 16), 'Agni, with sharp flame, (may destroy every demon! Agni gaineth wealth for us)' thus with a (verse) containing (the word) 'sharp': he therewith sharpens his head so as to become sharp.
6. He then takes (ghee) in sixteen ladlings: eight vital airs, and eight limbs1,--this (the symbolical) amount. He takes it in the same spoon, for, indeed, the vital airs and the limbs are in the same body. Separately he offers : he thereby makes a distinction between the vital airs and the limbs. With two (verses) addressed to Visvakarman he offers: Visvakarman is this Agni, it is him he thus puts together. Three oblations he offers,—threefold is Agni: as great as Agni is, as great as is his measure, with so much food he thus restores him. With seventeen verses (he offers) 3,—Pragâpati is seventeenfold, and Pragâpati is Agni: as great as Agni is, as great as is his measure, with so much he thus restores him.
1 Viz. the upper and fore-arms, the thighs and legs.
2 That is, he offers this ladleful (obtained by sixteen ladlings with the dipping-spoon) in two separate libations (âhutı) or, according to Kâty., in two halves.
s Vız. Vâg S. XVII, 17-32 (sixteen verses, eight for each oblation) and verse 16 (given above) used with the oblation of five ladlings.
