336 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES
“(The Hotar then repeats :) “jato jayate sudinatve” &c. (3, 8, 5) i.e., “After having been born, he (the Yupa) is growing (to serve) in the prime of his life the sacrifice of mortal men. The wise are busy in decorating (him, the Yupa) with skill. He, as an eloquent messenger of the gods, lifts his voice (that it might be heard by the gods).” He (the Yupa) is called jata, i.e., bom, because he is born by this (by the recital of the first quarter of this verse). (By the word) vardhamana, i.e., growing, they make him (the Yupa) grow in this manner. (By the words:) punanti (i.e. to clean, decorate), they clean him in this manner. (By the words:) “he as an eloquent messenger, &c.” he announces the Yupa (the fact of his existence) to the gods.
The Hotar then concludes (the ceremony of anointing the sacrificial post) with the verse “yuva suvasah parivitah” (3, 8, 4), i.e. “the youth decorated with ribands, has arrived; he is finer (than all trees) which ever grew; the wise priests raise him up under recital of well-framed thoughts of their mind.” The youth decorated with ribands, is the vital air (the soul), which is covered by the limbs of the body. (By the words;) “he is finer, “&c. he means that he (the Yupa) is becoming finer (more excellent, beautiful) by this (mantra).”
The next ceremony is the carrying of fire round the sacrificial animal. The Atreya Brahmana gives the following directions on this point. It says [1] : “When the fire is carried round (the animal) the Adhvaryu says to the Hotar: ‘repeat (thy mantras)’. The Hotar then repeats this triplet of verses, addressed to Agni, and composed in the Gayatri metre: Agnir Hota no adhvare
(4.15.1-3) i.e. (1) Agni, our priest, is carried round about like a horse, he who is among gods, the god of sacrifices, (2) Like a charioteer Agni passes thrice by the sacrifice; to the gods he carries the offering, (3) The master of food, the seer of Agni, went round the offering; he bestows riches on the sacrificer.
“When the fire is carried round (the animal) then he makes him (Agni) prosper by means of his own deity and his own metre. ‘As a horse he is carried’ means: they carry him as if he were a horse, round about. Like a charioteer Agni passes thrice by the sacrifice means; he goes round the sacrifice like a charioteer (swiftly). He is called vajapati (master of food) because he is the master of (different kinds of) food.
“The Advaryu says: give Hotar! the additional order for despatching offerings to the gods.
“The Hotar then says : (to the slaughterers) : Ye divine slaughterers, commence (your work), as well as ye who are human! that is to say, he orders all the slaughterers among gods as well as among men (to commence).
Bring hither the instruments for killing, ye who are ordering the sacrifice, in behalf of the two masters of the sacrifice.
1 Atreya Brahmana (Martin Haug) II - pp, 84-86