Praśna 10, Kaṇḍikā 17

1. The Adhvaryu should buy Soma with gold with the formula, “I shall buy thy bright (Soma) with bright (gold), the glittering with glittering, the immortal with immortal, to match thy cow. The shining (gold) be with us.”^[1]

2. The Soma-dealer should say, “King Soma deserves more than that.”

3. The Adhvaryu should ask, “Does king Soma deserve more than that?”

4. He should buy with a she-goat with the formula, “Thou art the form of heat, the colour of Prajāpati; with thee, who hast a thousandfold prosperity, the least of the animals, I buy (Soma). Thy kith and kin be with us. May thy wealth rest with me.”^[2]

5. The Soma-dealer should say, “King Soma deserves more than that.”

6. The Adhvaryu should ask, “Does king Soma deserve more than that?”

7. He should buy with a milch-cow. He should buy with a bull. He should buy with a wagon-carrying bull. He should buy with a couple (of a steer and a heifer). He should buy with a garment.

8. He should offer ten articles; or undefined.^[3]

9. He should buy with three articles. So is it said.

10. Some teachers prescribe the buying with four articles—a cow, gold, a she-goat, and a garment.

11. At a sacrifice, in which twenty-one cows are to be given away as dakṣiṇā, the Adhvaryu should buy Soma with only one (cow).

12. The cow should not be without horns, should not be without (long) ears, should not be without eyes, should not be lame, should not have seven hoofs, and should be reddish, tawny-eyed, and one year old. According to some teachers, she should be excellent.

13. One should buy Soma with thirty (cows) at a sacrifice in which one thousand (cows) are to be given away as a hundred (cows) at the Vājapeya sacrifice, with two hundred (cows) at the Rājasūya sacrifice, with a thousand (cows) at the Aśvamedha sacrifice. So is it said.^[4]

14. The Adhvaryu should take back gold from the Soma-dealer, and then give a tuft of white wool to the sacrificer with the formula, “Light be with us.”^[5]

15. The sacrificer should equip at the proper time^[6] the woollen filter (daśāpavitra) with a thread-strainer (nābhi) out of that wool.

16. One should prepare the woollen filter out of the wool of a white sheep. It should be woven at home. So is it said.

17. The Adhvaryu should tie up together a tuft of black wool with the formula, “Herewith I tie up the necks of biting serpents.”^[7]

18. With that tuft he should beat the Soma-dealer with the formula, “Let the darkness be with the Soma-dealer.”^[8]

19. He should point to the articles, with which Soma was bought, with the remaining portion of the Anuvāka, “O Svāna, Bhrāja, Aṅghāri, Bambhāri, Hasta, Suhasta, and Kṛśānu, these are the articles for which Soma has been bought. Guard them; let them not fail you.”^[9]

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

Taittirīya-saṃhitā I.2.7.1.

[2]:

Taittirīya-saṃhitā I.2.7.1.

[3]:

At a sacrifice in which one hundred and twelve cows are to be given away as dakṣiṇā, cf. Āpastamba-śrauta-sūtra X.26.1.

[4]:

Āpastamba-śrauta-sūtra X.26.4-7 adds: one should buy Soma with three cows at a sacrifice in which sixty cows are to be given as dakṣiṇā; with an undefined number of cows at a sacrifice in which undefined dakṣiṇā is to be given; with twenty-four cows at a sacrifice in which a thousand cows or everything is to be given as dakṣiṇā; with thirty (= 27 cows, gold, a she-goat and a garment) at a sacrifice in which a thousand cows are to be given away as dakṣiṇā.

[5]:

Taittirīya-saṃhitā I.2.7.1.

[6]:

XIII.12.13.

[7]:

Taittirīya-saṃhitā VI.1.10.4.

[8]:

Taittirīya-saṃhitā I.2.7.1.

[9]:

Taittirīya-saṃhitā I.2.7.2.