Vietnam or Thailand ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
Updated: June 3, 2025
May Vâta waft medicine, healthful, delightful to our heart; may he prolong our lives! Thou, O Vâta, art our father, and our brother, and our friend; do thou grant us to live! O Vâta, from that treasure of the immortal which is placed in thy house yonder, give us to live! I magnify Agni, the Purohita, the divine ministrant of the sacrifice, the Hotri priest, the greatest bestower of treasures.
In his form of water he is called Bhava; in that of fire, he is called Rudra; in that of Hotri he is called Pasupati; in that of the Sun, he is called Isana; in that of the Moon, he is called Mahadeva; in that of Space, he is called Bhima; in that of Earth, he is called Sarva; and in that of wind, he is called Ugra. Compare the benediction in Kalidasa's Shakuntalam.
'Sauti continued, 'Hearing this, the king installed in the sacrifice became very sorry and urged the Hotri to do his duty. And as the Hotri, with mantras, began to pour clarified butter into the fire Indra himself appeared on the scene.
No libations can be poured into sacrificial fire without uttering mantras; there can be no penances without a person to perform them; the worship of the deities and men and the Rishis is accomplished by the libations poured with mantras. Hence, O Agni, thou hast been regarded as the Hotri in sacrifices.
"Sauti continued, 'The king, being inclined to grant the Brahmana a boon, said 'Ask thou a boon. The Hotri, however, being rather displeased, said, 'Takshaka hath not come as yet into this sacrifice. "Janamejaya replied, 'Exert ye to the best of your might, so that this sacrifice of mine may attain completion, and Takshaka also may soon come here. He is my enemy.
With Om the Adhvaryu gives orders, with Om the Hotri recites, with Om the Udgatri sings, which declares the pranava which is a 'quality' of the meditation, in so far as it is its basis to be common to the three Vedas, further shows that the meditation has to be employed in connexion with the sacrifice.
King Hiranyakasipu, upon the arrival of Trisiras, dismissed his old Hotri, viz., Vasishtha, the son of Brahma, and appointed Trisiras to that office.
Then the king in his anger again said unto his mantra-knowing Brahmanas these words, bent upon the destruction of Takshaka, 'If the snake Takshaka be in the abode of Indra, cast him into the fire with Indra himself. "Sauti continued, 'Urged thus by the king Janamejaya about Takshaka, the Hotri poured libations, naming that snake then staying there.
Be thou attentive to this our word, O youngest, highly wise Hotri, as the friend of our house. May those guardians of thine, infallible Agni, sitting down together protect us, the never sleeping, onward-pressing, kind, unwearied ones, who keep off the wolf, who never tire.
As cows go to their stalls, all that moves and we, for the sake of a dwelling, reach him who has been kindled. Like the flood of the Sindhu he has driven forward the downward-flowing waters. The cows lowed at the sight of the sun. The Hotri goes forward in order to fulfil his duty by his wonderful power, directing upwards the brightly adorned prayer.
Word Of The Day
Others Looking