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The persons selected to personate the departed were necessarily inferior in rank to the principal sacrificer, yet for the time they were superior to him. With correct and reverent deportment, The bulls and rams all pure, We proceed to the winter and autumnal sacrifices. The officer of prayer sacrifices inside the temple gate , And all the sacrificial service is complete and brilliant.
Such competition and publicity were good for the wits. The man who cut the best figure in argument was in greatest demand as a sacrificer and obtained the highest fees. But these stories of prizes and fees emphasize a feature which has characterized the Brahmans from Vedic times to the present day, namely, their shameless love of money.
But almost daily confessions of this sort escape, which at once justify the King, and establish the infamy of the revolutionists. They are reduced to distinguish between those who sanction murders, and those who perpetrated them between the sacrificer of one thousand victims, and that of ten between those who assassinate, and those who only reward the assassin.*
2 'Wives presiding, i.e. the wife of the sacrificer, the principal in the service, and other ladies of the harem. The dishes under their care, the smaller dishes, would be those containing sauces, cakes, condiments, &c. 3 'The guests and visitors' would be nobles and officers of different surnames from the sacrificer, chosen by divination to take part in the sacrificial service.
It is He who is the Sacrifice performed by those persons that are conversant with the rituals of sacrifices. Innumerable rays of light emanate from Him upwards and downwards and transversely and illumine the earth. Brahmanas conversant with the Vedas adore Him. Taking a portion of His rays the sun shines in the firmament. Month after month, the sacrificer ordains Him as a sacrifice.
But almost daily confessions of this sort escape, which at once justify the King, and establish the infamy of the revolutionists. They are reduced to distinguish between those who sanction murders, and those who perpetrated them between the sacrificer of one thousand victims, and that of ten between those who assassinate, and those who only reward the assassin.*
The sacrificer, or principal in the service, now left the place which he had occupied, descended from the hall, and took his position at the foot of the steps on the east, the place appropriate to him in dismissing his guests. Where did they return to?
By thus increasing the Dakshina, the merit of the sacrificer will increase correspondingly. The Diksha is the ceremony of initiation. Certain mantras are uttered in which the intention is declared of performing what is desired to be performed. The Karma of a sacrifice or religious rite is the procedure. It is, of course, laid down in the scriptures on the ritual.
O happy Maruts, whether you are in the highest, or in the middle, or in the lowest heaven, from thence, O Rudras, or thou also, O Agni, take notice of this libation which we offer. When Agni, and you, wealthy Maruts, drive down from the higher heaven over the ridges, give then, if pleased, you roarers, O destroyers of enemies, wealth to the sacrificer who prepares Soma-juice.
Before, however, anything further can be done, it must be ascertained that the members of the clan are at peace with one another and no differences exist. If all differences are settled, a sacrificer offers up a prayer that the sins of the clans-folk may be forgiven, and then breaks eggs and sacrifices a cock to ascertain which will be a propitious day for depositing the bones in the sepulchre.
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