20-24 septembrie 2009 - Biblioteca Metropolitana Bucuresti

608 Jan E.M. Houbenin preceding rites (cf. MīmS 3.4.42) to which clarified butter, milk andcurds can be added. The hotar accompanies the offering with statementsthat confirm that Agni has worshipped with an offering (ayāṭ) such-andsuchdeity (this is repeated for each of the deities to whom offerings hadbeen made earlier), and with the prayer that Agni should worship with anoffering (yakṣat) Agni Sviṣṭakt.A similar pattern is found in the case of other Iṣṭis; for instance, at theoccasion of the Prāyaṇīya-iṣṭi at the beginning of the Soma-sacrifice (thelatter, even in its simplest form, containing several Iṣṭis) an offering is madeto Pathyā Svasti, Agni, Soma and Savitar as the four chief deities of thePrāyaṇīya-iṣṭi, after which an offering is made to Agni Sviṣṭakt. Offeringsto Agni Sviṣṭakt are quite frequent in Śrauta ritual, but this form of Agni,the corresponding offering and the term sviṣṭakt are absent in the g-veda.Formulas and prayers for the Sviṣṭakt offering are found in the YajurvedicSaṁhitās and Brāhmaṇas of all schools, and details of its performancemainly in the Yajurvedic Śrauta-sūtras, which even contain sections for thehotar performing in this rite. 12 We also find details on various modifiedforms of the Sviṣṭakt offering. 13 However, the only elaborate discussion onthe Sviṣṭakt that touches, in Brāhmaṇa-style, on basic issues, is found inthe Śatapatha-brāhmaṇa, ŚB 1.7.3. An overview of the acts and recitationsof the Sviṣṭakt within the Darśa- and the Pūrṇa-māsa-iṣṭis accordingto various Śrauta-sūtra texts is available in Hillebrandt’s study ofthe new- and full-moon Iṣṭis (1879: 117ff) and in the Śrauta-kośa vol. 1,English section, 211-216.The first part of the explanation which the Śatapatha-brāhmaṇa offersintroduces Rudra, who later turns out to be in the form of Agni, who isleft behind by the other gods who ascend to heaven, partly thanks to thefunction of the very Rudra-Agni who is left behind 14 :12Āśvalāyana and Śāṅkhāyana do discuss the duties of the hotar in the Darśa andthe Pūrṇamāsa-iṣṭi including the Sviṣṭakt offering (for an overview see Śrauta-kośa, Engl.section, 217ff, esp. 370ff).13For the offering to Agni Kavyavāhana, instead of Agni Sviṣṭakt, in an offering tothe Pitaraḥ: ĀpŚS 8.15.20 and note CALAND.14In this section follow a few selections from ŚB 1.7.3.1-21 in a translation followingthe one of J. Eggeling but with various adaptations (e.g. in the transl. of forms of yaj‘worship-in-a-ritual’, ‘worship with an offering’, ‘offer’; and of priyá dhman); text:ŚB 1.7.3.1-4: yajñéna vái devḥ / dívam upódakrāmann átha yò 'yáṁ deváḥ paśūnmṣṭe sá íhāhīyatá tásmād vāstavyà íty āhur vstau hí tád áhīyata // 1 // sá yénaivá devdívam upodákrāman / téno evrccantaḥ śrmyantaś cerur átha yò 'yáṁ deváḥ paśūnmṣṭe yá íhhīyata // 2 // sá aikṣata / áhāsy áhāntáryanty u mā yajñd íti sò’nccakrāma sáyatayottaratá upótpede yá eṣá sviṣṭaktaḥ kāláḥ // 3 // té dev abruvan / m vísrakṣīr íti