104 Bajendralala Mitra — On Human Sacrifices in Ancient India. [No. 1 



members (gdtra). The forty comprising the initiations, benefactions, & c . 

 constitute the forty- syllabled virat, (a form of metre) which assumes the 

 form of Virat (the first male produced by Prajapati, and the father of man- 

 kind). Thus it is said ; ' Virat, the first or superior male, was produced.'* 

 This is the same Virat. From this Yirat is produced the male for sacrifice.f 



3. " Thereof these. There are four Dasats, and since there are four 

 Dasats, they are the means for the attainment of the (different) regions and 

 quarters (of the universe). This region (the earth) is the first to be attain- 

 ed by a Dasat ; the upper region the second ; the sky the third ; the quar- 

 ters the fourth. Thus verily the institutor of the sacrifice attains this region 

 through the first Dasat, the region of ether through the second, the celestial 

 region through the third, and the quarters through the fourth. Thus the 

 Purushamedha is the means of attaining and subjugating all this — all these 

 regions and all the quarters. J 



4. " For the initiation of this ceremony eleven animals meet for Agni 

 and Soma, (should be procured). For them there should be eleven sacrificial 

 posts (Yupa). Eleven syllables are comprised in the Trishtup metre ; the 

 Trishtup is the thunderbolt, — it is vigour. With the thunderbolt and 

 vigour of the Trishtup the institutor of the sacrifice destroys all the sin 

 before him.§ 



5. "In the rite of lustration there should be eleven victims. Eleven 

 syllables are comprised in the Trishtup metre ; the Trishtup is the thunderbolt, 

 — it is vigour. With the thunderbolt and vigour of the Trishtup the 

 institutor of the sacrifice (Yajamana) destroys the sin before him. || 



6. " Because the victims (in this sacrifice) are eleven-fold, therefore 

 verily is all this (creation) elevenfold. Prajapati is eleven-fold ; all this is 



* A quotation from the Purushasukta as given in the Vajasaneyi Safihita. 



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