1876.] Rajendralala Mitra— On Human Sacrifices in Ancient India. 105 



verily Prajapati ; all this is the Purushamedha, which is the means for the 

 attainment and subjugation of all this.* 



7. " That Purushamedha is verily penta-diurnal, and the greatest rite of 

 sacrifice. Fivefold is Yajna ; fivefold are victims or sacrificial animals ; five 

 are the seasons included in the year. Whatever is fivefold in celestial or 

 spiritual matter, the same may be obtained through this (rite).f 



8. " Thereof the Agnishtoma is the first day ; next the Ukthya ; the 

 next Atiratra ; the next Ukthya ; the next Agnishtoma : thus it is hedged 

 on either side with the Ukthya and the Agnishtoma. J 



9. " Yavamadhya are these five nights, (that is like a barley corn 

 stoutest in the middle and tapering on either side, meaning that the most im- 

 portant day is in the middle ; or, as the commentator has it, the penance of 

 gradually reducing the food and then again gradually increasing it, should be 

 observed, so that on the third night there should be the smallest allowance of 

 food). These regions are verily the Purushamedha ; these regions have light 

 on either side, — Agni on this (side), and the sun on the other (side). In the 

 same way it (the Purushamedha) has, on either side, the food of light and 

 the Ukthya. The soul is Atiratra ; and since the Atiratra is hedged in on 

 both sides with the two Ukthyas, therefore is the soul nourished by food. 

 And since the thriving Atiratra, is placed in the middle day, therefore is it 

 Yavamadhya. He who engages in this rite has none to envy him, or to grow 

 inimical to him. He who knows this suffers not from envy or enmity. § 



10. " Of that Purushamedha this region is the first day. Of this region 

 the spring season (is the chief) . That which is above this region, the etherial 

 region, (antarihsha,) is the second day ; of that the summer is the season. 

 The etherial region is its third day. Of the etherial region the rainy and the 

 autumn are the seasons. That which is above the etherial region, the sky, 

 (Diva,) is the fourth day ; of it the dewy is the season. The heaven is its 



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