vi. 3. 10.

Having offered in sacrifice the beast, he strews over (it) a cake, verily he sacrifices it with its sap. Having performed the rite with the omentum, he performs with the cake; the cake is strength; verily he places strength in the midst of cattle; verily also he closes the cut in the beast. Having made offering of the speckled ghee, he thrice asks, 'Is the oblation cooked, Çamitr?' for the gods found truth in three (cookings). He who says what is not cooked is cooked (is burdened) with sin. The speckled butter is the expiration and the inspiration of cattle [1]; when the beast is offered the body comes into the heart; in that he sprinkles the heart with speckled ghee, he thus places expiration and inspiration in the body of cattle. By means of the beast the gods went to the world of heaven. They reflected, 'Men will mount after us.' They cut off its head and made its sap stream forth; it became the Praksa (tree); that is the nature of the Praksa. In that there is a branch of the Praksa above the strew, so he cuts off from the victim when it has its sap [2]. As the beast is borne along the Raksases follow after it; he takes it between the sacrificial post and the Ahavaniya, to smite away the Raksases. When the beast is offered its mind departs. 'Recite to Manota, for the oblation which is being divided', he says verily he secures its mind. He cuts off eleven portions; ten are the vital airs of the beast, the body is the eleventh, he cuts off as much as is the size of the beast [3]. First he makes a portion of the heart, then of the tongue, then of the breast: what he conceives with the heart, that he says with the tongue; what he says with the tongue, that he utters from the breast. That is the order in the case of the beast. If he cuts off thus and then cuts from the rest at will, still the cutting off from that animal has been made in order. In the middle he makes a portion of the intestines, for breath is in the middle; he makes a portion of the upper part [4], for breath is in the upper part; whether he does one, or the other, there is variation in both cases. A Brahman on birth is born with a threefold debt, of pupilship to the Rsis, of sacrifice to the gods, of offspring to the Pitrs. He is freed from his debt who has a son, is a sacrificer, and who has lived as a pupil: this (debt) he performs (ávadayate) by these cuttings off', and that is why the cuttings-off (avadána) have their name. The gods and the Asuras were in conflict. The gods said to Agni, 'With thee as our hero let us overcome the Asuras' [5]. He said, 'Let me choose a boon; let me have a choice part of the beast.' He chose that choice part (of the beast), the shoulder from the fore part, the intestines from the middle, the hip from the hind part. Then the gods prospered, the Asuras were defeated; in that he makes portions of three members it is for the overcoming of his foe; he prospers himself, his foe is defeated. He cuts off transversely; therefore cattle move forward their limbs transversely, for support.