iii. 3. 8.

a Giving life, O Agni, rejoicing in the oblation,
Be thou faced with ghee and with thy birthplace of ghee;
Having drunk the ghee, the sweet, the delightful product of the cow,
As a father his son, do thou protect him.

The sacrificer falls a victim to the two fires in that having made (the offering) ready in them he goes elsewhere to the final bath; 'Giving life, O Agni, rejoicing in the oblation', (with these words) should he offer when about to go to the final bath; verily by the offering he appeases the two (fires); the sacrificer does not go to destruction.

b That loan which I have not yet paid back [1],
The tribute that I still owe to Yama,
Here do I make requital for it;
Here, O Agni, may I be freed from that debt.
c O Viçvalopa, I offer thee in the mouth of the burner of all;
One is an eater of the uneaten, one an eater of the unoffered, one an eater of that which is gathered;
May they make for us medicine,
An abode, delightful strength.'
d May he that fatteneth protect us
From in front with the cloud
Many be our houses,
That houses fail us not.
e Do thou [2], O lord of cloud,
Bestow on us strength with kindliness;
Return to us what is lost,
Return wealth to us.
f O god that dost fatten, thou art a lord of a thousandfold prosperity; do thou give us increase of wealth unfailing, rich in heroes, prosperity abiding through the year.

Yama is Agni, Yama is this (earth); the sacrificer becomes under a debt to Yama in that he strews the altar with plants; if he were to go away with out burning (them), they would drag him about bound by the neck [3] in yonder world. In that he burns, (saying) 'The loan which I have not yet paid', being here, having made requital of the loan to Yama, he goes freed from the debt to the world of heaven. If he does manifold things as it were, he should offer in the forest (fire) groats with his hand; the forest (fire) is Agni Vaiçvanara; verily he appeases him. On the Ekastaka the divider of the days, he should cook a cake of four Çaravas in size, and early with it should fire the thicket; if [4] it burns, it becomes a good season, if it does not burn, a bad season. By this mode of prognostication the seers of old used to undertake a long Sattra. He who knowing the seer, the hearer, the reciter, sacrifices, is united in yonder world with what he has sacrificed and bestowed. The seer is Agni, the hearer is Vayu, the reciter Aditya; he, who offers knowing thus to them, in yonder world is united with what be has sacrificed and bestowed. 'May he from in front with the cloud' [5], he says; (he that is) from in front with the cloud is Agni; verily he says to Agni, 'Guard this for me.' 'Do thou, O lord of cloud', he says; the lord of cloud is Vayu; verily he says to Vayu, 'Guard this for me.' 'O god, that dost fatten', he says; the god that fattens is yonder Aditya; verily he says to Aditya, 'Guard this for me.'

The Special Animal Offerings