vi. 2. 11.

The oblation-holder is the head of the sacrifice, the sounding holes are the vital airs. They are dug in the oblation-holder; therefore. the vital airs are in the head. They are dug below; therefore the vital airs are below the head. 'I dig those which slay the Raksas, which slay the spell, and which are of Visnu', he says, for the sounding-holes have Visnu for their deity. The Asuras in retreat dug in spells against the vital airs of the gods; they found them at the distance of an arm; therefore they are dug an arm's length deep. 'Here do I cast out the spell [1] which an equal or an unequal hath buried', he says; there are two sorts of men, the equal and the unequal; verily whatever spell they dig against him he thus casts out. He unites them; therefore the vital airs are united within. He does not combine them; therefore the vital airs are not combined. He pours water over; therefore the vital airs are moist within. (The water) he pours is mixed with barley [2]; barley is strength, the sounding-holes are the vital airs; verily he places strength in the vital airs. He spreads over the strew; therefore the vital airs are hairy within. He besprinkles (the holes) with butter; butter is brilliance, the sounding-holes are the vital airs; verily he places brilliance in the vital airs. The pressing-boards are the jaws of the sacrifice; he does not join them, for the jaws are not joined; or rather at a long Soma sacrifice they should be joined, for firmness. The oblation-holder is the head of the sacrifice [3], the sounding-holes are the vital airs, the pressing-boards the jaws, the skin the tongue, the pressing-stones the teeth the Ahavaniya the mouth, the high altar the nose, the Sadas the stomach. When he eats with his tongue on his teeth, (the food) goes to the mouth; when it goes to the mouth, then it goes to the stomach, therefore they press (the juice) with the pressing-stones on the oblation-holder over the skin, sacrifice in the Ahavaniya, retire towards the west, and consume (the Soma) in the Sadas. He who knows the milking of the Viraj in the mouth of the sacrifice milks her; the Viraj is this (cow), the skin is its hide, the pressing-boards its udder, the sounding-holes its teats, the pressing-stones its calves, the priests the milkers, Soma the milk. He, who knows thus, milks her.