For when
the sacrificial platform was being constructed, a professional builder of
great intelligence and well-versed in the knowledge of laying foundations,
a Suta by caste, well-acquainted with the Puranas, said, 'The soil upon
which and the time at which the measurement for the sacrificial platform
has been made, indicate that this sacrifice will not be completed, a
Brahmana becoming the reason thereof.' Hearing this, the king, before his
installation, gave orders to his gate-keepers not to admit anybody without
his knowledge."
SECTION LII
(Astika Parva continued)
"Sauti said, 'The snake-sacrifice then commenced according to due form.
And the sacrificial priests, competent in their respective duties
according to the ordinance, clad in black garments and their eyes red from
contact with smoke, poured clarified butter into the blazing fire,
uttering the appropriate mantras. And causing the hearts of all the snakes
to tremble with fear, they poured clarified butter into the mouth of Agni
uttering the names of the snakes. And the snakes thereupon began to fall
into the blazing fire, benumbed and piteously calling upon one another.
And swollen and breathing hard, and twining each other with their heads
and tails, they came in large numbers and fell into the fire. The white,
the black, the blue, the old and the young--all fell alike into the fire,
uttering various cries. Those measuring a krosa, and those measuring a
yojana, and those of the measure of a gokarna, fell continuously with
great violence into that first of all fires.
Pages:
194
195
196
197
198
199
200
201
202
203
204
205
206
207
208
209
210
211
212
213
214
215
216
217
218