tree-worship, comp. also H. O., Religion ties Veda, 90 seq., 256.--Verses 1-5 = TB. III, 6, 1, 1. 3; MS. IV, 13, 1. Verse 3 = MS. I, 2, 11. Verse 4 = TA. I, 27, 2. Verse 10 = TB. II, 4, 7, 11. Verse 11 = TS. I, 3, 5, 1; VI, 3, 3, 3.

Verse 1.

Note [3:8:1:1]1. The tree of which the sacrificial post is made.

Note [3:8:1:2]2. The post is anointed with butter, see Schwab, l. c., 69. This butter is spoken of as honey also in the Yagus, which refers to this rite, 'May the god Savitri anoint thee with honey,' Taittiriya Samhita I, 3, 6, 1.

Note [3:8:1:3]3. In the lap of the mother Earth.

Verse 2.

Note [3:8:2:1]1. Amati has nothing to do with the verb am; it is the contrary of mati. See Rig-veda IV, II, 6. amatim ... amhah ... duhmatim; X, 33, 2, and such passages of the younger Vedic Samhitas as Vag. Samh. XVII, 54 (apa amatim duhmatim ba'dhamanah). The same is the opinion of Geldner (Ved. Studien, II, 184, note 4).

Note [3:8:2:2]2. The sacrificial post is addressed.

Verse 3.

Note [3:8:3:1]1. Comp. below, III, 24, 1.

Verse 4.

Note [3:8:4:1]1. The sacrificial post, round which a rope of grass (Schwab, Thieropfer, p. 49) is tied, is compared here with a well-dressed youth. This seems to contain an allusion to the Upanayana ceremony, at which the youth was invested with the sacred girdle, and which was considered as a second birth (comp. Pada B: 'He becomes more excellent when born'). There is no doubt that this rite is as old and older than the Rig-veda; see H. O., Religion des Veda, 466 seq. It may be noted that several Grihya-sutras prescribe the use of our verse at the Upanayana (Asvalayana I, 20, 9, &c.).

Verse 5.

Note [3:8:5:1]1. Does this expression refer again to the second birth (see the preceding note)?

Note [3:8:5:2]2. The text has vidathe.

Note [3:8:5:3]3. Comp. V, 76, 1. ut vipra'nam devaya'h va'kah asthuh. The conjecture devaya'm easily suggests itself, but it is not necessary.

Verse 6.

Note [3:8:6:1]1. In the Rig-veda, svaru means the sacrificial post itself, not, as in the later ritual texts (Schwab, Thieropfer, pp. 11, 74), that splinter of the wood of the sacrificial post (yupasakala), with regard to which Katyayana (VI, 3, 17) prescribes: 'Yupasakalam asyam (scil. rasanayam) avaguhati.' 'He hides the splinter of the wood of the sacrificial post in the rope (tied round the post).'--See Weber, Indische Studien, IX, 222.

Verse 7.

Note [3:8:7:1]1. Comp. below, IV, 6, 3.

Note [3:8:7:2]2. Comp. VIII, 71, 12. kshaitraya sa'dhase.

Verse 8.

Note [3:8:8:1]1. The Earth is mentioned twice, firstly together with the Heaven, in the compound Dya'va-Ksha'ma, and then separately as Prithivi.

Verse 10.