meditated upon as the visible form of Vishńu, as the impersonation of the mystic Om: to him who nourishes the troops of the gods, having filled the moon with his rays; who feeds the Pitris with nectar and ambrosia, and who nourishes mankind with rain; who pours down or absorbs the waters in the time of the rains, of cold, and of heat. Glory be to Brahmá, the sun, in the form of the three seasons: he who alone is the dispeller of the darkness of this earth, of which he is the sovereign lord: to the god who is clad in the raiment of purity be adoration. Glory to the sun, until whose rising man is incapable of devout acts, and water does not purify, and touched by whose rays the world is fitted for religious rites: to him who is the centre and source of purification. Glory to Savitrí, to Súrya, to Bháskara, to Vivaswat, to Áditya, to the first-born of gods or demons. I adore the eye of the universe, borne in a golden car, whose banners scatter ambrosia."

Thus eulogized by Yájnawalkya, the sun, in the form of a horse, appeared to him, and said, "Demand what you desire." To which the sage, having prostrated himself before the lord of day, replied, "Give me a knowledge of those texts of the Yajush with which even my preceptor is unacquainted." Accordingly the sun imparted to him the texts of the Yajush called Ayátayáma (unstudied), which were unknown to Vaiśampáyana: and because these were revealed by the sun in the form of a horse, the Brahmans who study this portion of the Yajush are called Vájis (horses). Fifteen branches of this school sprang from Kańwa and other pupils of Yájnawalkya 5.

Footnotes

279:1 The Váyu divides these into three classes, containing each nine, and discriminated, northern, middle, and eastern. Of these, the chiefs were severally Śyámáyani, Áruńi, and Ánalavi, or Álambi. With some inconsistency, however, the same authority states that Vaiśampáyana composed and gave to his disciples eighty-six Sanhitás.

279:2 The parallel passage in the Váyu rather implies that the agreement was to meet within seven nights.