The institutes of Vishnu (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1880)

2

VISH2VU.

1,5-

the ladle and other sacrificial implements); his nose
(the vessel containing) the clarified butter; his snout
was the ladle of oblations ; his voice was similar in
sound to the chanting of the Sama-veda; and he
was of huge size.
5. He was full of piety and veracity; beautiful;
his strides and his strength were immense (like
those of Vishnu); his large nostrils were penances ;
his knees the victim ; and his figure colossal.
6. His entrails were the (three) chanters of the
Sama-veda 1; his member was the burnt-oblation ; his
scrotum was the sacrificial seeds and grains; his
mind was the altar (in the hut for the wives and
domestic uses of the sacrificer); the hindparts (of
Vishzzu) in his transformation were the Mantras;
his blood was the Soma juice.
7. His shoulders were the (great) altar ; his smell
was that of the (sacrificial cake and other) oblations ;
his speed was the oblations to the gods and to the
manes and other oblations ; his body was the hut for
the wives and domestic uses of the sacrificer ; he was
majestic; and instructed with the initiatory cere-
monies for manifold sacrifices (lasting one, or two,
three, or twelve years, and others).
8. His heart was the sacrificial fee; he was
possessed of the (sacrificial and other) great Man-
tras employed in order to effect the union of the
mind with the Supreme ; he was of enormous size
(like the long sacrifices lasting more than one day);
his lovely lips were the beginnings of the two
6.1 ‘ This is because the vital breaths, by which the sound of the
voice is effected, pass through them, it having been said (in 4) that
the sound of his voice was like the chanting of the Sama-veda.’
(Nand.)