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ANUGITA
CHAPTER VIII
Page1
The Brahmana said :
On this, too, they relate an ancient story, O beautiful one! (showing) of what description is the institution of the five sacrificial priests. The learned know this to be a great principle, that the Prana and the Apana, and the Udana, and also the Samana and the Vyana, are the five sacrificial priests.
The Brahmana's wife said :
My former belief was that the sacrificial priests were seven. by (their) nature 1. State how the great principle is that there are verily five sacrificial priests 2.
The Brahmana said :
The wind prepared by the Prana afterwards becomes the Apana. The wind prepared in the Apana then works as the Vyana. The wind prepared by the Vyana works as the Udana. And the wind prepared in the Udana is produced as Samana 3. They formerly went to the grandsire, who was born first, and said to him, 'Tell us which is greatest among us. He shall be the greatest among us 4.'
Footnotes :
1. As stated in the last chapter; some MSS. read 'your' for 'my' at the beginning of the sentence.
2. Arguna Misra says that in this Pankahotri-vidhana the five chief Hotris only are stated for briefly explaining the Pranayama.
3. Arguna Misra says, 'The wind going to the Prana, and being obstructed in upward progress by the Prana, goes to the Apana, and then unable to go upwards or downwards, enters the passages or nadis of the body and becomes Vyana. In the same way Udana, by the collision of the two, produces sound in the throat, and depends on Prana and Apana; so, too, the Samana dwelling in the navel and kindling the gastric fire is also dependent on those two.' The meaning seems to be that one life-wind is distributed in the different places, and gets different names, as stated, in the order mentioned. See Maitri.
4. A similar visit on the part of the Pranas (who, however, are not there the life-winds only, but the Prana life-wind and the active organs) to Pragapati is mentioned at Brihadaranyaka-upanishad, and Khandogya, Cf. also Prasna; Brihadaranyaka; and Kaushitaki. See also, generally, as to the life-winds and their functions, Brihadaranyaka, and Sankara's comment there; Yoga-sutras III, 38, and comment; Cowell's note at Maitri; Santi Parvan (Moksha Dharma), chap. 184, st. 24-25; chap. 185, st. 1 seq.; and supra.
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