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As already observed by one of my predecessors, the ordinary or most usual, and probably also oldest or original kṛcchra, penance or rite of atonement or expiation (prāyaścitta), consisting in bodily mortifications, was in course of time given another name, viz. prājāpatya. The close relation to the creator god Prajāpati suggested by this name was explained by a reference to the Indian tradition according to which this god had as the first “produced his sindestroying secret”, which came to be the model for thousands of other purificatory rites (BDh 4, 8, 5). However, a thorough investigation of the relevant Vedic texts sheds new light upon atonement and expiation as objects of Prajāpati's concern.
1 cf. Gampert, W., Die Siihnezeremonien in der altindischen Rechtsliteratur, Prague 1939, 47.Google Scholar
2 The form prāyaścitti occurs in earlier texts.
3 Gampert, , 264.Google Scholar
4 See below, p. 50.
5 Willman-Grabowska, H., “L'expiation (prāyaścitti) dans les Brāhmaṇa”, Bulletin internal, de l'Acad. polonaise, I, 1935, 237 ff.Google Scholar; Gonda, J., Vedic ritual, Leiden, 1980, 288 f. etc. (Index, p. 511, s.v.).Google Scholar
6 For uses of this stanza that are not discussed in the present article see “Notes on the ritual use of ṚV 10, 121, 10”, in the periodical Ṛtam (Vol. Saksena).Google Scholar
7 Pari babhūva: this verb admits also of the translations “surpasses, takes care of, guides, governs”.
8 As to the anthill (regarded as a sort of natural entrance to the earth and, inter alia, used in rites for removing evil or destroying dangerous substances, e.g. TB 1, 8, 6, 2) see Meyer, J. J., Trilogie altindischer Mächte und Feste der Vegetation, Zürich and Leipzig, III, 1937, 287Google Scholar; Heesterman, J. C., The ancient Indian royal consecration, 's-Gravenhage, 1957, 19; 125 f.Google Scholar; Gonda, , Vedic ritual, 102 f. etc.Google Scholar
9 Notice the reference to the identity of the mantra in this text: orajāpate na tvad etānīti prājāpatyayarcā.
10 According to TS 5, 1, 2, 5 Prajāpati is the earth and the antheap its ear (cf. Oertel, H., in JAOS, XXVIH, 88); also ŚB 6, 3, 3, 5; 7, 3, 1, 20.Google Scholar
11 See, e.g., also SB 5, 1, 1, 2; 5, 2, 1, 2; 11, 1, 1, 1 etc. and Lévi, S., La doctrine du sacrifice dans les brāhmaṇas, Paris, 1898, 13 ff.Google Scholar
12 The presence of the verb pari-bhū- “to encompass” obviously facilitated the transformation of the Agni stanza TS 3, 3, 3 z (= ṚV 2, 5, 3) into a Prajāpati stanza, used at BhŚ 13, 9, 7 and MŚ 7, 1, 1, 36 to consecrate the amśugraha 
is no other than Prajāpati, , ŚB 4, 6, 1, 1 ff.Google Scholar; 11, 5, 9, 1 ff.); likewise ApŚ 12, 8, 9Google Scholar and VaikhŚ 15, 9: 195, 9Google Scholar adding prājāpatyayā (sc. ṛcā), whereas BŚ 14, 12: 174, 8 fGoogle Scholar. had this oblation offered with the brief formula prajāpataye tvā and used the stanza together with TS 3, 3, 3Google Scholar y(cf. ĀpŚ 12, 8, 9).Google Scholar
13 With Heesterman, , 19.Google Scholar
14 Gonda, , Vedic ritual, 226.Google Scholar
15 Not to be translated by the German “tüchtig” (Caland, W., Das Śrautasūtra des Āpastamba, II, Amsterdam, 1924, 67Google Scholar (TB 3, 7, 1, 3Google Scholar) and 86 (ĀpŚ 9, 8, 4). Remember that the root bhū- expresses not only the meaning “to become, come into being” but also “to prosper”.Google Scholar
16 See also p. 41 below.
17 cf. the comm. on TB, loc. cit.
18 See Gonda, , Vedic ritual, Index, p. 515 s.v. According to ŚB 2, 2, 1, 4 (cf. 2, 2,4, 6) Prajāpati used the word svāhācirc; on the occasion of the first offering he made.Google Scholar
19 Gonda, , Vedic ritual, 109 etc.Google Scholar
20 Not (with van Gelder, J. M., The Mānava Śrautasūtra: English translation, New Delhi, 1961, 109) “a verse t o Prajāpati”.Google Scholar
21 On Agni in prāyaścitta rites see Gampert, , 54 ff. etc.Google Scholar
22 KŚ 25, 2 deals elaborately with a variety of causes by, and circumstances in which, the milk of the agnihotra sacrifice is spoiled, as well as with the action t o be taken in every case: when there is any loss or defilement one should assign or offer the milk to a definite deity, and then offer the agnihotra oblation with other milk (cf. 25, 2, 4 ). If there is any loss during the second offering one should assign it to Prajāpati, who, being the “undefined” god (ŚB 12, 4, 2, 1), so to say represents any deity (cf. TS 3, 5, 9, 1; 7, 5, 6, 3; JB 1, 342 “Prajāpati is all the deities”).
23 See below.
24 See the article on the use of ṚV 10, 121,10, n.6 above.
25 See p. 37 and 45.
26 Not “mit einem an Prajāpati gerichteten Verse” (Caland, , Śr. Āp. II, 116).Google Scholar
27 I refer to Gonda, J., Aspects of early Viṣṇuism, Utrecht, 1954; second edition, Delhi, 1969, 81 ff.Google Scholar
28 Gonda, , Aspects, 57 f.Google Scholar
29 Hermanns, M., The Indo-Tibetans, Bombay, 1954, 66 ff.Google Scholar; Eliade, M., Myth and reality, London, 1964, 28 ff.Google Scholar
30 See below, p. 45.
31 For prajāpataye svāhā, hiraṇyagarbhāya svāhā see BŚ 28, 10: 361, 7.
32 See e.g. BŚ 27, 10: 334, 5; 29, 12: 385, 11; VaikhG 6, 1; 6, 16; for the mantra mono jyotih … see TS 1, 5, 3 g.
33 See Gonda, , in JRAS, 1979, 137 ff.Google Scholar
34 cf. Gonda, , Vedic ritual, 226.Google Scholar
35 See p. 43 below.
36 Gonda, , Vedic ritual, 367 f.; 394.Google Scholar
37 cf. Gonda, , Vedic ritual, Indexes, p. 500; 515, s.v.,Google Scholar
38 There are variants, see e.g. BŚ 1, 31: 32, 20; BhŚ 3, 11, 1; ĀpŚ 3, 12, 1 b; ĀpMB 2, 18, 31; ĀśvG 1, 10, 23; HG 1, 3, 7.
39 The north-eastern quarter is in various contexts and circumstances auspicious; see Gonda, , Vedic ritual, 53 f.Google Scholar
40 cf., e.g., TS 5, 5, 1, 2; ĀpŚ 20, 19, 12; ŚŚ 9, 23, 9.
41 See e.g. Eliade, M., Myth and reality, London, 1964, 21 ff.Google Scholar; on ṚV 10, 90Google Scholar, Gonda, J., Viṣṇuism and Śivaism, London, 1970, 25 ff.Google Scholar; for atonement, deliverance and new creation see also van der Leeuw, G., Religion in essence and manifestation, London, 1938, 582 f.Google ScholarĀpŚ 14, 20, 5 ff.Google Scholar describes an interesting healing rite: when a consecrated sacrificer falls ill, he is wetted with water (over which definite mantras have been muttered) to the accompaniment of TS 4, 2, 6, a eulogy on the medicinal plants beginning with “The herbs, firstborn three generations before the gods…”; when thereupon the patient drinks some of this water this is said to be “Prajapati's breath”.Google Scholar
42 See Caland, W. and Henry, V., L'agniṣṭoma, Paris, 1906, 220Google Scholar and LŚ 2, 5, 13 ff.Google Scholar; DŚ 5, 1, 15 ff.Google Scholar
43 See Caland, , op. cit., II, 415.Google Scholar
44 MaiU 6, 13, where food is said to be the viśvabhṛt tanūḥ of Viṣṇu, can be left undiscussed.Google Scholar
45 Gonda, , Vedic ritual, 82 ff.Google Scholar
46 With the last quarter of this mantra, viz. dev no yafñám ṛjudh nayantu compare AiB 1, 28, 29yajñaṃ naya yajamānāya sādhv iti, yajñam eva tad ṛjudhā pratiṣṭhāpayati.Google Scholar
47 The mantras TB 3, 7, 10Google Scholar g are also prescribed in ĀpŚ 9, 6, 7 and 15, 17, 1 to expiate the spilling of the agnihotra milk and of the hot milk of the pravargya sacrifice respectively.Google Scholar
48 Dumont, Thus P. E., in Proc. Amer. Philos. Soc., CVII, 1963, 453.Google Scholar
49 Caland, , ĀpŚ 9, 16Google Scholar, 7 translated “Niederlassung”, Dumont “resting-place”; v. Gelder, , MŚ 2, 5, 5, 8 “abode”Google Scholar; Caland, and Henry, , L'agniṣṭoma, 413 “detellement”.Google Scholar
50 I do not understand Miss van Gelder's, translation, op. cit., 106.Google Scholar
51 cf. Gonda, , Vedic ritual, 165.Google Scholar
52 Notice, however, also the occurrence of the pair of formulae avasānebhyaḥ svāhā, avasānapatibhyaḥ svāhā in some series of mantras of this type addressed to various deities (BG 2, 8, 25Google Scholar; BhG 3, 13: 80, 14Google Scholar; TĀĀ 10, 67, 2Google Scholar; MNU 459 (19, 2)).Google Scholar
53 For the mṣgāreṣṭi at the end of a horse sacrifice see TS 4, 7, 15Google Scholar; TB 3, 9, 16Google Scholar; ĀpŚ 20, 23, 2Google Scholar; HŚ 14, 5, 14Google Scholar; MŚ 5, 2, 11, 48.Google Scholar
54 Caland, and Henry, , L'agniṣṭoma, 350 ff.Google Scholar
55 Otherwise (“the Fathers are associated with fertility”) Heesterman, , Royal consecration, 125.Google Scholar
56 Caland, and Henry, , 352.Google Scholar
57 Gonda, , Vedic ritual, 222 f.Google Scholar; see, e.g., Ṛ Vidh. 3, 26, 3; 3, 28, 5.Google Scholar
58 Gonda, , Vedic ritual, 226 and 36, above.Google Scholar
59 Seep. 36 f. above.
60 See p. 37 above.
61 Gonda, , Vedic ritual, 364 f.Google Scholar
62 Gonda, , Vedic ritual, 328 fGoogle Scholar. For other uses see the article on the use of ṚV 10, 121, 10 (see n. 6).Google Scholar
63 Gonda, , Vedic ritual, 267.Google Scholar
64 Gonda, , Vedic ritual, 407.Google Scholar
65 Hillebrandt, A., Das altindische Neu- und Vollmondsopfer, Jena, 1880, 165 ff. – cf. p. 36 aboveGoogle Scholar. The third mantra of TB 3, 7, 11Google Scholar is prescribed in ĀpŚ 9, 15, 23Google Scholar (VaikhŚ 20, 25: 313, 6 which is clearly recognizable as a rite of atonement. Others implore remedy for defect in the sacrifice or accompany oblations made to Restoration (niṣkṣti) and Want of Success (daurārddhi).Google Scholar
66 Caland, and Henry, , L'agniṣṭoma, 148 f.Google Scholar
67 Caland, and Henry, , 224 f.Google Scholar; see, e.g., MŚ 2, 4, 2, 1 ff.Google Scholar
68 See e.g. ĀpŚ 14, 20, 4Google Scholar (with Caland's, note, op. cit., II, 398Google Scholar); KŚ 25, 14, 24 ff.Google Scholar; Mylius, K., “Der Samsava”, Wissenschaftliche Zeitschrift der Universität, XVII, Halle, 1968, 117 ff.Google Scholar
69 Not, with Ranade, H. G., Kātyāyana Śrauta Sūtra, Poona, 1978, 642 “a ṭc”; the correct explanation is found in the commentary.Google Scholar
70 cf. Eggeling, J., The Śatapatha-Brāhmaṇa translated, IV, Oxford, 1897, xxiii.Google Scholar
71 According to JB 1, 342Google Scholar one should sacrifice to Prajāpati because he represents all the deities, and one consequently wins the gods of rivals over to one's party (cf. e.g. TB 3, 3, 7, 3Google Scholar). As is well known prāyaścittas could also be performed by way of protection against future events (see Gampert, , Sühnezeremonien, Index, p. 276, s.v.).Google Scholar
72 See PB 5, 10Google Scholar and Caland's notes (Pañcaviṃśa-Brāhmaṇa, Calcutta, 1931, 94 ff.Google Scholar); TS 7, 5, 6 f.Google Scholar and Keith's notes (The Veda of the Black Yajus school, Cambridge, Mass., 1914, 623 ff.Google Scholar); JB 2, 393–397Google Scholar; KS 33, 7Google Scholar; BŚ 17, 22Google Scholar; ĀpŚ 21, 24Google Scholar; ŚŚ 13, 20Google Scholar; LŚ 4, 8, 8–23Google Scholar; DŚ 8, 4, 8–28.Google Scholar
73 See, e.g. Keith, A. B., The religion and philosophy of the Veda and Upanishads, Cambridge, Mass., 1925, 350 ff.Google Scholar
74 The word parvan “joint” denotes also the days of thefour changes of the moon.
75 In SB 6, 1, 2, 8 (cf. 10: they were created after Āditya, the Sun); 11, 6, 3, 8 the Ādityas are twelve in number and are identified with the twelve months; in post-Vedic literature they are regularly twelve sun-gods.Google Scholar
76 Hoens, D. J., Śānti, The Hague, 1951Google Scholar; Gonda, , Vedic Ritual, 286 ff. and passim.Google Scholar
77 It is my intention to deal with other uses, and the position of the formula prajāpataye svāhā in another article.
78 For Prajāpati and the navel or centre see ŚB 5, 1, 4, 1Google Scholar; TB 2, 2, 4, 7Google Scholar; SVB 3, 3, 5Google Scholar; for the navel as the birthplace of all existence see ṚV 1, 185, 5Google Scholar; on the navel in general e.g. Eliade, M., The sacred and the profane, New York, 1961, 44 f.; 173.Google Scholar
79 See above p. 45.
80 As to the “sniff kiss” see Hopkins, E. W., in JAOS, XXVIII, 120 ff.Google Scholar; for transmission of power by kissing, Gonda, , Vedic ritual, 82.Google Scholar
81 See Eggeling, , op. cit., V, Oxford 1900, 341, n. 1.Google Scholar
82 Kramrisch, S., The presence of Śiva, Princeton, 1981, 110.Google Scholar
83 cf. Gonda, J., Notes on names and the name of God in ancient India, Amsterdam, 1970, 35.Google Scholar
84 cf. Gampert, , Suhnezeremonien, 185.Google Scholar
85 See also Gampert, , op. cit., p. 276, Index, s.v. prājāpatya.Google Scholar