"
18
The holy one said, "After the krita-yuga had elapsed, the gods, desirous
of performing a sacrifice, duly made preparation for one according to the
directions laid down in the Vedas. They collected clarified butter and
the other requisites. And they not only devised what the requisites of
their sacrifice should be, but also determined those amongst themselves
that should have a share in the sacrificial offerings.
Not knowing Rudra truly, the celestials, O king, assigned no share for
the divine Sthanu. Seeing that the celestials assigned to him no share in
the sacrificial offerings, Sthanu, clad in deer skins, desired to destroy
that Sacrifice and with that object constructed a bow. There are four
kinds of Sacrifices: the loka Sacrifice, the Sacrifice of special rites,
the eternal domestic Sacrifice, and the Sacrifice consisting in the
gratification derived by man from his enjoyment of the five elemental
substances and their compounds. It is from these four kinds of Sacrifice
that the universe has sprung. Kapardin constructed that bow using as
materials the first and the fourth kinds of Sacrifices. The length of
that bow was five cubits. The sacred (mantra) "vashat," O Bharata, was
made its string. The four parts, of which a Sacrifice consists, became
the adornments of that bow.
Then Mahadeva, filled with rage, and taking up that bow, proceeded to
that spot where the celestials were engaged in their Sacrifice. Beholding
the unfading Rudra arrive there attired as a brahmacari and armed with
that bow, the goddess Earth shrunk with fear and the very mountains began
to tremble.
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