Page 125 - Lokmanya Tilak Samagra (khand 2)

110 SAMAORA TILAK - 2 • THE ORION
Thus the Prayoga-writers quote a smriti to the effect that ' the-
High Soul is termed yajna by the hotris•; this is his upavtta; there-
fore, it is yajnopavtta ' A mantra which is recited on the occasion
of wearing the sacred thread means, 'I bind you with upavtta
of yajna,· 't while the first half of the general formula
which a Brahmap always puts on his sacred thread is as.
follows:-

'flif'qtflli ~ ~ SiiJCN~cf&itlGt ~ I
The mantra is not to be found in any of the existing Sa:rp.-
hitas, but is given in the BrahmopaniiJhad and by BaudhAyana.
This verse is strikingly similar to the verse quoted above from
the Haoma Yasht. It says, " yajnopavtta is high and sacred; it
was born with PrajApati, of old. " The word purastat corresponds
with paurvantm in the A vesta verse and thus decides the question
raised by Dr. Haug, while sahaja,t born with the limbs.
of Praj&pati, conveys the same meaning as mainyu-tastem. The
coincidence between these verses cannot be accidental, and it
appears to me that the sacred thread must be derived from the
belt of Orion. Upavtta from ve t.o weave; literally IJ1eans a piece of
cloth and not a thread.§ It appears, therefore, that a cloth worn
round the waist was the primitive form of yajnopavtta, and that
the idea of sacredness was introduced by the theory that
it was to be a symbolic representation of Prajipati's waist-cloth
or belt. In the Taittirtya SalphitA ( ii. 5. v. 1) nivtta, prachindvtta
and upavtta, three words which at present denote the position of
the sacred thread on the body of a BrahmatJ, are defined, but the

·~~Rmit­
~;WJJ('il'f~~~,~:l

~ ~ tl~itl"qq~ II
t See Tlrlnltha's Vlchaspatya s. v. ujovlla; and Slnkh}lyana
Grihyasutra, ii . 2. J, where the mantra is given as follows- :-
m~ I ~ m ~~ 1 In the Plraskara Grihyasutra,
ii. 2. r 1, both .these mantras, ~ ~ etc., and ~ ffi etc., are
g~en. ~
t ~ ~ ll1l1fT ~tiJ:qj~: ttt)N'i14( I Sbanlr.arln• nda's com
on Brahmopanithad (MS.).
& Cf. Medhltithi on ~anu, ii. 44.