If we read that, as in the case of fees to be given to priests, two, seven, eleven, twelve, twenty-one, sixty, or a hundred, this means that either one or the other, not that all should be given at the same time. But accumulation is meant in the buying (of Soma), in the redemption, and in initiation. When it is said that Soma is bought for a goat, gold, &c., that it is re-bought from the priests by means of a fee, or that at the time of the Dīkṣā, the purification and initiation of a sacrificer, clothes, gold, grain, &c., should be given, these are cases not of aut-aut but of et-et. The Soma-plant, which is supposed to be bought from northern barbarians, is botanically described in an Āyur-vedic extract, quoted in the Dhūrtasvāmi-bhāṣyaṭīkā (MS. E.I.H. 531, p. 3 b ), as śyāmālāmlā ca niṣpatrā kṣīriṇī tvaci māṃsalā, śleshmalā vamanī vallī somākhyā chāgabhojanam. 'The creeper called Soma is dark, sour, without leaves, milky, fleshy on the surface, producing phlegm and vomiting, food for goats.' This passage, quoted from some Āyur-vedic text, is still the only one which gives an approximative description of the Soma-plant. Dr. Hooker says that the predicates 'sour and milky' point to Sarcostemma, but the question is not decided yet. For further information see George Watt, The Soma Plant, an extract from the third volume of the Dictionary of Economic Products of India, and Hillebrandt, Vedische Mythologie, pp. 14 seq. If one has performed an offering to Rudra, to the Rākṣasas, to Nirṛti, or to the Pitṛs, if one has cut or broken or thrown away anything, or rubbed oneself, &c., one should touch water. The touching of water is for the sake of purification. Nirasana is left out in some MSS. The ca, inserted after abhimarśanāni, is explained, as usual, as including other acts also, corresponding to our etc. All priestly performances take place on the northern side of the Vihāra. Uttarata-upacāraḥ has to be taken as a compound. Vihāra is explained as vihriyante ऽ gnayaḥ pātrāṇi ca yasmin deśe, i.e. the sacrificial ground. Upacāra is explained as adhvaryvādīnāṃ saṃcaraḥ, and this saṃcara, according to Kātyāyana I, 3, 42, is the path between the Cātvāla and Utkara, the Utkara being on the west, the praṇītās on the east of the Vihāra. Kātyāyana I, 8, 26, expresses the same rule by uttarata-upacāro yajñaḥ, the vihāra being the place where the yajña takes place. The priest should never turn away from the fire, i.e. should never turn his back on the altar. Nor from the Vihāra. Sacrificial utensils should be turned inside, the performers being outside. The meaning is that the priest should carry such things is spoons, vessels, &c., holding them towards the altar. The sacrificer and his wife should likewise be on the inside of the priest, and the priests should take precedence sideways according to their rank. After a sacrificial object has been hallowed by a Mantra, the priest should not toss it about. Sacrificial acts intended for the gods, should be performed by the priest towards the east or towards the north, after he has placed the Brahmanic cord over the left and under the right arm (yajñopavītin), and turning towards the right. Sacrificial acts intended for the Fathers should be performed by the priest towards the south, after he has placed the Brahmanic cord over the right and under the left arm (prācīnāvītin), and turning towards the left. Ropes which have to be joined, should be joined by the priest from left to right, after having tied them from right to left. Ropes which are not joined (single ropes), should be tied by the priest from left to right. The exact process here intended is not quite clear. The ropes seem to have been made of vegetable fibres. See Katy. I, 3,15-17. Let a man sacrifice with the Amāvāsyā sacrifice at the time of the Amāvāsyā, new moon. Amā-vāsyā is the dwelling together, i.e. the conjunction, of sun and moon, an astronomical expression which was adopted in the common language of the people at a very early time. It does not occur, however, in the Ṛg-veda. In our Sūtra amāvāsyā is used in the sense both of new moon and new-moon sacrifice.