Upanishads · Prāṇāgnihotra 3.4
॥
Devanāgarī
क उद्गाता । का धारापोता । के दर्भाः । कः स्रुवः । काज्यस्थाली । कावाघारौ । कावाज्यभागौ
Transliteration (IAST)
ka udgātā | kā dhārāpotā | ke darbhāḥ | kaḥ sruvaḥ | kājyasthālī | kāvāghārau | kāvājyabhāgau
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
कः उद्गाता का धारा-पोताkaḥ udgātā kā dhārā-potāwho is the udgātṛ, who the dhārā-potṛ
के दर्भाः कः स्रुवःke darbhāḥ kaḥ sruvaḥwhat is the kuśa grass, what the ladle
का आज्य-स्थालीkā ājya-sthālīwhat is the bowl for ghee
कौ आघारौ कौ आज्य-भागौkau āghārau kau ājya-bhāgauwhat are the two libations, what the two portions of ghee
Translation
Who is the udgātṛ? who is the dhārā-potṛ? what is the kuśa grass? what is the ladle? what is the bowl for ghee? what are the two libations? what are the two portions of ghee?
Version
109723a04aa9 · published Aug 12, 2026, 5:00:00 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
The list becomes entirely concrete: grass, ladle, bowl, portions of ghee. Note darbha, the sacred kuśa grass: it is spread over the sacrificial site, a ring is made of it for the priest's finger, and sprinkling is done with it. This grass, in Indian practice, is a first necessity for every rite, and easy to obtain: it grows everywhere.
This detail deserves mentioning, for it shows the arrangement of the ancient rite from an unexpected side. Everything used in it is cheap and available: grass, a wooden ladle, a clay bowl, clarified butter. Only the animal and the payment to the priests are costly.
That is, the very implements of the rite are not luxury; the luxury was the people. The Vaiṣṇava side uses the same implements and has added tulasī to them; but it abolished the payment to priests along with the priests themselves. Let us add what should be said about the very abundance of these details.
Reading such lists, we grow tired and are inclined to consider them empty. And yet they are the memory of a craft: they record how the work was done, and without them we would know nothing of it. Hence they should be treated as the inventory of a workshop: one should not look for depth in them, but neither should they be disdained. Depth, in this book, will come two lines on, when answers to all these questions begin.