Upanishads · Prāṇāgnihotra 3.6
॥
Devanāgarī
को यूपः । का रशना । का इष्टयः । का दक्षिणा । किमवभृतमिति
Transliteration (IAST)
ko yūpaḥ | kā raśanā | kā iṣṭayaḥ | kā dakṣiṇā | kimavabhṛtamiti
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
कः यूपः का रशनाkaḥ yūpaḥ kā raśanāwhat is the post, what the cord
का इष्टयः का दक्षिणाkā iṣṭayaḥ kā dakṣiṇāwhat are the offerings, what the payment
किम् अवभृतम् इतिkim avabhṛtam itiwhat is the concluding ablution
Translation
What is the post? what is the cord? what are the offerings? what is the payment? what is the concluding ablution?
Version
d3e65539d9d7 · published Aug 12, 2026, 5:00:00 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
The questions end where the rite ends: avabhṛtha, "the concluding ablution." This rite is the last act of a great sacrifice: the sacrificer and priests go to the water and bathe, and thereby the sacrifice is closed. Note that this ablution is not a purification before, but an unrobing after.
During the rite, the sacrificer is in a special state, dīkṣita: he is consecrated, bound by vows, forbidden much. The ablution removes this state and returns him to ordinary life. That is, the rite has an exit, and the exit is arranged just as carefully as the entrance.
This detail, to my mind, matters more than it seems, and deserves stating. Every special state — a fast, a vow, seclusion — must have an exit; and a person who enters it without an exit either will not come out, or will come out anyhow. The answer the book gives to this question is the most unexpected of all forty, and we shall reach it in a few lines.
The Vaiṣṇava side assigns an exit to vows and holds to it strictly: every one of its fasts ends with pāraṇā, the breaking of the fast at an appointed hour, and that hour is calculated. Hence its vows never turn into unending self-torment: they have an end, announced in advance.