[293] Satapatha Brâhmana XI. 5, 6, 1; Taitt. Âr. II. 11, 10; Âsvalâyana Grihya-sûtras III. 1, 1; Pâraskara Grihya-sûtras II. 9, 1; Âpastamba, Dharma-sûtras, translated by Bühler, pp. 47 seq.
[294] In the Sânkhâyana Grihya (I. 5) four Pâka-yagñas are mentioned, called Huta, ahuta, prahuta, prâsita.
[295] Âsv. Grihya-sûtras I. 3, 10.
[296] Manu III. 117-118.
[297] L. c. III. 85.
[298] See Des Coulanges, "Ancient City," I. 3. "Especially were the meals of the family religions acts. The god [the sacred fire] presided there. He had cooked the bread and prepared the food; a prayer, therefore, was due at the beginning and end of the repast. Before eating, they placed upon the altar the first fruits of the food; before drinking, they poured out a libation of wine. This was the god's portion. No one doubted that he was present, that he ate and drank; for did they not see the flame increase as if it had been nourished by the provisions offered? Thus the meal was divided between the man and the god. It was a sacred ceremony, by which they held communion with each other.... The religion of the sacred fire dates from the distant and dim epoch when there were yet no Greeks, no Italians, no Hindus, when there were only Aryas. When the tribes separated they carried this worship with them, some to the banks of the Ganges, others to the shores of the Mediterranean.... Each group chose its own gods, but all preserved as an ancient legacy the first religion which they had known and practiced in the common cradle of their race."
The fire in the house denoted the ancestor, or pitri, and in turn the serpent was revered as a living fire, and so an appropriate symbol of the First Father.—A. W.
[299] "Taittirîyâranyaka," Preface, p. 23.
[300] Mâsi mâsi vo 'sanam iti sruteh; Gobhilîya Grihya sûtras, p. 1055.
[301] See "Pindapitriyagña," von Dr. O. Donner, 1870. The restriction to three ancestors, father, grandfather, and great-grandfather, occurs in the Vâgasaneyi-samhitâ, XIX. 36-37.