Kāṇḍa 6 · Chapter Overview
From The Krishna Yajurveda — The Taittirīya Saṃhitā, taught by Acharya T Krishnatrey. This lesson is free to read.
<pre data-block="statement"> Kāṇḍa 6 is the brāhmaṇa of the Soma sacrifice — and it must be introduced honestly. Unlike Kāṇḍa 4, this book is almost entirely prose: narrative and reasoning that explains why each ritual act is done, quoting its mantras as it goes. Across all six prapāṭhakas there is only one complete metrical verse (the anuṣṭubh at 6.1.2, which the text itself identifies as such). What it offers instead is the yajus — the short, complete formulae spoken at each moment of the rite. And these are wonderful precisely because they are small: "Thou art the body of Soma; protect my body" (6.1.1). "O Agni, keep watch well" (6.1.4). "O plant, protect it; O axe, do not harm it" (6.3.3). "In the ocean is thy heart" (6.6.3). Twelve of them follow. This is the Veda at close range — the sentences a person actually says while doing a sacred thing. </pre>