“Indra said, ’Regarding this Sudeva, O sire, the great sacrifice of battle had often been spread out by him.  The same becomes the case with every other man that engages in fight.  Every warrior accoutred in armour, by advancing against foes in battle array, becomes installed in that sacrifice.  Indeed, it is a settled conclusion that such a person, by acting in this way, comes to be regarded as the performer of the sacrifice of battle.’

“Amvarisha said, ’What constitutes the libations in that sacrifice?  What constitutes its liquid offerings?  What is its Dakshina?  Who, again, are regarded its Ritwijas?  Tell me all this, O performer of a hundred sacrifices.’

“Indra said, ’Elephants constitute the Ritwijas of that sacrifice, and steeds are its Audharyus.  The flesh of foes constitutes ifs libations, and blood is its liquid offering.[290] Jackals and vultures and ravens, as also winged shafts, constitute its Sadasyas.  These drink the remnants left of the liquid offering in this sacrifice and eat the remnants of its libations.  Heaps of lances and spears, of swords and darts and axes, blazing, sharp, and well-tempered, constitute the ladles of the sacrificer.  Straight, sharp, and well-tempered arrows, with keen points and capable of piercing the bodies of foes, impelled from well-stretched bows, constitute its large double-mouthed ladles.  Sheathed in scabbards made of tiger-skin and equipped with handles made of ivory, and capable of cutting off the elephant’s trunk, the swords form the Sphises of this sacrifice.[291] The strokes inflicted with blazing and keen lances and darts and swords and axes, all made of hard iron, constitute its profuse wealth procured from the respectable people by agreement in respect of the amount and period.  The blood that runs over the field in consequence of the fury of the attack, constitutes the final libation, fraught with great merit and capable of granting every wish, in the Homa of this sacrifice.  Cut, Pierce, and such other sounds, that are heard in the front ranks of the array, constitute the Samans sung by its Vedic chanters in the abode of Yama.  The front ranks of the enemy’s array constitute the vessel for the keep of its libations.  The crowd of elephants and steeds and men equipped with shields are regarded to constitute the Syenachit fire of that sacrifice.  The headless trunks that rise up after thousands have been slaughtered constitute the octagonal stake, made of Khadira wood, for the hero who performs that sacrifice.  The shrieks that elephants utter when urged on with hooks, constitute its Ida mantras.  The kettle-drums, with the slaps of palms forming the Vashats, O king, are its Trisaman Udgatri.  When the property or a Brahmana is being taken away, he who casts off his body that is so dear for protecting that property, does, by that act of self-devotion, acquire the merit or a sacrifice with infinite presents.  That hero who, for the sake of his master, displays prowess