Prapathaka 3

Kṛṣṇa Yajurveda (Taittirīya Saṃhitā) 4.3 belongs to the dense ritual prose that integrates altar-technology with Soma liturgy. The chapter articulates how the sacrificer’s consecrated body, the heated and established fires, and the measured altar-space are made mutually homologous through mantra and act. It treats the transition from preparatory rites (dīkṣā/upasad/pravargya-type heating and strengthening motifs) to the stabilized sacrificial field (uttaravedi and agni placements), emphasizing correct sequencing, metrical correspondences, and the apportioning of oblations to deities who “hold” the rite (Agni, Soma, Savitṛ, the Ādityas, the Aśvins, and Viṣṇu as stride/measure). The text’s characteristic style—short injunctive clauses paired with mantra-citations—constructs a ritual epistemology: efficacy arises from exact placement, exact speech, and exact equivalence between cosmic order (ṛta) and the altar’s geometry. Thus TS 4.3 functions as a hinge chapter, binding material construction to sacrificial temporality and to the sacrificer’s renewed status.