India as Known to Panini: A Study of the Cultural Material in the Ashtadhyayi c11.s2.4

c11.s2.4

YAJAMĀNA (SACRIFICER)—The sacrificer was called *Yajamāna* (III.2.128) for the period of the sacrifice, after which he was on that basis called *Yajvā* (III.2.103). There were also other terms derived from the performance of special sacrifices, as *Agnishṭoma-yājī* (III.2.85). A person devoted (*tach-chhīla*) to the constant performance of *yajñas* was called *yāyajūka* (III.2.166; *ijyā-śīlo yāyajūkaḥ*, *Amara*). For the period of the sacrifice, the *yajamāna* observed the vow of restraining himself from wordy speech, hence called *vāchaṁ-yama* (*Vāchi yamo vrate*, III.2.40), and of sleeping on a raised platform on the *vedi*, hence called *sthāṇḍila* (IV.2.15) or *sthaṇḍila-śāyī* (III.2.80). The son or the student of the *yaja-māna* when he came to be of age as competent to perform the sacrificial act was called *alaṁkarmīṇa*, sitting by his side and assisting him (*Yadyasya putro vāntevasī vālaṁ-karmīṇaḥ syāt-sa dakshiṇata āsīno juhuyād iti*, *Baud Śr.*, XXII.20). *Karma* in this *sūtra* meant *Yajña* (cf. *Yajur.*, I.1; *Śatapatha*, I.1.21, *yajño vai karma*).