Age of the Nandas and Mauryas c12.s8.5

c12.s8.5

The Pāli canon mentions some of the Vedic sacrifices by names such as : Aśvamedha, Naramedha, Sammāpāsa, Vājapeyya and Niraggalam (Samyutta, p. 299). The same are mentioned in the Sanskrit Buddhist texts as Vājapeya, Aśvamedha, Puruṣamedha, Śamyāprāsa, Nirargadam and Samāprābharam. It is not clear which sacrifices were meant by the Śamyāprāsa, Nirargadam and Samāprābharam. They were no doubt Śrauta rituals as there is question of gains by the priests from those sacrifices. No big gain could be expected from the Gṛhya rituals. As they are mentioned along with the important Soma sacrifices such as Aśvamedha, Vājapeya and Puruṣamedha, they seem to have been also Soma sacrifices which entailed large expenditure.