The Arctic Home in the Vedas c11.43

c11.43

It will be seen from the above scheme that there are really a few sacrificial rites which are absolutely fixed and unchangeable in the yearly Sattra. The two Atirâtras, the introductory and the concluding, the Chaturvimsha and the Mahâvrata day, the Abhijit and the Viṣhvajit, the three Svara-Sâman days on either side of Viṣhuvân, the Viṣhuvân itself, and the ten days of Dvâdashâha, making up 22 days in all, exclusive of Viṣhuvân, are the only parts that have any speciality about them. The rest of the days are all made up by Abhiplava and Pṛiṣṭhya ṣaḷahas, which, therefore, constitute what may be called the elastic or the variable part of the yearly Sattra. Thus if we want a Gavâm-ayanam of ten months, we have only to strike off five ṣaḷahas from the parts marked 3 and 11 in the above scheme. The Âdityânâm-ayanam is another modification of the above scheme in which, amongst other changes, the ṣaḷahas are all Abhiplava, instead of being a combination of Abhiplava and Pṛiṣṭhya; while if all the ṣaḷahas are Pṛiṣṭhya, along with some other changes, it becomes the Aṅgirasâm-ayanam. All these modifications do not, however, touch the total number of 360 days. But there were sacrificers, who adopted the lunar year of 354 days, and therefore, omitted 6 days from the above scheme; and their Sattra is called the Utsar-giṇâm-ayanam (Tait. Saṁ. VII, 5, 7, 1; Tāṇḍya Brâh. V, 10). In short, the object was to make the Sattra correspond with the year adopted, civil or lunar, as closely as possible. But these points are not relevant to our purpose. The Brâhmaṇas and the Shrauta Sûtras give further details about the various rites to be performed on the Viṣhuvân, the Abhijit and the Vishvajit or the Svara-sâman day. The Aitareya Âraṇyaka describes the Mahâvrata ceremony; while the Atirâtra and the Chaturviṁsha are described in the fourth book of the Aitareya Brâhmaṇa. The Chaturviṁsha is so called because the stoma to be chanted on that day is twenty-four-fold. It is the real beginning of the Sattra as the Mahâvrata is its end. The Aitareya Brâhmaṇa (IV, 14) says, "The Hotṛi pours forth the seed. Thus he makes the seed (which is poured forth) by means of the Mahâvrata day produce off-spring. For seed if effused every year is productive." This explanation shows that like the Pravargya ceremony, the Mahâvrata was intended to preserve the seed of the sacrifice in order that it might germinate or grow at the proper time. It was a sort of link between the dying and the coming year, and appropriately concluded the annual Sattra. It will be further seen that every annual Sattra had an Ati-râtra at each of its ends, and that the Dvâdashâha, or rather the ten days thereof, formed an important concluding part of the Sattra.