A History of Indian Literature v1.c8.s6.18

v1.c8.s6.18

the Fire Altar,” a ceremony which extends over a whole year, and to which a deep mystical-symbolical meaning is ascribed in the Brāhmaṇas. The fire-altar is named no other than “Agni” and is looked upon throughout as identical with the fire-god. It is built of 10,800 bricks, in the form of a large bird with outspread wings. In the lowest stratum of the altar the heads of five sacrificial animals are immured, and the bodies of the animals are thrown into the water out of which the clay for the manufacture of the bricks and the fire-pan is taken. The modelling and baking of the fire-pan and the separate bricks, many of which have special names and a symbolical significance of their own, is executed with much ceremoniousness accompanied by the continuous recitation of spells and prayer-formulæ. The following sections XIX to XXI give the prayers for the Sautrāmaṇī celebration, a remarkable sacrificial ceremony at which again, instead of the drink of soma, brandy is used and sacrificed to the Aśvins, to the goddess Sarasvatī and to Indra. The ceremony is recommended for one who has drunk too much Soma or with whom the Soma does not agree—and that may have been its original purpose—but also for a Brahman who desires success for himself, for a banished king who desires to regain his throne, for a warrior who desires victory, and for a Vaiśya who wishes to attain great riches. Many of the prayers belonging to this sacrifice refer to the legend of Indra, who was indisposed through intoxication from excessive enjoyment of Soma and had to be cured by the Aśvins and by Sarasvatī.¹ Finally, sections XXII to XXV, with which the old part of the Vājasaneyi-Saṃhitā ends, contain the prayers for the great Horse sacrifice (Aśvamedha), which only a powerful king, a mighty conqueror or “world-ruler,” might offer. Old legends and epic poems tell of primeval kings, who performed this sacrifice, and it is looked upon as the highest glory of a ruler, if it can be said of him: "He offered the Horse-sacrifice." The purpose of this great sacrifice is expressed very beautifully in the prayer Vāj.-Saṃh., XXII, 22: