History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v3.c47.10

v3.c47.10

The fundamental conceptions of *Yajña* (sacrifice) go back to Indo-European²²²⁴ antiquities though the traces are rather faint. But it is quite clear that the cult of the sacrifice had been much developed in the Indo-Iranian period. There is a very striking resemblance between the Vedic Agniṣṭoma and the Homa ceremony of the Parsis (vide Haug's Ait. Br. vol. I, Introduction p. 59 ff). There are numerous words indicative of the cult of the sacrifice both in the Vedic language and in the ancient Parsi religious books. For example, words like *atharvan*, *āhuti*, *uktha*, *barhis*, *mantra*, *yajña*, *soma*, *savana*, *stoma*, *hotṛ* do also occur in the ancient Parsi religious scriptures.²²²⁵ Though Vedic sacrifices are now very rarely performed (except a few simple ones like the Darśa-pūrṇamāsa and the Cāturmāsyas), they were in great vogue several centuries before the Christian era. Centuries after the advent and spread of Buddhism we learn from inscriptions and literary traditions that kings often performed the ancient solemn Vedic sacrifices and gloried in having done so. In the Harivaṁśa (III. 2. 39-40), in the Mālavikāgnimitra (Act V, which speaks of Rājasūya), in the Śuṅga Inscription from Ayodhyā (E. I. vol. XX. p. 54) Senāpati Puṣyamitra is said to have performed the Aśvamedha (or Rājasūya). In the Hathigumpha Inscription (E. I. vol. XX. at p. 79) king Khāravela is extolled as having performed the Rājasūya. In the Bilsad stone Inscription of Kumāragupta dated in the Gupta year 96 (i. e. 415-6 A. D.) it is stated that his great ancestor Samudragupta performed the Aśvamedha that had gone out of vogue for a long time (*cirotsannāśvamedhāhartuḥ*, in Gupta Inscriptions at p. 43). In the Pardi plates (of Cedi *saṁ.* 207 i. e. 456-7 A. D.) the Traikūṭaka king Dahrasena is described as the performer of Aśvamedha (E. I. vol. X. p. 53). The Pikira grant of Siṁhavarman (E. I. vol. VIII. p. 162) describes the Pallavas as the performers of many Aśvamedhas and another Pallava grant (in E. I. vol. I p. 2 at p. 5) refers to the performance of Agniṣṭoma, Vājapeya and Aśvamedha. The Chammak plate of the Vākāṭaka king Pravarasena II (Gupta Inscriptions No. 55 p. 236) speaks of Pravarasena I as the performer of many Śrauta sacrifices.²²²⁶