History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v3.c50.4
History of Dharmaśāstra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v3.c50.4
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v3.c50.4.1
The animal sacrifice is an independent sacrifice and it is also performed in soma sacrifices as a constituent part (aṅga). The independent animal sacrifice is called nirūḍhapaśubandha (offering of an eviscerated animal) and the subordinate ones are called saumika (Āśv. III. 8. 3-4). The nirūḍhapaśu is really a modification of an animal sacrifice in somayāga (called agnīṣomīya paśu) as Jai. VIII. 1. 13 declares, but in many sūtras the full procedure of both is set out in the nirūḍhapaśu section (vide Kāt. VI. 10. 32 and com. on Kāt. VI. 1. 31). The nirūḍhapaśubandha itself becomes the prakṛti (archetype or model) of all other animal sacrifices, except savanīya paśu and anūbandhyapaśu. The independent animal sacrifice is to be performed every six months or every year by the āhitāgni throughout his life.²⁴⁸² If done once a year it was to be performed in the rainy season (i. e. in Śrāvaṇa or Bhādrapada) on New moon or Full moon day or if done six monthly then at the beginning of the southward and northward passages of the Sun (dakṣiṇāyana and uttarāyaṇa). Then it may have to be performed on any day and not necessarily on amāvāsyā or paurṇamāsī. According to Āśv. (III. 1. 2-6) optionally an iṣṭi before and after the independent paśubandha rite may be performed and if performed it is offered either to Agni or to Agni-Viṣṇu or to Agni and Agni-Viṣṇu. In this sacrifice there is a sixth priest called Maitrāvaruṇa (or Praśāstṛ) in addition to the five required in the cāturmāsyas.
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An udumbara staff is given to the sacrificer when he is initiated for a sacrifice like Agniṣṭoma. In the paśubandha when the Maitrāvaruṇa enters the sacrificial ground after the priests are chosen the adhvaryu (or yajamāna in some śākhās)²⁴⁸³ hands over that staff (which in length would reach the mouth of the sacrificer) to the maitrāvaruṇa with a mantra and the maitrāvaruṇa accepts it with a corresponding mantra. The maitrāvaruṇa stands slightly bent to the south of the seat of the hotṛ resting his staff on the vedi and utters directions to the hotṛ to repeat yājyās. Till he utters the first praiṣa he is not to touch himself or any one else with the staff. The maitrāvaruṇa is to utter in a standing posture while holding the staff the praiṣas and the anuvākyās wherever a praiṣa is employed and do a few other acts standing; but the rest of his duties in soma sacrifices he does sitting. Jaimini (IV. 2. 16-18) has a discussion (arising out of Tai. S. VI. 1. 4. 2 ‘krīte some maitrāvaruṇāya daṇḍaṁ prayacchati’) on the question whether the handing over of the staff to maitrāvaruṇa is a pratipattikarma or an arthakarma (the conclusion is that it is the latter). The adhvaryu makes an offering of clarified butter in the āhavanīya, which is called yūpāhuti, with the *sruva* or with a *sruc* in which four ladlings of ājya have been poured, with the mantra ‘uru viṣṇo’ (Vāj. S. V. 41, Tai. S. I. 3. 4. 1).
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The adhvaryu, taking the rest of the ājya and the sruva, goes to a place where trees grow, accompanied by a carpenter (takṣan) holding an axe (Āp. VII. 1. 13 and Kāt. VI. 1. 5). The sacrificial post (*yūpa*)²⁴⁸⁴ is to be made of the palāśa, khadira, bilva or rauhītaka tree according as one desires various rewards (Āp. VII. 1. 16), but in Soma sacrifices the yūpa must be of khadira, if possible. Jai. (VI. 3. 28-30) states that, if by accident the sacrificial post made of one kind of tree is destroyed during the continuance of the rite, another yūpa of the same tree or of a tree very similar to it is to be substituted. The tree to be cut must be full of leaves, must not have its top dried up, must be straight and growing on a level spot, and its branches must be turned upwards and it should be bent in some direction other than the south. Adhvaryu, brahmā, the sacrificer and carpenter touch the tree after selecting it with the mantra ‘atyanyān’ (Vāj. S. V. 42, Tai. S. I. 3. 5). The adhvaryu touches the trunk of the tree all round (where it is to be cut) with the sruva anointed with ājya with the mantra ‘May god Savitṛ anoint thee with *madhu*’ (Tai. S. I. 3. 5) or with ‘Viṣṇave tvā’ (Vāj. S. V. 42). He keeps obliquely a darbha blade on the trunk with the words ‘oṣadhe trāyasvainam’ (Tai. S. I. 3. 5 or Vāj. S. V. 42) and strikes the tree with the axe with the mantra ‘O axe! do not injure it’ (svadhite mainaṁ hiṁsīḥ,’ Vāj. S. V. 42 and Tai. S. I. 3. 5).
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The first chip of the tree that is cut off, he keeps in a well-known place and the tree is cut at such a low height from the ground that the stump left in the ground would not strike against the axle of a cart going that way. The tree should be so cut that it should not fall to the south; it should fall to the east or north or north-east (Āp. VII. 2. 7); when it is falling he repeats the mantra ‘do not scratch the heaven with your top &c.’ (Vāj. S. V. 43 or Tai. S. I. 3. 5). He offers ājya with the juhū on the stump of the tree with the mantra ‘O tree, grow again with a hundred shoots’ (Vāj. S. V. 43, Tai. S. I. 3. 5) and having touched one’s body with ‘may we grow into a thousand branches’ (*ibid.*) he cuts off from the bottom upwards the twigs and knots of the felled tree. There were several views about the length of the yūpa (Āp. VII. 2. 11-17, Kāt. VI. 1. 24-26). According to some the yūpa may be of any length from one *aratni* to 33 aratnis, but Kāt. gives the usual length at 3 or 4 aratnis and Āp. (VII. 2. 17) also quotes the Śat. Br. (XI. 7. 4. 1) that the yūpa in nirūḍhapaśubandha is three or four aratnis in length, while in Soma sacrifices the other measures may apply. Kāt. (VI. 1. 31) states that in somayāga the yūpa may be from five to fifteen aratnis in length except 7, 10 or 14 aratnis and in the Vājapeya sacrifice the yūpa is 17 aratnis in length and in the Aśvamedha it is 21 aratnis. According to Āp.
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it must be in length at least as much as the height of the yajamāna or as much as the yajamāna with hands upraised. The girth of the yūpa is not fixed. That part of the yūpa which is to be planted in the pit is called *upara*, which is not to be chiselled and which is about a 5th of the whole log but the rest of it is to be chiselled from the bottom towards the top so as to make the yūpa have eight angles and it should be somewhat tapering towards the top. One corner or angle (out of the eight) should be more prominent than the rest and should face the fire. Out of the top portion of the²⁴⁸⁵ tree that remains after making the yūpa the carpenter prepares a wooden head-piece, eight-cornered and of the length of the hand from the wrist to the tips of the fingers and contracted in the middle like a mortar. This piece is called *caṣāla* and is made hollow so as to fit in exactly on to the top of the yūpa like a turban and the peg-like top of the yūpa on which the caṣāla is fixed should protrude two or three *aṅgulas* beyond the caṣāla (Kāt. VI. 1. 30).