The Religion and Philosophy of the Veda and Upanishads v1.c27.s3.30

v1.c27.s3.30

The only other explanation of the rite which may at first sight seem plausible is the idea that the ass is the representative of the man, in that the man instead of sacrificing himself to the angry deity offers a substitute. We might, if we accepted this view, rank with this case the instances of the representation of the members of the family by the dishes in the Varuṇa-praghāsas, the offering of hair to the dead,¹ and the assertion of the Brāhmaṇas that the victim which is offered to Agni and Soma in the course of the Soma sacrifice is really offered as a ransom for oneself.² This theory, however, will not stand any close examination. The explanation³ of the hair offering is open to the gravest objection: it seems rather a mere mode of bringing the living into the closest possible connexion with the dead, through the medium of part of himself, without any idea that he either should or would give himself as an offering. The case of the dishes is obviously a case of simple material transfer without any idea of offering of the members of the family, and the victim for Agni and Soma is only said to be a substitute in explanatory and speculative passages, and even there the view is evidently not always accepted: its true nature will be explained later. The explanation in the case of the ass sacrifice is also most improbable: it treats the sin which is evidently by no means a very serious one—the chastity of the Brahmans was evidently of a somewhat mild order of virtue—as if it were a deadly sin, a conception not at all a favourite one with the priests.