The Religion and Philosophy of the Veda and Upanishads v1.c27.s5.53

v1.c27.s5.53

In some cases it is true that we find alleged sacrifices of things which cannot be regarded as eatable or indeed of any use to the gods at all. In these cases the explanation is simple: a magic rite is dressed up as an offering: if a man seeks a hundred years, the normal term of life, and offers a hundred nails of Khadira wood, he turns a magic rite into a sacrifice *pro forma*:¹ similarly, if he offers manure to produce plenteousness in cattle,² or gives the sacrificer the strength of a lion, wolf, and tiger by mixing in the oblation at the Sautrāmaṇī hairs of these animals.³ Such cases are instructive as they show that the idea that the horse sacrifice might in itself merely be intended to secure to the sacrificer the strength and swiftness of the horse is by no means absurd or unreasonable, even if it is not quite a complete view of the rite.