The Religion and Philosophy of the Veda and Upanishads v1.c27.s6.1

v1.c27.s6.1

The constant interrelation of magic and religion in the Vedic cult is seen in its most complete form in the position of the fire, which serves the double end of the mode in which the sacrifice is brought to the gods, and of the most effective agency for the banning of evil spirits. The Vedic hymns show clearly enough the enormous value of the fire for the driving away of the Rakṣases, and the ritual bears this out in the most marked manner. There is lighted a special fire, the Sūtikāgni, in place of the normal fire for the woman in childbirth: it is not used for any offering except for the fumigation of the newly born infant and the warming of dishes, but its object of driving off evil spirits is attested by the list of evil spirits who are banned in the ritual.⁴ The haircutting of the child is likewise performed to the west of a fire, which is not used for any offering, though utensils of the rite are put around it.⁵ The teacher initiates his pupil and girds on the sacred girdle, which marks his second birth, in the presence of a fire,⁶ but in this case the making of an offering in it shows the tendency to mingle religion and magic: the recitation goes on in the presence of a fire. Such a fire is absolutely essential, when the passages recited are of special importance and therefore holiness.⁷ The consecration of the offerer of Soma takes place before a fire; after a death, fire is used to drive away the evil powers, fire is used even in battle,⁸ the third of the holy fires of the ritual seems to have been intended from the first to drive away evil spirits: the south is the region of the Fathers and of the demons⁹ akin to them, and, when it is being used for offerings to the Fathers, a brand is taken out from it to drive away the evil spirits, which seek to have a share in the sacrifice.¹⁰