The Religion and Philosophy of the Veda and Upanishads v1.c27.s6.32

v1.c27.s6.32

The rules for the steps to be taken to set up the three fires or the householder's single fire are many and minute, but of little general importance: it is precisely in minutiae that the genius of the Brahmans shows itself to its complete extent, but, as in the case of the Roman priesthood, without gain to religious conceptions. The two normal methods are the old-fashioned one of producing the fire from the fire sticks, a process which is of immemorial antiquity in India,² and the obtaining of the fire from the fire maintained by a great sacrificer or wealthy master of cattle, the chief kind of Vedic wealth: in the first case the fire is new and pure, in the second it bears with it the associations of ceremony or of wealth or both. In the case of the household fire it is often preferred to take it from the last fire tended by the householder as a Brahman student, thus doubtless preserving the continuity of his holiness, or in the alternative from the fire with which his marriage ceremonies were performed, and which therefore is a suitable fire for the continuance of the rites arising from his married state. But in the case of the four-month offerings, and the Soma sacrifice as at the animal offering, it is the practice to produce by friction a new fire and unite it with the Āhavanīya, in order doubtless to refresh it and make it strong. In this usage may be seen the remnant of an idea, that the fire grows from time to time tired, and should annually be refreshed by being superseded by a new fire. The evidence for such a belief being really held in any strong way in the Vedic period is, however, very weak: Hillebrandt's³ suggestions that once a year the fire was normally relit rests on combinations which are without any value. The chief occasion recognized by the ritual for the setting up of new fires was when it was found that the existing fires were not bringing good fortune to the offerer. For this occasion the rite of re-establishment, Punarādheya, was prescribed.