The Religion and Philosophy of the Veda and Upanishads v2.c30.s13.1

v2.c30.s13.1

The Vājapeya¹ is of especial interest in that it preserves, despite the formalism imposed upon it by its inclusion in the Soma ritual, many traces of very popular origin. It is said by many authorities to be a festival of the autumn, and it is also allowed either to perform it independently, or as the sixth day of a Sarvamedha or universal sacrifice. It consists of one pressing day and at least 13 days of consecration and three Upasad days, so that it takes up at least 17 days and may be spun out to a year. It adds to the ordinary Ṣoḍaçin form a seventeenth Stotra and Çastra, and the number seventeen is also introduced into the Bahiṣpavamāna and Mādhyandinapavamāna Stotras in place of the Trivṛt and Pañcadaça Stomas there normally used. The number of cups in the ordinary rite is increased by the addition of the Aṅçu and Adābhya, and also five Vājapeya or Aindra cups; there are added a dappled barren cow for the Maruts, and seventeen goats for Prajāpati, hornless but capable of procreation. The sacrificer, his wife, and the priest all wear garlands of gold, which form the fees. The special features of the rite begin with the midday pressing, at which a warrior with seventeen arrows measures out a course for a race, marking the place where the last falls with a twig of Udumbara. Then three horses of the sacrificer are yoked to his chariot, sixteen others are yoked with four horses each, and the sacrificer is victorious in a formal race, during which 17 drums are beaten, and the Brahman climbs up a post, on which is fastened a wheel of Udumbara wood, to sing the Sāman of the strong steeds, while the wheel is turned to the right. The horses are given, before and after the race, the offering to Bṛhaspati to smell, to gain its strength. In the second place, along with the cups of Soma there are offered by the Neṣṭṛ alternatively cups of Surā, which are purchased from a long-haired man and placed in a special place. Mention is also made of a cup of honey, which is not used for any offering, but is placed in the hand of a Kṣatriya or Vaiçya competitor, and seems to be an unintelligible remainder of an older rite. In the third place, the sacrificer for himself and his wife solemnly mounts to the sun by climbing with the aid of a ladder to the top of the sacrificial post which is decorated by placing on it a wheel-shaped garland of meal, in which position he is touched by the priest or others with salt in Açvattha leaves. He then descends and sits on a throne, and is sprinkled with a mixture of water, milk, and seventeen other substances, or so many as can be thought of, with the exception of one of which he never again eats. The rest of the mixture is used for certain libations called Vājaprasavīya, and the festival closes with seventeen Ujjitis, ‘benedictions’, which can be accompanied by libations.