The Religion and Philosophy of the Veda and Upanishads v2.c30.s15.1

Language: English

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The horse sacrifice⁴ is in the ritual reckoned an Ahīna, that is a rite with more than one day on which the Soma is pressed, in this case three. It is an old and famous rite, which kings alone can bring, to increase their realms: we have lists of the great kings of old⁵ who were consecrated and who performed the horse sacrifice. The horse chosen must be swift, in front black, behind white, and with a dark mark. The offering begins on the 8th or 9th of Phālguna or in summer. On that day a mess of rice is cooked for the priests, and the king, his four wives, and their four hundred maidens of different ranks assemble, the king spending the night at the Gārhapatya fire. Next morning the horse is bound, and sprinkled in standing water: a man of low class kills with a club of Sidhraka wood a four-eyed dog, and lets it float on a mat under the horse. The sacrificer says, ‘He who will kill the horse attacks Varuṇa: away the man, away the horse!’¹ The horse is then led back to the fire, and offerings are made of cakes to Savitṛ in various forms for three days. The horse is then set free to wander with a hundred old horses, and guarded by four hundred youths of the same relative rank as the ladies of the queen, who are armed with armour, with swords, arrows, or sticks according to their rank, as princes, warriors, sons of heralds and headmen, and sons of attendants and charioteers.

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They must guard the horse from any danger, including bathing and intercourse with mares, doubtless acts calculated to reduce its sanctity of power. The princes among them are promised the royal consecration as the reward for success. If any ill fall upon the horse, it must be atoned for: if it dies, a new horse is found and some ceremonies repeated. During the period of its absence the priests and the sacrificer sit on golden thrones: the Hotṛ begins the telling of the cyclic² narrative, Pariplava Ākhyāna, the telling of tales, Ākhyānas, of ancient kings, which last by series of ten days for the whole year. At the end of the performance the Adhvaryu offers in the Dakṣiṇa fire libations for the movements of the steed, and in the Āhavanīya, after sunset, the Dhṛti libations to secure the success of the rite: at his bidding a lute player, a Rājanya, sings to the lute three Gāthās, verses, made by himself which refer to victories in battle connected with the sacrificer. All the performances repeat themselves daily for a year, or six months, or even for half a month, if the period is reduced. When the horse returns, the king, who has been celebrated hitherto with the kings of the past, is from the Dīkṣā day of the new sacrifice hailed as with the gods, and on the three pressing days proper with Prajāpati. The first pressing day³ falls on the full moon of Vaiçākha: there are 21 posts and 21 victims for Agni and Soma: on the days of pressing the victims are two sets of eleven each.

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The second pressing day is the most important. The Stotra is started at the neighing of a horse in the morning: after the Çastra of the Hotṛ, three other horses are yoked with the sacrificial horse, and are driven to bathe. On the return of the horses the victim is anointed by the chief of the queens, and 101 gold pieces placed in its mane and tail. It is given the remains of an offering made the previous night; but, if it will not eat them, they are cast into water. Then take place curious riddles between the Brahman and the Hotṛ, the Brahmodya.⁴ Then the victims are bound to the posts, in all 327 or 349 tame animals and a large number of wild animals from the elephant to the bee, making 609 in one version. The large numbers, especially of the wild animals, which were, however, to be let go after the fire had been carried round them, are suspicious : the best defence ¹ to be made is that there was need of large numbers for the festival to follow the sacrifice. The horse is covered with a garment and slain : the queens go round it from left to right thrice, and thrice *vice versa* : the chief queen goes near the horse : both are covered with a garment, and the queen unites with it : meanwhile the priest and the maidens and the other wives indulge in ribald dialogue. Then the horse and the other victims are cut up.

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The blood is cooked, the omentum offering of the ordinary ritual prepared : before it another Brahmodya between Hotṛ and Adhvaryu, Brahman and Udgātṛ, sacrificer and Adhvaryu, takes place. The rest of the horse is cooked, the blood offered at the end of the Sviṣṭakṛt offering and also on other occasions. Before the Sviṣṭakṛt offering the cooked flesh is offered to Prajāpati, and at the end of the second day offerings are made, through the night, of various plants.