The Religion and Philosophy of the Veda and Upanishads v2.c30.s17.1

v2.c30.s17.1

While the human sacrifice occupies five pressing days, the universal sacrifice, Sarvamedha,³ takes ten, and it is modelled on the offering made of himself by Brahman Svayambhu, in the beginning of things. Its relation to the human sacrifice is held to be the perfection of the former: at the human sacrifice, according to Çāṅkhāyana, the offerer gives away the kingdom with the people: at this he gives the earth away also, and in Hillebrandt's⁴ view the rite marked the act by which the king left the royal life for the ascetic, as the Buddha afterwards did. It is, however, difficult to take the offering seriously: it is based on myth, and seems no more than a purely priestly fiction: this is borne out by the fact that it is mentioned only in the latest Sūtras, though it figures in the legend of Naciketas.