The Religion and Philosophy of the Veda and Upanishads v2.c30.s4.1

Language: English

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These sacrifices¹ are of special value as they form the model for all sacrifices of the type called Iṣṭi, which include an enormous number of offerings for special ends ; in all these cases the sacrifice is assumed to be performed precisely as in the new- and full-moon offerings, but with the distinction that some special rite is inserted in the place of the essential features of these offerings, which are at the full-moon offering a cake for Agni and Soma, and at the new-moon offering a cake for Agni and Indra. Moreover, at the latter offering some authorities allowed a milk mess made of sweet and sour milk for Indra or Mahendra, while others restricted this offering to one who offered the Soma sacrifice. The new and full moon themselves received no offerings, except in the view of certain authorities who prescribed offerings to the Parvans : the times served only to fix the dates of the offerings, and there was, it is clear, difficulty in deciding exactly when the offerings should be made. Two days were required at new moon, but one might suffice at the full moon. On the first day the ceremonies were in the main preparatory, the making ready of the fires, and the taking of a vow by the sacrificer, which involved abstinence from meat, sleeping on the ground, the cutting of hair and beard, and so on.

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If the milk mess were to be offered on this day, a twig of Palāça or Çamī wood was cut to drive away the calves from the cows, for the milking of the latter, a rite which is paralleled in western Europe.² The ceremonies of the second day consisted in the preparation of the rice, its pounding and husking, the cooking of the cakes, the preparation of the altar, the girding of the wife of the sacrificer, the looking at a pot of butter, the covering of the altar with the grass, and the setting up of the partitioning sticks which were intended to keep off evil spirits. At the end of these preliminaries the real sacrifice begins ; first come fifteen Sāmidhenī verses accompanying the laying on of kindling wood. The verses are joined into a single whole by the device of pausing after the first half verse of each. Then come two libations of the butter, doubtless in part at least necessary to make the fire burn brightly ; between them comes the Pravara, the enumeration of the seers who were claimed as ancestors by the sacrificer—or if he were not a Brahman by his Purohita—and the invitation of the gods, whom Agni is invoked to bring to the offering in the order in which they were to be honoured. After the second of these Āghāras comes the formal choosing of the Hotṛ by the Adhvaryu on the authority of the Āgnīdhra, in which the ancestors of the sacrificer are again named. The Hotṛ then touches the Adhvaryu and Āgnīdhra, in order doubtless to establish a community between them.

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Then come the fore-offerings of butter to the kindling sticks, the god Tanūnapāt or Narāśaṅsa, the sacrificial food (*iḍā*), the gods who have been invited to the offering and are now honoured. Then come the Ājya offerings of butter for Agni and Soma, which at the new moon must be accompanied by verses containing the word *vṛdh*, 'grow', and at the full moon by verses referring to the slaying of Vṛtra. There follows a cake for Agni, a butter offering made in a low tone for Agni and Soma, and then the offering, to Agni and Soma at the full moon, to Agni and Indra, with or without a milk mess for Indra, at the new moon. The close of the offering is marked by an offering to Agni Sviṣṭakṛt, 'the maker of the sacrifice correct', in which all the gods are invoked. Then comes the tasting of the offering by the priest, the Brahman has a special portion, the Prāçitra, the Āgnīdhra another, the Ṣaḍavatta, and all the priests invoke the Iḍā, which is taken from all the offerings, and, while doing so, they touch the sacrificer. Then the cakes are given to them, and thereafter each has a part of the Iḍā. The Fathers are invoked to take part, and the fees are given, in this case the Anvāhārya mess cooked in the Dakṣiṇa fire, perhaps merely because of the name. The distribution of the fees is followed by the Anuyājas, to the strew, Narāçaṅsa, and Agni Sviṣṭakṛt, and the Sūktavāka, which concludes with an invocation of prosperity for the sacrificer and a prayer;

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at the end of this prayer the Prastara, or bundle of grass which is supposed to represent the sacrificer, is put in the fire. Then comes the Çaṁyuvāka, an invocation of prosperity, accompanied by the burning of the enclosing sticks. The remains are offered to the All-gods, then follow four Patnīsaṁyājas, offerings to the gods with the wives of the gods, to Soma, Tvaṣṭṛ, the wives of the gods, and Agni Gṛhapati: the third is offered under a covering while the wife of the sacrificer touches the Adhvaryu: the offerings are of butter, and made in the Gārhapatya fire. Then come minor rites to accompany the burning of the strew, and to make good defects, the Rakṣases are given the fragments which have been produced in the husking of the rice, the wife's girdle is loosened and laid down, the sacrificer in imitation of and assimilation to Viṣṇu strides three steps from the south hip of the altar ground, which is made to be like the shape of a woman, to the east, pays reverence to the Āhavanīya and Gārhapatya, and then lays aside his vow.