The Religion and Philosophy of the Veda and Upanishads v2.c30.s7.5

Language: English

v2.c30.s7.5.1

An essential feature of the rite is the use of a post, to which the victim is tied : in the greater rites as many as eleven are used : the tree is solemnly cut down with protestations that it is not being injured, and, when a splinter is struck out of it in the cutting, that is kept and placed ultimately in the pit in which the post is inserted. The stump is treated with respect, and receives a libation, accompanied by a prayer that it shall spring up with a hundred shoots. The post is placed in a hole which is half within, half without the altar. Round the post a band is placed at the height of the navel; if the sacrificer wishes little or much rain he places it lower or higher. For the sacrifice the altar is placed west of the fire, and in the east third of it another altar, Uttaravedi, is provided as at the Varuṇapraghāsas, and a fire placed there, which takes the place of the normal Āhavanīya, while that serves as the Gārhapatya. There are required also special implements, the spit for the heart, and the utensils by which the omentum is cooked.

v2.c30.s7.5.2

When the preparations are over, the victim is bathed, and brought up, and tied to the post by a string, which is fastened to the left forefoot, round the back, and over the left horn : it is then sprinkled and given a drink.¹ Then the kindling verses are said, the butter oblations are offered, the victim is anointed with the butter,² and the usual procedure of the new- and full-moon sacrifices followed down to the fore-offerings, which number eleven and to which the Āprī litanies provide the Yājyā verses. After the tenth of the fore-offerings, the splinter of the tree, and the one edge of the two-edged knife, are dipped in the butter : the actual slaying must be done with the unconsecrated side by the slaughterer or Çamitṛ, the other being used by the Adhvaryu to cut off portions for offering. The Āgnīdhra thrice carries a brand round the victim, the Apāvya libations are performed, the Adhvaryu gives through the Maitrāvaruṇa the order to the Hotṛ to recite the old litany³ for the slaying of the victim; from the Gārhapatya fire flame is placed on the Çāmitra fire, the victim is then taken over to that fire, preceded by the Āgnīdhra with his firebrand, followed by the Pratiprasthātṛ, touching it with the spit, the Adhvaryu holding on to him and the sacrificer to the Adhvaryu, thus keeping in close contact with the holy power in the victim.

v2.c30.s7.5.3

Then the victim, with its head facing west, its feet north, is by the Çamitṛs strangled or pierced without sound,⁴ while the rest of those present turn their heads away. Then a libation is made, and the wife of the sacrificer brought up. The Adhvaryu or the wife pours water over the members of the victim and washes them. The omentum is taken out and placed on a spit: in the first blood a grass blade is dipped, and thrown north-west or south-west as a spell to devote the enemy to the deepest darkness. It is cooked on the Çāmitra fire, and then placed on the Uttaravedi, where it is covered with butter. Then come the eleventh fore-offering, the two butter portions, and then the offering of the whole of the omentum, which is covered with pieces of gold and butter. The spits are then cast into the fire, and the fees distributed, three barren or three milch cows. Then come the making of the rice cake and the cutting up of the victim: of these eighteen portions are made, of which the first eight count as *daivatāni*: the heart is cooked separately on a spit, the rest of the pieces are cooked in a pot, while the excrement, blood, and stomach are offered to the Rakṣases, in a pit west of the Çāmitra fire outside the altar-ground. The various parts of the animal are then offered, the priests have shares both of the Iḍā as usual and of the meat. Then come the 11 after-offerings, offerings to the strew, the divine doors, &c.

v2.c30.s7.5.4

With each of the after-offerings a supplementary offering is connected in which the Pratiprasthātṛ offers pieces of the intestines which are left over. The splinter, the staff, of which the Maitrāvaruṇa never lets go, and the Prastara, 'bundle of grass', are put into the fire. The offering to the wives of the gods is performed with the tail of the victim, the heart spit is buried, with a verse imploring Varuṇa to forgive sin, in the presence of the sacrificer, his wife, and all the priests.¹ As they go back they each pick up three dry twigs, and place them on the Uttaravedi.