The Religion and Philosophy of the Veda and Upanishads v2.c30.s9.3

v2.c30.s9.3

The rite is explained by the Aitareya Brāhmaṇa¹ as a mystic union of the gods which provides a new body for the sacrificer, and this theory is accepted by Geldner,² who regards it as an allegory of sexual union generally. This is not an attractive explanation: the explanation of the Mahāvīra pot as a symbol of the Liṅga is wholly unsupported by a single word in the formulae, and the explanations of the Brāhmaṇas are always to be taken with the utmost care. On the other hand, we have clear suggestions in other passages that the rite, which is one of a specially dangerous, that is, sacred type,³ was understood as a sun spell, and this is directly indicated by the formulae used at the rite. The pot is covered with a golden plate, which can be nothing else than a symbol of fire or the sun, the pot glows, the milk, which in its whiteness is a sun symbol, boils with heat. The sacrificer by drinking as usual a share of the milk thus gains power at the same time as the sun is strengthened. Nor is there any objection to the fact that the offering is made to the Açvins: the turning of magic into prayer and sacrifice is a constant feature of the Vedic ritual, parallel to the turning of prayer and sacrifice into magic, and, once the rite existed, the idea of presenting the milk to the Açvins, the harbingers of morning, was almost inevitable.⁴