The Religion and Philosophy of the Veda and Upanishads v2.c31.s2.12

v2.c31.s2.12

In this generosity we may take it gods, Fathers, and men shared with all manner of beings, and the term Bali applied to all the offerings. Bhūtayajña may well have been a synonym, whence first were differentiated by regard to the recipients of the offerings the Fathers and men, Pitṛyajña and Manuṣyayajña. All these offerings were precisely of the same kind, made in the same way, without the use of fire, but the domestic ritual suffered expansion by the priests³ through the introduction of the fire ritual, and we have the spectacle of the Devayajña introduced making up with the Brahmayajña, Vedic study,⁴ a set of five sacrifices. The Devayajña, it is plain, is later than the Bhūtayajña in this connexion, and this renders the effort⁵ to interpret Bhūta in the light of the existence of the Devayajña out of the question. It is significant of its later character that the deities of the Devayajña differ greatly and are largely priestly; thus Gobhila⁶ make them to be the late figure of Prajāpati and the technical one of Agni Sviṣṭakṛt, who is far removed from popular rites. The absence of fire is found also, as we have seen, in parts of the Çrauta ritual, as in the hanging of offerings for Rudra on trees, a usage familiar from Germanic ritual, and it is common in the ritual of offerings to the dead which are frequently placed in pits.