The Religion and Philosophy of the Veda and Upanishads v2.c36.s3.10

v2.c36.s3.10

The similarity of the domestic and the Çrauta ritual in the case of the offerings to the dead is most marked, indeed more clearly so than in the case of the offerings to the gods, where the presence of the three fires led the Brahmans to constant elaboration of the rites in which they were interested, until they bore but faint similarity to the rites of the householder. In the case of the offerings to the dead, however, the southern fire is the only fire of consequence: the performances of the sacrificer and the priest in the other fires are purely formal, mainly devices to give them something to do, when the Fathers were presumed in spiritual presence to be eating the offerings from which, it is clear, they were deemed to extract the vital heat.