The Religion and Philosophy of the Veda and Upanishads v2.c39.s3.114

v2.c39.s3.114

Of quite special interest among these speculations is the theory of the piling of the sacred fire, which has peculiarities of its own and deserves, therefore, special consideration.⁶ The building of the fire altar, as we have seen, is no ordinary part of the ritual: it is not an essential part perhaps of any sacrifice at all, and it is perfectly clear that the elaboration of the performance meant that it was one to be undertaken only occasionally, and then by a rich noble or prince or Brahman. The essence of the piling is clearly mystic: it has the purpose of carrying out in ritual form the essential act of the reconstruction of Prajāpati, whose sacrifice as Puruṣa has resulted in the creation of the universe in all its parts. This sacrifice cannot be regarded as a single definite act in time: it is rather a constant process, and therefore the dismembered god must ever and again be renewed. The renewal is brought about by the reconstruction of Prajāpati in the shape of the fire altar. The mass of significant members connected in the ritual is noteworthy: the god himself is not merely identified with Puruṣa as is natural, but he is identical with Agni as fire: the identification is carried out in detail: the fire altar is a year in building, and the fire-pan which the sacrificer has is for a year carried about by him. The bricks for the altar are prepared while preparation is made of the fire-pan. The altar is arranged to represent earth, atmosphere, and heaven, and the same arrangement is devised in the fire-pan. The relations between Prajāpati and Agni are not absolutely simple: Prajāpati is the father of Agni, but also the son, since Agni restores him by the sacrifice, and the fire altar is the body of Agni, through which Prajāpati is built up. Agni is also the child of the waters—which in their turn are created by Prajāpati—and in the fire altar there is laid at the bottom a lotus leaf from which Agni is born. The bird shape of the fire altar is also often referred to as well as the mortal shape: the bird shape is clearly connected with the myth of Agni in lightning form bringing down the Soma from the sky: the Soma, moreover, as the sacrifice *par excellence*, is, as was inevitable, identified with Prajāpati. The bird altar has, however, another aspect: the bird is to fly to the sky as the sacrifice, and with the bird the sacrificer who is identified with Prajāpati is to attain the sky.¹ In the piling of the altar the symbolism is carried out in the form of the gold disk, a symbol of the sun, which is placed over the lotus, and over which again is placed the golden image of a man, above whom lie in the first, third, and fifth layers of the pile the three naturally perforated bricks, representing the three worlds, through which the golden man can breathe, and through which the sacrificer must rise to the sun. The symbolism is effective: the ideas of the sun, the god Agni, the all-creator, and the sacrificer, as identical, and the nature of the sacrifice as leading to the world of heaven, are as efficiently produced by the ritual, as can be well conceived.