Ancient Indian Education (Brahmanical and Buddhist) c10.27

c10.27

The Yajurveda fixes the religious scheme and ordering of Hindu life in the course of ceremonies it prescribes. It prescribes various sacrifices among which may be mentioned those for the New and Full Moon, the Fathers (*Piṇḍa-pitṛiyajña*), Fire (Agnihotra to be performed both morning and evening), seasons (Chāturmāsyas to be performed every four months), Rājasūya (for kings only), Aśvamedha (for a King of Kings), and Agnichayana (ceremony for building the Fire-altar which lasted for a year and was possessed of a mystical significance). This ceremony throws some light upon the architecture of the times. The altar was to be built of 10,800 bricks in the form of a large bird with outspread wings. In its lowest stratum were immured the heads of five sacrificial animals. Their bodies were thrown into water out of which was taken the clay for the manufacture of the bricks and of the fire-pan. Prayers accompanied every process of building, the modelling and baking of the fire-pan and the individual bricks, some of which bore special names. Equally symbolic was the horse-sacrifice of which the purpose was national well-being, as stated below [*Vājasaneyi Saṁhitā*, xxii, 22] :—