Ancient Indian Education (Brahmanical and Buddhist) c8.35

c8.35

‘**Yajña’ as Symbol of Creation.** Vedic thought conceived of Yajña as a symbol or representation of creation and its processes as understood by it. As each individual creature is fundamentally subject to the laws governing Creation as a whole and is a part of the cosmic plan and purpose towards the fulfilment of which it is his supreme duty to contribute by his own self-fulfilment, the Veda invented this most wonderful device of the Yajña as a visible picture of his *Dharma* or religion to remind him of the laws of his being and of his supreme duty aforesaid. The conception of Yajña is thus modelled on that of Creation as presented in Vedic Literature and first indicated in the hymns of the Rigveda, especially the hymns x, 81, 82, 90, 121, 129. Of these, x, 90 is the famous Purusha-Sūkta first presenting the whole process of creation as a *Yajña*. At this primordial and original Yajña, the Creator of the Universe called the *Virāṭ-Purusha* created the universe by offering Himself up as the sacrifice to provide the foundation upon which the structure could rise and rest and the very material out of which it could be constructed. The Śruti text, *Rv.* x, 81, asks the fundamental questions: "Kiṁ svit āsīt adhishṭhānaṁ ārambhaṇaṁ"; "Kiṁ svit vanaṁ ka u sa vṛiksha āsa yato dyāvā-pṛithivī nishṭatakshuḥ"; "Yat adhyatishṭhat bhuvanāni dhārayan"; "Where was the place, what the material, where was the forest, and which the tree, to which the Architect of the Universe resorted in creating it?"