Talk:Gṛhasthāśrama:Sacrifices

By Sri Chandrasekharendra Saraswati Swami

Four hundred yajña-s or sacrifices are said to be mentioned in the Veda-s. Of these, aupāsana alone is to be performed by all the four varṇa-s. Though the first three varṇa-s have the right to all the other sacrifices, in practice these were performed mostly by Brāhmaṇa-s and Kṣatriya-s only. But later Kṣatriya-s too neglected to perform them. There are yajña-s to be conducted specially by them to earn physical strength, victory in war, and so on. Sacrifices like rājasūya and aśvamedha were performed by imperial rulers. There are yāga-s that have to be performed by Vaiśya-s for a good agricultural yield, for wealth, etc. As mentioned before, the yajamāna of a sacrifice may be a Kṣatriya or a Vaiśya, but the four priests must be Brāhmaṇa-s. (The idea behind it is that if members of these two castes were to participate directly in the sacrifices, their duties like protecting the country and looking after agriculture would suffer.)

Not all sacrifices need be performed by all Brāhmaṇa-s. A number of them are meant to serve one specific purpose or another. For instance, you must have heard of the putrakāmeṣṭi in the Rāmāyaṇa, the sacrifice performed to beget a son.

Any rite meant to fulfil a wish is kāmya-karma and it comes under the optional category. Then there are rites that are obligatory on your part to conduct for the good of your Ātman as well as of the world. They come under the category of nitya-karma, but the word nitya here does not denote daily.

In the category of nitya-karma there are 21 sacrifices. There is no compulsion with regard to the rest of the 400. But the 21, included in the forty saṁskāra-s, must be performed at least once in a lifetime. As we have seen, these are divided into groups of seven — pakayajña-s, haviryajña-s and somayajña-s.

Marriage is conducted with offerings made in the fire, is it not? Aupāsana, which must be performed every day, is commenced in this fire and it must be preserved throughout one's life. The seven pakayajña-s, rites like upanayana and śrāddha must be conducted in the aupāsana fire. The son lights his aupāsana fire during his marriage from his father's aupāsana fire. The son's aupāsana fire, like his father's, must be maintained throughout his life. Thus, without any break, the sacred fire is kept burning in the family generation after generation.

All rites in which the aupāsana fire is used and that pertain to an individual and his family are Gṛhyakarma-s. The seven pakayajña-s also belong to this category. They are related exclusively to the family and are not very elaborate. Even so, they are conducive to the good of the world outside also. Gṛhyasūtra-s deal with such rites. They belong to the Smṛti-s and are called Smārta-karma-s.

The elaborate works that are especially meant for the well-being of mankind are called Śrautakarma-s. They are so called because their procedure is directly based on the authority of Śruti or the Veda-s. The śāstra-s dealing with them are Śrautasūtra-s.

I told you, do you remember, that there was no question of Śruti being superior to Smṛti or vice versa? Similarly, the Śrautasūtra-s and the Gṛhyasūtra-s are of equal importance. In the Sanātana Dharma that goes under the name of Hinduism, both are to be cared for like our two eyes.

The aupāsana fire (lighted at the time of marriage from that of the groom's father) is divided into two in a ceremony called agniyādhāna. One part is called gṛhyāgni or smārtāgni: it is meant for rites to be performed at home. The second part is śrautāgni and meant for śrauta rites. These two sacred fires must be preserved throughout.

Gṛhyāgni is also called aupāsanāgni since the daily rite of aupāsana is performed in it. This is the fire contained in one kuṇḍa and so it is called ekāgni. Rites conducted in the family are included in the chapter called Ekāgni-kāṇḍa in the Āpastamba-sūtra. The saṁskāra-s and other rites I have so far mentioned are mostly in accordance with this work since the majority of Brāhmaṇa-s in the South are Kṛṣṇa-Yajurvedin-s following this sūtra. Ṛgvedin-s and Sāmavedin-s, who constitute a minority, follow the Āśvalāyana and Gobhila-sūtra-s respectively. These differences, however, relate only to the rites performed at home. There are no differences in the śrauta rites with regard to the different Veda-s.

Śrautāgni, meant for the śrauta rites, is in the form of three fires burning in three mounds. So it is called tretāgni. The section in the Āpastamba-sūtra dealing with rites performed in it is called Tretāgni-kāṇḍa. One who worships the three Agni-s is called a tretāgni or śrautin, and, if he worships both the śrauta and gṛhya fires, he is called an ahitāgni. One who performs an elaborate sacrifice like a somayajña is called a yajvā, dīkṣita or makhin. And one who conducts the greatest of the somayajña-s, the vājapeya, is known as a vājapeyin. Sacrifices are called variously kratu, makha, iṣṭi, stoma, saṁstā. There are some differences between these. Ancient Tamil works contain references to mutti (tretāgni or śrautāgni).

One of the three sacred fires, one of the tretāgni, is called gārhapatya and it belongs to the master of the household. It must be kept burning in the gārhapatya mound, which is circular in shape. In this, no oblations are to be made directly. Fire must be taken from it and tended in another mound for the performance of rites relating to the fathers (this is different from the usual śrāddha and is a ritual performed to the pitṛ-s every new moon) and also for certain deities. This mound is in the south, so it is called dakṣiṇāgni and it is semicircular in shape. Offerings to deities are made generally in a third fire in the east called āhavanīya, and it is also to be kindled from the gārhapatya fire. In the North, any yāga or sacrificial rite is called a havan, the word being derived from āhavanīya. The āhavanīya mound is square in shape. Big sacrifices like somayajña-s and others meant to propitiate deities are to be conducted in the fire taken from the āhavanīya mound to the yajñasālā or the hall where a sacrifice is held.

If aupāsana is a gṛhyakarma, agnihotra is a śrauta ceremony and it too must be performed twice a day. Agniyādhāna, mentioned before, and agnihotra are the first two of the seven haviryajña-s. Those who perform agnihotra are called agnihotrin-s. (Nowadays, smoking is referred to as agnihotra and going to the races as aśvamedha. Such references are intended to be humorous but are indeed blasphemous.)

If the agnihotra fire is extinguished for whatever reason, it must be kindled again through a new ādhāna (agniyādhāna) ceremony. The same applies to the aupāsana fire. Now, in the majority of houses neither the aupāsana nor the agnihotra fire burns. I have mentioned here how these fires can be renewed since most of you perhaps must not have kept them after your marriage.

In aupāsana, unbroken rice grains are offered in the fire, and in agnihotra, milk, ghee, or unbroken rice grains. (It has become customary now to offer milk in the agnihotra.)

As already mentioned, the dakṣiṇāgni and the āhavanīyāgni are made from the gārhapatyāgni. When śrauta rites for the pitṛ-s have been performed in the dakṣiṇāgni and other śrauta rites in the āhavanīyāgni, the two fires no longer have the exalted name of śrautāgni and are just like any other ordinary fire—and they have to be extinguished. Only the gārhapatya and aupāsana fires are to be kept burning throughout.

On every Prathamā (first day of the lunar fortnight), a pākayajña and a haviryajña have to be performed in the gṛhyāgni and śrautāgni respectively. The first is called sthalīpāka. Sthalī is the pot in which rice is cooked and it must be placed on the aupāsana fire, and the rice called cāru cooked in it must be offered in the same fire. The rite that is the basis of many others (the archetype or model) is called prakṛti. Those performed after it, but with some changes, are known as vikṛti. For the sarpabali called śrāvaṇī and the pākayajña called āgrāyaṇī, sthalīpāka is the prakṛti.

The haviryajña performed on every Prathamā is darśa-pūrṇa-iṣṭi—darśa meaning the new moon and pūrṇa the full moon. So the iṣṭi-s or sacrifices conducted on the day following the new moon and the full moon (the two Prathamā-s) are together given the name of darśa-pūrṇa-iṣṭi. The two rituals are also referred to merely as iṣṭi. This is the prakṛti for haviryajña-s.

For soma sacrifices, agnistoma is the prakṛti—the word stoma also meaning a sacrifice. In conjunction with agni, the sto becomes sto—agnistoma. (Sthāpita becomes establish in English: here the sta of the first word becomes sta in the second. Some unlettered people pronounce "star" and "stamp" as "istar" and "istamp". Such phonetic changes are accepted even in the Veda-s.)

I will now deal briefly with the remaining pāka, havis and soma sacrifices.

Pākayajña-s are minor sacrifices and are performed at home. Even śrauta rites like the first four haviryajña-s—ādhāna, agnihotra, darśa-pūrṇamāsa and āgrāyaṇa—are performed at home. The last three haviryajña-s—cāturmāsya, nirūḍhapaśubandha and sautrāmaṇī—are performed in a yāgśālā.

The yāgśālā is also known as a devayajña. The Kalpasūtra-s contain a description of it, not omitting minute details. There are altars called cayana-s to be built with bricks. (There are no cayana-s for havis and pākayajña-s.) As I said before, there is the application of mathematics in all this. Several kinds of ladles are used in making offerings in the fire—tarvī, sruk and sruva. Their measurements are specified, also the materials out of which they are made. No detail is left out. In a nuclear or space research laboratory even the most insignificant job is carried out with the utmost care—so is the case with sacrifices which have the purpose of bringing forth supernatural powers into the world.

To repeat, pākayajña-s are simple—pāka meaning "small", "like a child". Cooked food is also pāka; that is why the art of cooking is called pākāśāstra and the place where cooking is done is called pākasālā. Just as in sthalīpāka cooked rice is offered in the fire, so too in pākayajña-s cooked grains are offered in the fire. The watery part is not to be drained off—this rite is called cārūhoma. But in aupāsana unbroken rice (not cooked) is offered. In the pākayajña called aṣṭakā, puroḍāśa is offered in the fire. Aṣṭakā is performed for the pitṛ-s. The bright half of a month (waxing moon) is special to the celestials, while the dark half (waning moon) is for the pitṛ-s. The latter is called the apara-pakṣa since during this fortnight rites for the pitṛ-s are performed. The eighth day of the dark fortnight (aṣṭamī) is particularly important for them. The aṣṭakā śrāddha must be performed on the eighth day of the fortnight during the śiśira and hemanta seasons (the first and second half of winter)—in the [Tamil] months of Mārgaḻi, Tai, Māsi and Paṅguṇi. The aṣṭakā performed in Māsi is said to be particularly sacred. The rite gone through on the day following the aṣṭakā is anvāṣṭakā.

Parvaṇī, one of the pākayajña-s, is the prakṛti (or the archetype) for śrāddha-s. Since it is performed every month it is called māsiśrāddha. (This is according to the Āpastamba-sūtra. According to the Gautama-sūtra, parvaṇa denotes the sthalīpāka performed during each parva.)

The pākayajña Śrāvaṇī is also called Sarpabali. On the full moon of the month of Śrāvaṇa, cāru (rice and ghee) is placed in the fire, and flowers of the flame-of-the-forest are offered similarly by both hands. Designs have to be drawn with rice flour over an anthill or some other place and offerings made to snakes with the chanting of mantra-s. This ceremony must be held every full-moon night up to Mārgaḻi (mid-December to mid-January).

On the Mārgaḻi full moon, apart from completing the Sarpabali, the pākayajña called Āgrāyaṇī must be performed. Like Śrāvaṇī, the name Āgrāyaṇī is also derived from the name of the month—Āgrāyaṇī is Mārgaḻi. Hayana means "year", and the first month of the year is Āgrāyaṇa. In ancient times the year started with this month. The first of January [of the Gregorian calendar] falls in mid-Mārgaḻi. It was from us that Europe took this as their new year. Though we changed our calendar later, they stuck to theirs.

There are two more pākayajña-s called Caitrī and Aśvāyujī—these fall respectively, as their names suggest, in Cittirai and Aippasi.

Caitrī is conducted where four roads meet. Since it is performed for Īśāna, it is called Īśānabali. Īśāna is Parameśvara (Śiva). In the other pākayajña-s the deities worshipped are different, but through them Parameśvara is pleased. It is like a tax paid to the ruler through the sub-collector. In Caitrī it is as if the tax is paid directly to the ruler.

In Aippasi, kuruva rice is harvested [in Tamil Nadu]. This is first offered to Īśvara in the rite called Aśvāyujī before it is taken by us. Similarly, samba rice is eaten only after Āgrāyaṇī is performed in Mārgaḻi.

The haviryajña-s are more elaborate, though not so large in scale as the somayajña-s. Anything offered in the sacrificial fire is called havis. In Tamil works like the Tirukkuraḷ it is referred to as avi. However, ghee is specifically referred to as havis. Sacrifices in which the soma juice is offered are called somayajña-s, and those that are not elaborate are categorised as pākayajña-s. Now, the other śrauta sacrifices among the forty saṁskāra-s are called haviryajña-s.

When I spoke to you earlier about sacrifices, I referred to the men who conduct them. The sacrificer is the yajamāna and those who perform the sacrifice for him are ṛtvij-s (priests) who consist of the hotṛ, adhvaryu, udgātṛ and brahmā.

In pākayajña-s there are no ṛtvij-s; the householder (as the yajamāna) performs the rites with his wife. In haviryajña-s there are four ṛtvij-s and the yajamāna. But the udgātṛ's place is taken by the agnīdhra. The udgātṛ is the one who sings the Sāman. It is only in somayajña-s that there is Sāmagāna, not in haviryajña-s. In Cāturmāsya and paśubandha there are more than the usual number of priests. But there is no need to deal with them here. I wanted to give you only a basic knowledge of the important sacrifices that had been conducted for ages until recently.

Āgrayaṇa is performed on the full moon of Aippasi. In this, śyāmaka grains are offered in the fire. Cāturmāsya gives the impression that it includes a number of sacrifices. Some of you probably know that Cāturmāsya is a term that refers to sannyāsin-s staying at the same place during the rainy season. But it is also the name of a haviryajña to be performed by householders once every four months—in Kārttika, Pañguni, Āḍi. From this point onwards, the sacrifices are to be performed in a yāgaśālā [built in a public place].

The haviryajña called nirūḍhapaśubandha (or simply paśubandha) is the first yajña in which there is animal sacrifice—mṛgābali. Though I have used the word bali, technically speaking—or according to the śāstra-s—it is not strictly a bali. Bali means that which is offered directly—and not in the fire. What is offered in the fire is āhuti or havis. The flour offered in the anthill for the snakes is sarpabali.

In what are called the pañca-mahāyajña-s there is a rite called vaiśvadeva: in this, offerings are made in the fire or they are thrown inside and outside the house with the chanting of mantra-s. The latter are meant for various creatures of the earth and are termed bali.

When we make an offering to a deity with mantra-s we must say svāhā. When it is made to the pitṛ-s we must say svadhā. The corresponding word to be said when offerings are made to various creatures is hanta. Here we have something like the gradation of authority: "your majesty", "your honour", and so on.

There are rules to determine which part of the sacrificial animal's body is to be offered in the sacrificial fire. This is not the same as bali. What is offered in the fire is homa. In paśubandha only one animal is sacrificed.

In yajña-s involving animals, there is a yūpa-stambha or sacrificial post of bamboo or khadira to which the animal is tethered.

In the last haviryajña called sautrāmaṇī, sūrā (liquor or wine) is offered to appease certain inferior powers or deities for the welfare of the world. Our government, which otherwise strictly enforces prohibition, relaxes the rules to entertain foreigners with drink, considering the gains to be had from them. The oblation of liquor in sautrāmaṇī is to be justified on the same grounds. It is never offered in the sacrifices meant for higher deities.

What is left over of the liquor—what is purified by mantra-s—is imbibed by the performers of the sacrifice, the quantity taken in being less than a quarter of an ounce. To say that Brāhmaṇa-s drank the soma juice and sūrā to their heart's content on the pretext of performing sacrifices is an outrageous charge. I have already spoken about the falsehood spread about the partaking of the meat left over from a sacrifice.

I will now deal briefly with somayajña-s or somasamstā-s. What is a samstā? The conclusion of the Sāmavedic hymns chanted by the udgātṛ is called samstā. Compositions recited in praise of deities are generally known as stotra-s. But in the Vaidika tradition the Ṛgvedic hymns are śāstra-s. In the Sāmaveda such hymns which suggest the seven notes or saptasvara are called stotra-s.

In soma sacrifices, it is this—singing of the stotra-s of the Sāmaveda—that is the major feature. Homa (placing oblations in the fire) is the dominant feature of pāka and haviryajña-s, while in somayajña it is the singing of stotra-s.

The name somayāga is derived from the fact that the essence of the soma plant, so much relished by the celestials, is made as an oblation. Apart from this, animals are also sacrificed. Even so, the singing of the Sāman creates a mood of ecstasy. When a musician elaborates a rāga and touches the fifth svara of the higher octave, the listeners are transported to the heights of joy. So in the singing of stotra-s of the Sāmaveda during the samstā, all those assembled for the sacrifice feel as if heaven were upon earth. This is one reason why somayajña is also known as somasamstā.

In such soma sacrifices, there is the full complement of priests—the hotṛ, the adhvaryu, the udgātṛ, and the brahmā. Each priest is assisted by three others. So in all, there are sixteen priests in a soma sacrifice. Agnistoma, which is the first of the seven somayajña-s, is the prakṛti (archetype), and the other six are its vikṛti-s. These six are: atyagnistoma, uktya, ṣoḍaśī, vājapeya, atirātra, and aptoryāma.

Vājapeya is regarded as particularly important. When its yajamāna (sacrificer) comes after having had his ritual bath (avabhṛtha-snāna) at the conclusion of the sacrifice, the king himself holds up a white umbrella for him. Vāja means rice (food), and peya means a drink. As the name suggests, the vājapeya sacrifice brings in a bountiful crop and plentiful water. The name is appropriate in another sense also. This sacrifice consists of soma-rasa homa, paśu-homa (23 animals), and anna—or vājahoma. The sacrificer is "bathed" in the rice that is left over. Since the rice is "poured over" him like water, the term vājapeya is apt.

In the old days, a Brāhmaṇa used all his wealth in performing the soma sacrifice. Much of this was spent in dakṣiṇā to the priests and the rest for materials used in the sacrifice. Now people are concerned only with their wealth and do not perform even sandhyāvandana which does not cost them anything. Among Nampūtiri-s, until some forty or fifty years ago, at least one family out of ten performed the somayajña. Since only the eldest member of the family could conduct the sacrifice, he alone had the right to property.

There was also a time when even poor Brāhmaṇa-s performed this sacrifice every spring (vasante vasante) by begging. A Brāhmaṇa who conducted the sacrifice every year was thus called prati-vasanta-somayājin.

The Veda-s will flourish in the world if at least the somayajña called agnistoma or jyotiṣṭoma is performed.