Friday, September 18, 2015

Vedic Sacrifices

Vedic Sacrifices Yajna

In this post I will talk about Vedic Sacrifices known as Yajnas and on where details of such Yagyas are found.

During the Vedic age (4000 BC onwards) a number  of Vedic Sacrifices were in vogue.

As per the Shatpatha Brahmana, Yajna is the necessary duty of man as it is the only way on which he, age can be paid to Gods.

Some of the more important Vedic Sacrifices were:
  • Darshapurnamasa (Sanskrit: दर्शपूर्णमास , Bengali: দর্শপূর্ণমাস )
  • Agnyadhana (Sanskrit: अग्न्याधान , Bengali: অগ্ন্যাধান )
  • Agnishtoma (Sanskrit: अग्निष्टोम , Bengali: অগ্নিষ্টোম )
  • Vajapeya (Sanskrit: वाजपेय , Bengali: নাজপেয় )
  • Rajasuya (Sanskrit: राजसूय , Bengali: রাজসূয় )
  • Sautramani (Sanskrit: सौत्रामनी , Bengali: সৌত্রামনী )
  • Chayana (Sanskrit: चयन , Bengali: চয়ন )
  • Ashvamdeha Yagya (Sanskrit: अश्वमेध , Bengali: অশ্বমেধ )
  • Purushamedha Yajna (Sanskrit: पुरुषमेध , Bengali: পুরুষমেধ )
  • Sarvamedha Yagya (Sanskrit: सर्वमेध , Bengali: সর্বমেধ )
  • Somayaga (Sanskrit: सोमयाग , Bengali: সোময়াগ )

The methodology of conducting the Yagya rituals are available in the Brahmana texts and the Shrautasutra texts ( Sanskrit: श्रौतसूत्र , Bengali: শ্রৌতসূত্র ).

Vedanga are auxilliary texts through which the meaning and purport of Vedic texts can be understood. There are 6 Vedangas among which the second is Kalpa. Kalpa means rule or injunction.

The Kalpa's are concerned with 4 types of sutras:
The Shrauta sutra deals with ritual Vedic Sacrifices and their rules.

--- END  ---

That's it. Thank you for reading about Vedic Sacrifices. You may also like the following.

Interesting Facts about Rig Veda
Interesting Facts about Atharva Veda
Purpose of Hindu Philosophy 
Books on Vedas 
Prapanchasara Tantram

Further Readings
A Study of the asvalayana srauta sutra with reference to the principal sacrifices, by Purkayastha, Dipanjona

Thank you for reading Vedic Sacrifices. Please leave your comments and feel free to share with your friends and family.

No comments:

Post a Comment