Agnicayana
By Swami Harshananda
Agnicayana literally means ‘piling the fire’.
According to the Bhagavadgītā[1], Prajāpati gave the yajña as the link between the human beings and the devas of the cosmic regions. Human beings were advised to propitiate these deities through various yajñas and the deities in turn would respond by bestowing upon them their needs.
Vedic sacrifices which were simple fire rituals during the Saṃhitā period. They developed into a variety of rites and ceremonies with a labyrinth of details, by the period of the Brāhmaṇas. One of the complicated sacrifices is the Somayāga of which agnicayana forms an integral part. However this rite is not compulsory. Literally the word means ‘piling the fire’ but in practice it refers to the rite of building up the altar on which the sacrificial fire (āhavaniya) will be lighted.
The Śatapatha Brāhmana of the Śukla Yajurveda, which is the basic authority on this rite, represents it as a human imitation of the construction of the cosmic world of Prajāpati[2]. Detailed instructions are given for the manufacture of the various kinds of bricks, of different shapes and sizes and for the building up of the altar in several layers of specific prescribed shapes. The most common shapes are those of:
- Suparṇa - eagle
- Śyena - hawk
- Droṇa - trough
Some of the details mentioned in the liturgical works are as follows:
- As many as 10,800 bricks are needed to complete the construction of the altar.
- A thorough knowledge of geometry is necessary on the part of the priests who guide and direct the construction.
- The bricks are usually laid in five layers, the 1st, the 3rd and the 5th being of the same pattern while the 2nd and 4th are different.
- The ground on which this altar is built is ploughed and sowed with several seeds.
- This ground is interred with the heads of five animals or their golden images and the golden image of the sacrificer.
- A living tortoise is also kept into the altar that is being built.
- The piling of the altar could be completed in one year (8 months for the first four layers and 4 months for the last) or only in five consecutive days.
The ‘Agnicit,’ i.e., the person who performs agnicayana, is expected to observe certain vows during this period. He is permitted to do ‘punaściti’ (doing agnicayana once again) if he does not prosper in the year after performing it. To obviate the effects of the sins of omission and commission during the agnicayana rite, several prāyaścittas (expiations) are prescribed.
The esoteric doctrine of agnicayana is said to have originated with Prajāpati himself and come down through a succession of teachers from Tura Kāvaṣeya to Śāṇḍilya.
References[edit]
- ↑ Bhagavadgītā 3.10, 11
- ↑ Śatapatha Brāhmana kāṇḍas 6 to 10
- The Concise Encyclopedia of Hinduism, Swami Harshananda, Ram Krishna Math, Bangalore