Summary of the Soma Sacrifice / Agniṣṭoma

[Full title: A Brief note on the sacrifices of the Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa (5): Agniṣṭoma / Soma Sacrifice]

Agniṣṭoma sacrifice is the model for all soma sacrifice. It is also known as Jyostiṣṭoma. There are seven types of Jyostiṣṭoma^[1] viz. Agniṣṭoma, Atyagniṣṭoma, Ukthya, Sodāsin, Atirātra, Vājapeya and Aptoryama. Among them the Agniṣṭoma is regarded as an integral part of the Jyostiṣṭoma. Therefore, Agniṣṭoma and jyostiṣṭoma are often regarded as identical. The juice of the soma creeper is the main oblation in this sacrifice. Like Upanayana ceremony, Agniṣṭoma is obligatory rite for all the ‘dvijāties i.e. the Brāhmaṇa, the Kṣatriya and the Vaiśya. The Soma sacrifices are divided in to three categories viz. the Ekāha, the Ahina and the Satra according to the duration of time. The sacrifices which are completed in one day are named as ‘Ekāha’. The sacrifices which takes the duration of more than one but not more than twelve days are termed as ‘Ahina’ and the sacrifices goes more than twelve days to thousand years are termed as ‘Satra’ sacrifice.

In Agniṣṭoma twelve stotras or Sāmavedic chants are sung and the last stotra goes by the name of Agniṣṭoma. As the sacrifice ends with the Sāmavedic chant Agniṣṭoma, hence the sacrifice goes by the name of Agniṣṭoma.

Every year in the spring this sacrifice is to be performed by twice born caste with his wife. As mentioned in earlier paragraph that soma juice is the main oblation in this sacrifice, but now a day soma creeper is very rare. Therefore, the creeper named as Putikā is used as replica. For the performance of Agniṣṭoma all the sixteen priests are required. Some other considers the Yajamāna or sacrificer as seventeenth.

The important rites of the Agniṣṭoma sacrifice are at a glance:

i) Selection of priests (Ṛtvija Varaṇa)

ii) Building of the Prācinavaṃsa-vedi (Sāla-Nirmāna)

iii) Taking of the Dikṣā by the Yajamāna (The Dikṣaniya-iṣṭi)

iv) The opening Sacrifice or the initiation of the sacrifice (The Prāyaniya iṣṭi)

v) The purchasing of the Soma (Soma-krayaṇa)

vi) The welcome of the Soma quest (Atithyeṣṭi)

vii) Pravargya, Gharma and Upaṣada iṣṭis.

viii) Construction of the Mahāvedi or the Uttaravedi.

ix) The Uparavas

x) The Agniṣṭoma-Paśuyāga.

xi) The Soma-savanas (pressing of soma herbs) and the principal sacrifice.

xii) Dakṣinā, Samstiyajus-homa, Avabhṛtha and Udayaniyeṣṭi.

In the Agniṣṭoma sacrifice, the ceremony begins with initiation or Dikṣā of the sacrificer. The sacrificer welcomes the priests and appoints them for the performance of sacrifice with the promise of giving sufficient sacrificial fees (Dakṣinā). This is named as Ṛtvik-varaṇam. The iṣṭi called Diksaniyeṣṭi is performed in which an offering is made to Agni and Soma.

On the second day, the Prāyaniyeṣṭi is performed in the morning which marks the beginning of the soma sacrifice. In Prāyaniyeṣṭi, five deities are invoked viz. Pathyā Svasti, Agni, Soma, Savitā and Aditi. Then follow the ceremony of purchasing Soma creeper (Soma kraya). Soma is regarded as the king of Gods and Brāhmaṇas. Soma is purchased from a Sudra in alternation of ten substances viz.–one year old cow, gold, she goat, milch cow and her calf, an ox, a bullock fit to draw cart, a bull calf, a she-calf and clothes. After that the king Soma is placed on a cart and the sacrificial rite called the Atithyeṣṭi is performed in honour of the Soma. After that follows the Pravargya ceremony which is again followed by the sacrifice known as Upasad iṣṭi.

On the third day, the great altar known as Mahāvedi is created confronting the eastern part of the sacrificial campus. And on the fourth day an animal sacrifice is performed in respect of the deities Agni and Soma jointly following the method of Nirudha-Paśu-bandha. After that follows the ceremony relating to the sacrificer’s wife known as Patni-Samyāja.

After the performance of all preliminary rites, the actual soma yāga begins on the fifth day i.e. the ceremony of extraction of soma-juice. Before the chirping of the birds, the hotṛ performs the Prātaranuvāka and then begins the soma pressing with two stones. After the erection, the juice of the soma is put in a vessel called graha and strained by a strainer, which is made by the hair of ram or goat. This strainer is termed as Dasa-pabitra. Soma is pressed thrice in a day. The morning pressing is termed as ‘Prataḥsavanaṃ’, the mid-day libation is goes by the name of Mādhyandina savana and the evening pressing is known as ‘Tritiya savana’. After all the libations over, the remaining soma juice is partook by the priests along with the sacrificer. The sacrificial fee in the form of gifts is offered to the priests after the mid-day libations. The four kinds of sacrificial gifts are mentioned in the Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa viz.–Gold, Cow, Cloth and Horse^[2]. After the third and last oblation of soma, avabhṛtha rite is taken place by the sacrificer and his wife. This sacrifice is performed in the water and all the priests along with the sacrificer go for bath which marks the end of the Agniṣṭoma sacrifice. The two deities Varuṇa and Agni are invoked in this ritual, and the oblations are also offered to them in water instead of in the fire. The sacrificial receptacles are also dip in the water. The sacrificer and his wife after having the baths wear new garments and return to the sacrificial ground and performed the concluding rite Udayaniyeṣṭi. As Prāyaniyeṣṭi marks the beginning of the sacrifice, likewise Udayaniyeṣṭi marks the end of the Agniṣṭoma sacrifice. This is only a short description of the Agniṣṭoma sacrifice which is the model of all Soma sacrifices.

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

Taittirīya-saṃhitā Sāyana Bhāsya–I/2/1–“Yadyapi saptasaṃsthojyotiṣṭomaḥ–agniṣṭomo’tyagniṣṭoma ukathyaḥ sodascatirātroptoryāmā vājapeyaśceti |”

[2]:

Śatapatha-brāhmaṇa–IV/3/4/24-27—
“Catasra vai dakṣina| Hiraṇyamāyurrevai…………..hiraṇyaṃ diyate||”
“Atha gau| Prāṇamevaitayā ātmana strāyate……….adatāt||”
“Atha vāsa| Tvacamevaitenā ātmana strāyate…….. adatāt||”
“Athāśva|Vajro vā aśvo vajramevaitatpuragāṃ……….brahmane’dadāt||”