Chapter 5 - Summary and Conclusion

It is well known that Hinduism has its roots in the Vedic scriptures. These prehistoric scriptures have laid great stress on the correct performance of various Vedic rites which determine the nature of Vedic religion. The Vedic religion is nothing but complete devotion of an individual to the deified natural powers i.e., the gods. As an expression of devotion the gods are appeased by offering unto them a variety of sacrificial food as āhuti in various rituals to the accompaniment of Mantras as per injunctions laid down in the Brāhmaṇas. This ritualistic worship of the Vedic gods is termed as yajña which has been elevated to a very high position in the Brāhmaṇa texts i.e., the texts of sacrificial science. According to the Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa (11.2.7.13), the fruitful completion of one constituent rite of a sacrifice can sanctify one limb of the sacrificer. When all the constituent rites get completed one by one, the limbs in the sacrificer’s body too become sanctified one by one. And with the completion of the entire sacrifice the sanctification of the sacrificer too is completed. He becomes free from all his sins, assumes as it were, a new body and consequently becomes fit to ascend to heaven after his death.

In the Vājasaneyī Saṃhitā (17.68) sacrifice has been given the appellation viśvatodhāra i.e., the upholder of all in all directions, to say in the words of Mahīdhara—

viśvasya jagato dhārayitā.

It is important to state here that in the continuation of the Vedic rituals, each and every act, each step, each movement taken by the priests and the sacrificr and his wife get the status of a ritual. Whatever is done or is to be done should be done with prescribed sacrificial formula. Each step is carefully taken following a prescribed procedure. When a ritual is being performed, the priests, the sacrificer as well as the wife of the sacrificer must stay far away from worldly thoughts or actions. They must not utter any laukika vāk until they are permitted to do so by some injunction.

It is to be noted that each and every sacrificial formula should be uttered properly. The correct recitation of Mantras using proper accent effects fruitful institution of the Vedic sacrifice. The Vedic vāk consists of three kinds of divine revelation viz., the ṛk, yajuṣ and sāman which represent the three Saṃhitās viz., the Ṛksaṃhitā, the Yajuḥ Saṃhitā and the Sama Saṃhitā. In sacrificial religion, these three types of Mantras have equal importance. Without the application of any one of them, no ritual can be performed. When all the three types of Mantras are applied, the ritual becomes firm and helps the sacrificer to achieve his goal. Though the external form of the Vedic sacrifice is offering of oblation in the fire for the gods by the priests, its internal form implies offering own self of one to the supreme power which can be termed as mental sacrifice. Because, in a ritual, the sacrificer and his wife have to stay away from worldly pleasure controlling their minds and sense organs during the sacrifice.This becomes evident during the consecration of the sacrificer who has to maintain a vow along with his wife.

It is noteworthy that in the Vedic era, birth in to a particular caste determined the rights and duties of an individual. The right for being an adhikāriṇ of Vedic rites too depended upon the birth of a person in to a specific caste. The people of the higher three castes got the religious opportunities to perform the sacred rites while the people of the lower caste such as the Śūdras etc. were deprived from the religious rights. Even, somayājīn after consecration was strictly ordered not to talk to a Śūdra. Apart from these, sometimes livelihood too came into consideration while granting a person the right to hold a sacrifice. Thus for instance,the caste known as rathakāra which seems to have had its origin from the profession of chariot making inspite of being not included among the traivarṇika who enjoyed the rights to Vedic rituals.

The priests play the most significant role in this sacrificial religion. Their active participation helps the sacrificer to rise from this world to the world of the gods.

The priests are called human gods to whom the sacrificial fees are offered just as oblation is offered in the fire to appease the gods—

devā ahaiva devāḥ/atha ye brāhmaṇāḥ śuśruvāṃso’nucānāḥ te manuṣyadevāsteṣāṃ dvedhā vibhakta eva yajñaḥ, āhutaya eva devānām, dakṣiṇā manuṣyadevānāṃ brāhmaṇānāṃ…/ (Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa ,2.2.2.6).

In the Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa (2.2.2.2.), it is said that whatever shortcoming is there in the sacrifice becomes atoned through the gifts given to the priests and consequently the sacrifice becomes invigorated.The role of the priests in a ritualistic performance can be compared to the driver of a vehicle. The life of the passengers who are inside the vehicle depends upon the driver. Likewise the sacrificer is dependent on the priests for successful completion of his religious journey. The driver must be serious and attentive to his duty and expert in controlling the steering of the vehicle. Any mistake on his part may be cause of death of the passengers. In the same way, the priests must have qualities such as seriousness, patience, mastery over the Vedic texts and sacrificial science etc. Their major or even minor mistake may hamper the religious journey of the sacrificer. The offering of sacrificial fees i.e., dakṣiṇā is traditionally looked upon as capable of undoing any sin caused by any mistake done either by the priests or by the sacrificer.

Though the priests are 16 or 17 in number, all are not necessary in all sacrifices. The Soma sacrifice being a very important ritual needs all of these priests. Again it is noteworthy that this research work is purely based on the Śukla Yajurvedic texts. But there are some minor differences among these ritualistic texts. It is found that the texts of the later Vedic period or the commentators of the texts of the later period add some new points or idea to clarify the concerned matter. It implies the development of ritualistic procedure in course of time which also makes the Soma ritual very complicated in later period. To complete this complicated Soma ritual correctly in due time, it demands the appointment of more assistants apart from the seven priests of the early Vedic period. Due to this reason, the number of priests was increased from seven up to 16 or 17 in the later period.

It has been stated in the chapter 3^rdchapter that the Vedic sacrifices are divided into Homa, Iṣṭi, Paśu and Soma. Out of these, the Soma sacrifice comprising of seven Somasaṃsthās, has special importance. On the basis of its duration of performance this ritual is of three types -Ekāha, Ahīna and Sattra. But, some ritualistic texts mention one more division known as Sādyaskra. Though the name Somayāga itself simply indicates offering of soma juice, yet it involves many major and minor sacrifices. No other sacrifice consists of so many elaborate procedures both short and lengthy as Soma sacrifice. Soma is the only sacrifice in Vedic religion which has so many varieties like Rājasūya, Aśvamedha, Vājapeya, Abhiplavaṣaḍaha, Dvādaśāha and so on. It is said that by performing Rājasūya, a Kṣatriya becomes a sārvabhauma king while by Vājapeya one becomes an emperor. Sacrifices having such political significance are included in the Soma sacrifice. So, one may say that the Soma sacrifice dominates the arena of Vedic ritual. Out of the seven Somasaṃsthās , the Agniṣṭoma is said to be the model (prakṛti) of all the Soma sacrifices. The Agniṣṭoma has been declared as the jyeṣṭhayajña (Tāṇḍyamahābrāhmaṇa., 6.3.8) which indicates its supremacy over the other Saṃsthās . Moreover, it is seen in the Vedic texts that one particular sacrifice is connected with a particular fruit.

But, by performing the Agniṣṭoma, one is expected to fulfil all his desires including the attainment of heaven after death—

eṣa vai yajñaḥ svargyo yadagniṣṭomaḥ (Tāṇḍyamahābrāhmaṇa., 4.2.11).

Such an observation implies that this ritual by itself can pave the way to heaven and thus it relegates the gods to a secondary position.Generally it is seen that whenever one seeks to perform the Vedic sacrifices, needs to wait for the proper season or the appearance of the related nakṣatra. But for him who has made all the preparations or has collected the materials for the Soma sacrifice and thus is ready to perform it, not needs wait for the right season or the appearance of the proper nakṣṭra in the sky . After the establishment of the sacred fires, he can directly perform the Soma sacrifice, because he establishes the fires intending to perform the Soma sacrifice. It is important to note here that the performer of Soma sacrifice must have at least two ancestors in his family who are Somayājīns such as his father and grandfather. If his ancestors have not performed any Soma sacrifice, then the sacrificer is looked upon as durbrāhmaṇa and he has to perform an expiatory rite before he performs the Soma sacrifice. On behalf of him, the Adhvaryu should offer an ox or a goat to Indra and Agni .

It is very interesting to note that in the entire Vedic literature, there is no other word like soma which has been used differently in different contexts. Sometimes, soma is the name of a deity who has been praised in the entire 9^th Book (maṇḍala) of the Ṛgveda. Sometimes soma refers to juice which is offered to the deities as oblation, sometimes it refers to the Soma sacrifice and sometimes it denotes the soma creeper Heaven is said to be abode of Soma. Later on, it becomes a worldly object though which is not easily available. In the later period, the pūtikā creeper came to represent the soma creeper (Sāyaṇa on Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa , 14.1.2.12).

Such is the importance of an oblation of soma to the gods that it is identified with the gods themselves—

somaṃ sarvebhyo devebhyo juhvati tasmādāhuḥ somaḥ sarvadevatā iti (Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa , 1.6.3.21).

Again it is looked upon as the best offering to the gods-uttamaṃ vā etadhaviryat somaḥ (ibid., 12..8.2.12)

It has been mentioned above that the Soma sacrifice was accorded a special status in the ritualistic religion of Vedic India. The reason behind this may perhaps be sought in the esoteric relation between the drink of soma and Indra the Vedic god of the rains par excellence. In the Vedas the soma juice is invariably projected as a drink prepared for Indra. In other words, although other gods like Vāyu, Mitra, Varuṇa, the Aśvins etc have their shares in the drink of soma, this drink primarily belongs to Indra.

In the words of the seer of Ṛgveada (9.107.7), it can be stated thus—

indrāya pavate madaḥ somaḥ/

In Ṛgveda (3.36.8), It is said that after killing the demon Vṛtra, Indra choses soma as his drink—

vṛtraṃ jaghanvānavṛṇīta somam/

Again, in 7.98.5 of the Ṛgveda, it is said that after the demons were killed by Indra, soma became his very own property.

In 6.44.16, soma has been described with the following words—

idaṃ tyat pātramindrapānam indrasya priyamamṛtam/

In this manner it is possible to cite many passages from the Vedic lore which speak about Indra and his drink of soma. It is therefore only to be expected that Indra should be specially honoured with ritualistic offerings of soma juice. While in the morning soma pressing in Agniṣṭoma, Indra receives the offering of soma once all by himself and once with Vāyu, the midday soma pressing belongs almost exclusively to him, the Maruts being only his companions. As it can be gathered from Kātyāyana’s text (10.5.13), in the third soma pressing too, Indra receives his share of soma. In midday soma pressing, Indra is invoked by the Hotṛ by reciting the niṣkevalyaśastra. It is to be noted here that in this rite, Indra becomes known as Mahendra. According to the Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa (4.3.3.6), Indra is invigorated by the drink of soma offered to him in the midday soma pressing as well as by the niṣkevalyaśastra and this leads to the destruction of Vṛtra–the great obstructor of the rains by him. The implication of this Brāhmaṇa passage seems to be that the fruit of the midday soma pressing is the accomplishment of the downpours of rain on the earth by the grace of Indra and his drink. In Vedic texts, soma is not only projected as inspiring Indra to kill Vṛtra for releasing the rain waters kept confined by this demon, but one actually comes across verses in which soma itself has been hailed as the bringer of rains and food. By way of example, one may cite the following Ṛgvedic number–9.74.1; 9.39.2;9.49.1 and 3; 9.52.1 etc. From the many references to the drink of soma as being either directly or indirectly instrumental in bringing down the life sustaining rains to the earth it may perhaps be assumed that at the root of Soma rituals rested the deep rooted belief that these can secure life on earth. When there is enough rain, there is enough food for both men and their livestock. And food is primary to sustenance of earthly life.

As the Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa (7.5.1.20) says—

annajīvanaṃ hidaṃ sarvam/

In the same text in 2.5.1.6, the living beings have been likened to food itself—

tā annādeva sambhanti tasmādannameva prajāh/

From these observations, it may be stated that soma sacrifice gained prominence by virtue of the fact that it was expected to secure life on earth. In the Taittirīya Brāhmaṇa(3.12.5.6) it has indeed been declared that through the performance of Agniṣṭoma in combination with animal sacrifice, one can gain the earth.

A myth in the Tāṇḍyamahābrāhmaṇa (9.2.9 and 20.1.3) states that even the gods gained this world through Agniṣṭoma—

agniṣṭomena vai devā imaṃ lokamabhyajayan/

A significant characteristic feature of the Agniṣṭoma sacrifice is that a good number of significant rites are performed in this ritual which include three types of Vedic rituals viz., Yajña, Homa and Iṣṭi. For instance, the Agniṣṭoma Somayāga starts and ends with the Iṣṭis viz., the Dīkṣaṇīyeṣṭi and the Udavasānīyeṣṭi. Moreover, Agnīṣomīya, Savanīya as well as animal sacrifice related to anubandhyā cow are also performed. In the mid of the sacrifice, libations of ghee i.e., homa are also made. Thus, the Agniṣṭoma sacrifice is an amalgamation of various Vedic rites. It has been stated that the Agniṣṭoma Soma sacrifice needs five days and on the first four days, the preliminary rites are performed. On the other hand, the principal ritualistic function is completed on the fifth day known as sutyā day. This sutyā day bears special features and importance in the Agniṣṭoma Soma ritual. The ritual of each day has been divided in to five major headings which have further been divided into some sub-headings as demanded by its contents.

The First Day

On the first day are performed four rituals which are as follows–

(a) At the very outset of the Agniṣṭoma Somayāga takes place the mandatory rite of giving appointment to the sixteen soma priests.

(b) After having appointed the priests, the helpers of the sacrificer select a place suitable for the ritual as per rules laid down in the ritualistic texts. This place is called devayajana.

(c) Next comes the construction of the śālā which is a four cornered house of which the face should be towards the eastern direction.

(d) Thereafter on the very first day in order to prepare the sacrifice and his wife for the main ritual both are consecrated through an Iṣṭi called Dikṣaṇīyeṣṭi. The Adhvaryu consecrates the sacrificer and the Pratiprasthātṛ consecrates the wife of the sacrificer without any formula.

The Second Day

The rituals of the second day are as follows–

(a) The ritual of the second day starts with the Prāyaṇīyeṣṭi. The saumika rites formally starts from this Iṣṭi, hence, it is called Prāyaṇīya.

(b) Thereafter is held the ritual related to buying of soma from a Kautsa.

(c) After having bought the soma, it is carried to the śālā in the havirdhāna carts.

(d) After having bought the soma ritualistic tradition treats the soma as a royal guest. So it becomes imperative that the soma should be honoured by the sacrifice through an appropriate ritual. This ritual is called Ātithyeṣṭi.

(e) In addition to the Ātithyeṣṭi on the second day of the Agniṣṭoma Somayāga, come the rites called Pravargya and Upasad which are considered to be integral parts of the Somayāga. Of these two, first Pravarya is performed and then Upasad on the 2^nd, 3^rd, and the 4^th, day of the Agniṣṭoma and are performed twice on a day.

The Third Day

The ritualistic activities of the 3^rd day of the Agniṣṭoma are as follows–

(a) Construction of the mahāvedī i.e., the big altar which is constructed in the eastern part of the śālā following the prescribed measurements given in the ritualistic texts.

(b) Next comes the construction of the uttaravedī i.e., the high altar. It is constructed inside the mahāvedī and in the eastern part of the mahāvedī.

The Fourth Day

The rituals of the fourth day are as follows–

(a) On the fourth day of the Agniṣṭoma Somayāga occurs the rite of carrying forward the āhavanīya fire through a ritualistic procession performed by the priests to carry the āhavanīya fire to the navel of the uttaravedī.

(b) Thereafter comes the ritual of placing of placing of the havirdhāna carts viz., southern and northern havirdhāna carts inside the mahāvedī, on both sides of the pṛṣṭḥya of the mahāvedī. The carts are used to carry the soma and the southern cart belongs to the Adhvaryu and the northern to the Pratiprasthātṛ.

(c) This is followed by the rite related to the construction of the havirdhāna shed inside the mahāvedī.

(d) Thereafter are dug the Uparavas which refer to four holes that are excavated on the earth below the fore part of the shaft of the southern havirdhāna cart and are meant for placing on them the pounding boards for crushing the stalks of soma.

(e) Next comes the construction of the sadas i.e., a sitting place for the deities and the Brāhmaṇas which is a small shed constructed inside the mahāvedī for the priests for their various tasks.

(f) Thereafter occurs the construction of the āgnīdhrīya shed which exclusively belongs to the Āgnīdhra priest. It is constructed in such a measurement that it is equally divided by the northern border of the mahāvedī.

(g) Next comes the preparation of the Dhiṣṇyas i.e., small Vedīs made of earth for the priests. There are six Dhiṣṇyas inside the sadas and these belong to Hotṛ, Maitrāvaruṇa,Brahmā,Potṛ,Neṣṭṛ,and Acchāvāka. The mārjālīya dhiṣṇya is prepared in the opposite direction of i.e., opposite direction of the āgnīdhrīya dhiṣṇya which is constructed inside the āgnīdhrīya maṇḍapa.

(h) This rite is followed by the carrying forward of Agni and Soma. The āhavanīya fire is is carried to the āgnīdhrīyamaṇḍapa and soma to the havirdhānamaṇḍapa in a ritualistic procession.

(i) The next ritual is the cutting and raising of the sacrificial post for the Agnīṣomīya animal sacrifice.

(j) After the cutting and raising of the sacrificial post, the Agnīṣomīya animal sacrifice is performed in honour of Agni and Soma where a he-goat is offered. The Agnīṣomīyapaśu ritual is the model on which all animal sacrifices are based including the Savanīyapaśuyāga.

(k) Next comes the rite of collection of vasatīvarī water from flowing river before sunset and is meant to be used in soma-pressing on the fifth day.

These elaborate preparations spreading over four days set the stage for the accomplishment of the Agniṣṭoma Somayāga on the fifth day on which soma juice is extracted by crushing the stalks of soma and the juice is offered to different deities which have already been mentioned in the 4^th chapter. But, it can be said that of this somaoffering, the lion’s share is found of Indra.

The Fifth Day

The fifth day is made up of the following rituals–

(a) Prātaranuvāka—The fifth day officially starts from the last half of the night of the 4^th day where being directed by the Adhvaryu, the Hotr recites the morning litanies i.e., prātaranuvāka for the prātaryāvāna gods i.e., Agni, Uṣā and Aśvins.

(b) Morning soma pressing—This pressing is done in two parts known as upāṃśvabhiṣava and mahābhiṣava. The upāṃśvabhiṣava is for the upāṃśugraha i.e., the upāṃśu cup while the later is for the Dhārāgrahas. First, mahābhiṣava should be performed and then upāṃśvabhiṣava. In the mahābhiṣava, there are four priests viz., Adhvaryu, Pratiprasthātṛ, Neṣṭṛ and Unnetṛ while the other is done only by the Adhvaryu. The peculiarity of the upāṃśu cup is that the content of the cup is not purified by a strainer. The cup is purified using six pieces of soma stalks placing them on the cup after having divided the six pieces into three groups. Each group of two pieces is placed on the cup after each paryāya of taking soma juice in the āgrayaṇa, ukthya, dhruva, vaiśvānara cup etc. Apart from these cups, the morning pressing contains offering of the twelve ṛtu cups, aindrāgna cup, vaiśvadeva cup. In the midst of offering of the cups, goblets are also offered and the consumption of the remnants of the cups and goblets too occurs after the completion of their offerings. The morning soma pressing contains nine goblets and these belong to Hotṛ, Brahmā, Potṛ, Udgātṛ, sacrificer, Maitrvāruṇa, Brāhmaṇācchaṃsin, Potṛ, Neṣṭṛ and Āgnīdhra. Moreover, this pressing contains offering of milk-mess to Mitra and Varuṇa related to the savanīya sacrificial bread which has been excluded in the other two soma pressings. It is noteworthy that the right to consume the remnants of the cups and goblets depends upon the following grounds–one has the right who utters the vaṣaṭ call, who actively participates in soma pressing as well as in soma offering and to whom the goblets belong. The morning soma pressing contains five Stotras viz., bahiṣpavamāna and four ājya Stotras, two Stomas viz., trivṛt and pañcadaśa and five Sastras viz., ājyaśastra, prauga, maitrāvaruṇa,brahmaṇācchaṃsī and acchāvākaśastra.

(c) Savanīya animal sacrifice–After having completed the morning soma pressing, the Savanīya animal sacrifice is performed in honour of Agni. Alternately one may perform the Paśvekādaśini or Ekādaśini Paśuyāga where eleven animals are offered to eleven gods.

(d) Midday soma pressing -This rite occurs at the midday of the soma pressing day of the Agniṣṭoma Somayāga. Like the morning soma pressing, here too, the priests press the soma known as mahābhiṣava by a stone different from the upāṃśusavana stone which is used in morning soma pressing. This soma pressing contains the offering of the following cups–śukra, manthin, āgrayaṇa, three marutvatīya cups, māhendra cup, three atigrāhya cups viz., āgneya, aindra and saurya and the offering of the ukthya cup. Like the morning pressing, the midday pressing also contains offering of the goblets and consumption of their remnants. But the midday soma pressing contains ten goblets which includes the acchāvaka goblet. During the midday soma pressing, the sacrificer offers the sacrificial fees which mainly consists of gold, cow, cloth and horse to the sixteen soma priests as per direction laid down in the ritualistic texts. On the basis of Katyayana’s division of the cows for the priests, Karka divides the priests as bhāgina i.e., receiver of total number of cows, ardhina i.e., receiver of half of the total number, tṛtīyina i.e., receiver of one third of the total number and pādina i.e., receiver of one fourth of the total number (Karka on Kātyāyana Śrautasūtra , 10.2.24).Moreover, in the second soma pressing, the offering of milk mess related to the sacrificial bread is prohibited. In this pressing, five Stotras viz., mādhyandina pavamāna and four Pṛṣṭḥyastotras are sung, two Stomas viz., pañcadaśa and saptadaśa are used and the Śastras of this pressing are marutvatīya, niṣkevalya, maitrāvaruṇa, brāhmaṇācchaṃsī and acchāvākaśastra.

(e) Third soma pressing -The rites of the third soma pressing starts with the rites related to the āditya cup which is scooped from the āditya pot where the Pratiprasthātṛ pours the remnants in the morning soma pressing. Like the former pressings, here too, mahābhiṣava i.e., soma pressing is done.But, this pressing has some peculiarities. Because, in the third pressing, a piece of soma stalk i.e., aṃśu of the morning preserved in the upāṃśugraha is pressed with the crushed soma stalks of the former soma pressings and from this the āgrayaṇa cup is filled up. As the crushed soma stalks are pressed here, hence the third pressing is called nirdhīta śukra. Moreover, there is omission of the offering of milk-mess related to the sacrificial bread. Addition of the offering of a rice pap to Soma and a bread to Varuṇa are other peculiarities of this pressing. The third pressing contains the offering of the following cups–āditya cup, āgrayaṇa cup, sāvitra cup, vaiśvadeva cup, pātnīvata cup and hāriyojana cup. Like the former pressings, in the third pressing also offering of the ten goblets and consumption of remnants of the cups and the goblets by the priests take place.In his pressing, there are two Stotras viz., ārbhavapavamāna and agniṣṭoma, two Stomas viz., saptadaśa and ekaviṃśa and two Śastras viz., vaiśvadeva and āgnimārutaśastra.

(f) Concluding bath i.e., Avabhṛtheṣṭi -During this concluding bath, the sacrificer, his wife and the priests take a purificatory bath in flowing river which implies the end of the ritual.

(g) The rite of rising up i.e., Udayanīyeṣṭi–This rite is performed after having completed the ritual of bathing in flowing water. This is the rite related to rising out of the water where libations are made to Agni, Soma, Savitṛ and Pathyāsvasti.

(h) Sacrifice of a sterile cow i.e., Anubandhyā Paśuyāga is performed and the anubandhyā cow is offered to Mitra and Varuṇa.

(i) The rite of giving up i.e., Udavasānīyeṣṭi–This is the last ritual of the Agniṣṭoma Somayāga which is performed to give up the sacrificial ground where a sacrificial bread prepared on five potsherds is offered to Agni and a vaiṣṇavāhuti is made to Viṣṇu.

Conclusion

Apart from these, an observation on the Agniṣṭomasomayāga, brings to one’s notice some interesting features and socio-economic aspects of the society of the Vedic era. At that time, the common livelihood of the masses people included among others agriculture, livestock breeding, priesthood etc. The priesthood exclusively belongs to the Brāhmaṇas. The Vedic people worshipped the gods offering agricultural and diary products i.e., which were easily available to them. One of the outstanding features of rural economy as it appears was the system of exchange of things. This has been reflected in the ritual of somakraya in which the soma creepers are bought by exchanging a cow, a goat and some other objects. In this context, a long conservation between the Adhvaryu and the soma vendor takes place. Cart was the commonly used vehicle for moving things around.The soma creepers were carried to the havirdhāna shed in the cart. Moreover, the sacrificial post also brought to the sacrificial ground in the cart. Though for the sacrificial posts trees were cut it does not mean the destruction of the forest, because these were not felled. The Vedic people were ware of the protection of the forest. After cutting a brunch or a tree for the yūpa, on the stump of the tree they made libations so that from it arise another plant. Performing various sacrifices and offering ghee or other such oblations into the fire, they attained personal benefit as well as through this sacrificial smoke or fire they destroyed various germs of diseases of the environment and thus they purified the environment which implies the universal benefit. The use of earthen as well as the wooden vessels is another noteworthy feature of the Vedic era. The mahāvīra pot is the earthen vessel and other commonly used instruments or the vessels are of wood.

Gold was an important valuable metal in the context of sacrifice. It was used as ornaments, sometimes as the means of exchanging things and as sacrificial gift. The references to these are available in the context of the Somayāga. During the Vājapeyasaṃsthā, the sacrificer and his wife are expected to decorate their necks with golden necklaces.

Women played a significant role in the Vedic religion. The patnī gave company to her husband in the rites from the beginning to the end. In the Agniṣṭoma Somayāga, it is found that like the sacrificer, the wife of the sacrificer is also consecrated although by a yoktra instead of a mekhalā. She does the rite called ājyāvekṣana. In the third pressing of the Agniṣṭoma, while the wife of the sacrificer looks at the pūtabhṛt which contains the mixer of āśira and the soma juice, utters a yajus formula-śradasmai… etc. In the language of the Bṛhaddevatā, whenever one utters a formula, one should know the meaning, the deity and the metre of the mantra. One can do so only when one gets the required education. Thus the utterance of sacrificial formula by the wife of the sacrificer indicates the existence of the female education in the Vedic era. At the end of the Agniṣṭoma sacrifice, while the sacrificer gives the sacrificial fee to the priests, he does so after taking formal consent from her.

The methods of measuring the altars and the other materials is an interesting point of the Vedic sacrifices as well as of the Vedic society. It is seen that the vedī, the vessels and the ladles are of fixed measurement. Whatever is measured, it is measured properly. Everything is measured by using words such as bāhumātra, samyāmātra, yajamānamātra, aṅgula, prādeśa, aratni, pṛthu, prakrama, vikrama etc. Sometimes, the word añjali is found which seems to be the term for measuring the weight of soma, taṇḍula etc. For instance, the difference between the prācīnavaṃśaśālā and the mahāvedī is three Prakramas which implies thirty six Aṅgulas according to Kātyāyana.The uttaravedī should be yugamātrī or of the length of ten Padas of the sacrificer. The word yugamātrī implies a length of eighty six Aṅgulas. To mean the length, the word āyāma was used (āyāmaśca dairghyamucyate/ Karka on Kātyāyana Śrautasūtra , 8.6.4). The length of the sadas is expected to be either 18, 21 or 24 Aratnis. The method of counting as it appears was not fully developed at that time. To form the desired Stomas, verses are repeated again and again and to record the number of repetition of the verses, the Sāmavedic priests put the kuśā on the ground after each repetition. But, it is noteworthy that whatever may be the methods followed for measuring sacrificial objects, the idea of using Vedīs and utensils of specific measurement in the sacrifices led to the creation of the Śūlvasūtras during the period of the Vedic Sūtras which led to the development of geometry in India in later period.

It can also be mentioned that though the Atharvaveda is said to be the storehouse of ābhicārika rites yet references to such practices are available in the rituals also. The Agniṣṭoma Soma ritual is not devoid of such practices. For instance, the reference of the upāṃśu and the antaryāma cups may be stated. Generally, the upāṃśu and the antaryāma cups are not placed on the mound. But, if the Adhvaryu wants to perform the abhicāra rite, then he may put the cups on the mound for some time. He does it by pronouncing the name of the enemy of the sacrificer. Moreover, he covers the mouths of the cups with his hands as if he is covering i.e., stopping the life breath of the enemy of the sacrifier. Again during the soma pressing, some drops of soma juice fall in the sour rending area including the cloth and body of the Adhvaryu. If the Adhvaryu wants to perform an ābhicārika rite then he may offer in the āhavanīya fire the small soma drops fallen in different parts of his body during soma pressing. Moreover, this act of scattering of the soma drops during soma pressing on the cloths and the body of the soma presser is considered to be a pratyavāya i.e., a sin. In order to get rid of such sin, the Adhvaryu performs an expiatory rite where he makes a libation of ghee in the āhavanīya fire.

The Agniṣṭoma which is an Ekāha ritual serves as the model for innumerable Ekāha rites like Viśvajit, the six Sādyaṣkras, four Vrātyastomas, the four Vācastomas, the Upahavya, the Sarvasāra, the Bṛhaṣpatisava, the Gosava and so on.