Veda deals with rituals

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Carl Olson states that Yajurveda is a text of "mantras sacred formulas that are repeated and used in rituals".

All vedas have 3 portions - Samhita, Brahmana, Aranyaka. The first two are mostly ritualistic. The word Aranyaka itself means forest - it is meant for contemplation. These are mostly upanishads. You share your most intimate secrets with your search engine without even thinking: All of that personal information should be private, but on Google i Sign In. Which of the Vedas is related to rituals?

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Sources of ritual knowledge

The feedback you provide will help us show you more relevant content in the future. Answer Wiki. Which Veda is related to chemistry? Where can I read the four Vedas? Where we can find the Vedas related script in English or Hindi? What is the meaning of rites and rituals?

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To which Veda is the Shatpath Brahman related? Answered Jun 15, The general rituals also required the use of one or more domestic fires, but they were essentially performed at home or in a public place by trained priests at the behest of the householders or kings who acted as the hosts yajamanas. The distinction between the domestic and general rituals is drawn here for convenience and for study and understanding.

It should not be construed as a universal practice. The Sruta rituals, including the domestic ones, are described later in greater detail. Depending upon how frequency they are performed, one may classify the sacrifices as daily, fortnightly, seasonal, and periodical. The duration of a sacrifice may also vary.

Some may last from a few minutes, while some last for several months or years.

Some are very simple, which require a few require a few prayers and notional offerings, while some require a lot of prior preparation. Some can be performed at any time, but some can be performed only on specific occasions, which may or may not repeat in the life of an individual. In addition, there are sacrificial ceremonies which have to be performed at different stages in the life of an individual to mark important events in life, such as conception, birth, marriage, death, etc.

A detailed account of them will be provided in a later section. In Vedic times householders of upper castes performed domestic sacrifices as part of their obligatory duties, for which they kept three or four domestic fires at different locations in the house and used them for different purposes.

Members of the household tended to the fires and kept them always alighted. If the fires died down for any reason, they had to be relighted according to the prescribed procedure. The fires symbolized their religious beliefs and their daily commitment to the faith of their ancestors. They also denoted the presence of gods upon earth and their universality and proximity.

Each had a specific purpose and represented an aspect of Agni. The Ahavaniya fire was kept on the eastern side of the house the side from which the Sun arose used to invite the gods by pouring the offerings, and the Dakshinagni or the southern fire, was used for protection and to ward off evil forces by invoking fierce gods. Together they are considered the triple fires triagni. Apart from them, the texts also mention Sabhyagni fire and Avasatyagni fires, which were used in advanced sacrificial rituals such as the horse sacrifice or the Vajapeya.

The Upanishads suggest their symbolism. In the Prasna Upanishad they are compared to the breaths pranas. The trident of Shiva also represents the triple fires as the weapon of Shiva. Vedic people believed that the fires resided in the body also and burned continuously as internal fires antaragni. The idea of tapas austerity which was central to Vedic spirituality was based upon the belief that the fires in the body could be harnessed through internal sacrifices and the resultant heat tapah could be transformed into virility retas , bodily vigor ojas or mental brilliance medhas or harnessed as a supernatural power taposhakti.

The Vedic texts stipulate rules to establish the domestic fires, and how to maintain them or rekindle them, if necessary. For example, one of the ideal times to establish them was when a young student Snataka completed his education and apprenticeship and embarked upon the life of a householder. Alternatively, it could be done at the time of his marriage or when the duties of the head of the householder were transferred to him by his father through a transference ceremony or upon his death or retirement. Once the fires were lit, it was the duty of the householder and all the family members to guard them and keep them alive.

If for any reason they were extinguished, they had to be rekindled by either generating a new fire with friction or borrowing it from another household of good repute or a close relation. If for any reason the fires remained unkindled for more than 12 days, one had to follow a series of steps as detailed in the Grihya Sutras to reestablish them.

Presently no one keeps the domestic fires. Fire can be lighted anytime and whenever needed with matches, gas lighters, gas stoves and several other contraptions. Besides, domestic sacrifices are no more performed by a majority of Hindus, including many Brahmana and Kshatriya families, nor any of the Srauta rituals. People may occasionally perform them on specific occasions in temples or at homes, but it is doubtful how many people truly understand their significance.

Domestic rituals have been replaced by domestic worship puja. The idea of daily sacrifices is a noble practice as we examine later. Even if they cannot be practiced as in the past, one may think of practicing them internally or symbolically by helping others or being generous. The most important domestic sacrifices were, the daily, reverential salutations to gods in the morning and evening, the five daily sacrifices, and the full moon and new moon day offerings.

Domestic fire was used to prepare the food which was used in the offerings. Hence, the sacrifices were also known as paka yajnas. The duty of performing the domestic sacrifices rested upon the head of the household and in his absence his wife, while the other members of the family helped in the preparation.

On specific occasions, the services of one or more priests were sought to perform complex sacrifices. The following is a brief account of the domestic sacrifices which were performed by householders as part of their obligatory duties. Every day, after completing bathing, putting on marks, applying ashes, tying up the hair or combing, the householders of the higher castes were required to perform two sets of rituals namely Pratah Sandhya and Sayam Sandhya in the morning and evening respectively. They are still practiced today, and probably the only daily rituals that have withstood the ravages of time.

In the past, there used to be a midday prayer also, which is not currently practiced. Traditionally, in the morning ritual the offering was made to the Sun and Prajapati, and in the evening to Agni and Prajapati. They are essentially purification or cleansing rituals to begin and end the day with reverential attitude and keep the body and the mind in a spiritual state.

Of the two, the morning oblation is considered more important. The law books suggest that one should not perform any ritual without performing the morning oblation first. In its simplest form, which is still practiced by many Brahmanas and members of the higher castes, it is practiced just before the dawn by standing in a water body such as a river or a water tank and offering water tarpana to the Sun as it rises in the east with a prayer and a salutation vandanam , which makes the sacrifice both an external and an internal cleansing worship.

The standard format is more elaborate and involves several steps including Achamana sipping water , Kesavanama uttering the names of Vishnu , Pranayama controlled breathing , Vyahruti the uttering of the names of seven worlds recitation of Gayatri, Marjana sprinkling of water upon oneself , Upastana standing to pay homage to the rising sun as Mitra , Gotracara specifying the family pedigree and adoration to Supreme God.

Some formats include the tantric ritual known as Karanyasa, a form of mystical hand gesture mudra as part of the salutation. The evening oblation Sayam Sandhya proceeds on similar lines except that Varuna is invoked instead of Mitra in the Upastana. Some texts mention the practice of Brahma Yajna or service to Brahman as part of the morning service Sandhya.

The purpose of it was to please the Supreme Being, by worshipping Brahma, the creator God who was considered the highest god in the pantheon during the Vedic period. Brahma was the source of all creation and the knowledge of the Vedas. Therefore, it was obligatory for the householders to worship him every day in the early morning after the Sandhya, by reciting the first few words of all the main texts, such as the Rigveda, the Aitareya Brahmana, each of the five books of Aitareya Aranyaka, the first words of Yajurveda, Samaveda, Atharvaveda, Nirukta, Chhandas, Nighantu, Jyotisha, Siksha, Vyakarana, Yajnavalkya Smriti, Mahabharata and so on.

It was customary in Vedic times for the householders of the higher castes to perform five supplementary services, known as the five daily sacrifices pancha maha yajnas , as part of their obligatory duty towards God to ensure the order and regularity of the world and uphold Dharma. Every day, they performed a Homa and cooked sacrificial food paka , using the Garhapatya fire, which was offered to five classes of beings namely the gods, all creatures, ancestors, seers and sages, and people who were under oath not to cook their own food or unable to cook food for any physical or economic reason.

According to the recipient of the offerings the five sacrifices were known as deva yajna, bhuta yajna, pitra yajna, brahma yajna and manusya yajna respectively. By performing them, one paid the karmic debt owed to God and earned his mercy daya and merit punya. Apart from daily sacrifices, householders of the Vedic period also performed new moon and full moon sacrifices in which married couples participated.

On the day of the sacrifice they made offerings to gods and to each other. Apart from the morning services and the five daily sacrifices, householders of the Vedic period also performed a Visvadeva Ceremony, before the midday meal, in which they invoked the Visvadevas and made them offerings of small amounts food as a homage as well as expiation for the sins committed during the day. The ceremony was obligatory for the head of the household only but not for others.

It followed by another ritual, known as Baliharana, in which the householder placed small portions of food in a circle and offered to particular deities and other beings, reciting prayers from the Vedas. Apart from the above, we find references to a few other domestic ceremonies in the Vedic texts, which do not seem to be universal but limited to a few communities. For example, the texts refer to the offering of sacrificial food to snake deities, at the beginning of the rainy season in the month of Sravana, and to Pasupathi on the full moon day of Asvani.

Then there was the Agrahayani sacrifice, which was performed on the full moon day of Margasira to celebrate the newyear. A special sacrifice to snakes for healing was performed when someone in the family or the community was injured by a snakebite. Once in a year, householders invited Important members of the community for a meal to show reverence or express gratitude.

They invited a teacher, relative, spiritual person, priest, student or a member of good social standing and honored them with offerings. They offered them water arghyam to clean their feet, sweetened water madhuparkam and gifted them clothes, money or cows according to their financial capacity. Then they served them food, which was with curd, ghee, butter, honey, vegetables, fruit and food grains. On such occasions they also worshipped gods and made them offerings in the domestic fire. During the domestic sacrifices, householders had to follow many rules and restraints to ensure their physical and mental purity and stay free from evil.

They bathed, kept menstruating women away, and prepared the sacrificial food bali with great care, using appropriate materials such as milk, barley, gruel, curds, ghee, butter, rice, sesame seeds, etc. On specific occasions, they cooked even animal food meant for certain gods. The remains of the sacrifice were distributed among students, beggars, ancestors, old and decrepit people.

Whatever that was left was consumed by the householders or their family members. The daily sacrifices were meant to keep people from being selfish, nourish the gods who depended upon humans for their nourishment and serve others such as students, old people, beggars, renunciants, who depended upon the generosity of others for their survival.

Srauta rituals were more complex and involved the participation of different classes of priests. Each ritual was performed by one or more chief priests, assisted by several assistant priests who performed specific tasks. For example, in advanced rituals the Hotris recited the hymns Riks from the Rigveda.

Definition

Adhavaryus supervised the construction of the altar using the specified number of bricks and sanctifying the ritual place according to the formulae Yajus in the Yajurvedas. The Udgatris sang songs Samans from the Samaveda according to specific meters. A Brahman priest supervised the whole proceedings in the background without uttering a word and performed expiation ceremonies in the end. Elaborate preparations were made to perform the Srauta rituals, which lasted for several hours, days or even months.

Worshippers also made several rounds of offerings as the sacrifices proceeded through several stages. They were performed either in the house of the host or at a designated place as suggested by the priest. The timing of the sacrifice depended upon the astronomical calculations of the position of the stars and the planets, the caste of the host or the purpose for which it was performed. The texts provide different versions of the same rituals, which suggest that they were not uniformly practiced due to local influences and the specific needs of the worshippers. Before performing the sacrifice, according to the practice priests either reestablished new sacrificial fires or used existing ones if they were blemishless.

Friction or an existing fire from a reliable source was used to establish the domestic fires if they were not already present in the household, or if the existing ones were believed to have lost their purity. The process of establishing new fires, or reviving the existing ones, generally lasted for two days.

The night before the domestic fires were lit, the host and his wife remained awake listening to music and prayers. The next day, Samans were sung by the priests in the presence of a sacred horse, which was brought for the occasion, as the fires were established by a qualified priest. Apart from the three domestic fires which were mentioned before, a fourth fire called the community fire sabhyagni was set up if the sacrifice was to be performed in the royal court at the behest of a king or a royal member of the household.

Each sacrifice had a main component Pradhana and several, common auxillary parts angas which provided the structure to it. Some classifications divide the Srauta rituals into two types, Yajatayas and Juhotayas,. The Srauta rituals required the singing of Samans or songs from the Samaveda by a special class of trained priests according to particular meters or melodies such as Brahat or Rathantara. In more complex rituals the pattern was repeated several times as each stage was completed. What is stated above was the general structure of a Srauta ritual, which was practiced in the Vedic times.

There were variations and exceptions too.

In some sacrifices, the Pratihara Samans were further divided into two parts, Pratihara and Upadrava. The latter was sung by the Udgatrr priests. Before the priests sang the Samans, they had to obtain the approval of the head priest Brahman which he expressed with a silent nod.

Vedic Rituals and Sacrifices From Srauta Sastras

These are but a few rules which are stated here to suggest the complexity of the sacrifices. Apart from them, the priests had to follow several other procedures and formalities to sing the Samans and make the offerings. Such elaborate rules and participation of diverse classes of priests, some with nominal roles, made the Srauta sacrifices too laborious and subject to ridicule and contempt.

Vedic people practiced several sacrifices such as the fruit sacrifice agrayanaisti , animal sacrifices, Soma sacrifice, the Hot-milk Sacrifice Pravargya , the Multiple Animal Sacrifice Aika Dakshina , Jyotistoma, Vajapeya, Rajasuya, Asvamedha, Naramedha, etc. In addition to them, they also practiced several initiatory vows diskshas , devotional, votive observances Vratas , and expiatory penances, which will be discussed separately.

The following is an account of important Vedic sacrifices, which were practiced during the Vedic period. Most of them are now either defunct are incorporated into other rituals. Since Vedic sacrifices underwent many changes over a long period due to the changes in the way of life, the following study is useful mainly as religious, historical and academic study of Vedic ritual practices.

Vedic people performed three seasonal sacrifices, Vaisvadeva, Varunapraghasa and Sakamedha in the spring, rainy season and autumn respectively. Since, Autumn was a season of decay, in the Autumn Sacrifice, offerings were made to ancestors and Trayambaka or Rudra. As the name suggests, this sacrifice was performed when the first fruit of the season became ripe for consumption. True to their tradition, people did not consume them until they were first offered to gods. Therefore, they picked ripened fruit from the fruit bearing trees in the fields and offered them to gods before using them for their own household consumption or give to others.

Depending upon the season, not only fruit but also food grains and seeds from the newly harvested fields were collected and ritually offered to Indra, Agni and other gods of heaven. Vedic people performed animal sacrifices to appease certain gods and consumed the remains of the animal sacrifices for ritual purposes. Kshatriyas had the permission to eat meat. Therefore, we may presume that animal sacrifices were performed mainly by them during the sacrifices which they hosted.

It is doubtful whether the Brahmanas actually sacrificed any animals or partook the sacrificial food bali made from them. The texts also indicate that the priests who conducted animal sacrifices belonged to a lower social status within the Brahmana community and were not used for other sacrifices. Whatever may be the truth, animal sacrifices were performed as part of an independent ritual or as part of Soma sacrifices. The type of animal which was used for the purpose depended upon the nature and purpose of the sacrifice and which deities were invoked.

Animals such as goats, oxen, sheep were sacrificed as offerings to Indra, Agni, Surya and Prajapati. Apart them, people also sacrificed owls, doves, hare, etc. Special care was taken in selecting the sacrificial animal bhakta. The animals chosen for the purpose were supposed to be blemishless and not sick, old or injured. After the they were sacrificed, certain parts and organs from its body were cut and dropped into the fire along with other materials as offerings, while the priests uttered the mantras and sang songs.

At the end of the ritual, the burnt or cooked meat from the ritual pit was shared by the participants as the remains of the sacrifice. They consumed it under the belief that the offerings made during the sacrifice went to the gods in heaven, while the energy prana hidden in the remains of the sacrifice went to the deities senses and organs in the body upon consuming it. Thus, both the gods above and gods within the body were nourished through the ritual.

Vedic people practiced several variations of the Soma sacrifice. As the name suggests, the sacrifice involved the ritual preparation of the Soma juice, which was an intoxicant, and its offering to the gods. As in other sacrifices, the remains of the sacrifice were consumed by the participants as the offering to the gods within. For the sacrifice, the priests collected tender leaves of the Soma plants and pressed them between wooden bars which were specially made for the purpose, chanting mantras and uttering prayers. After the juice was extracted and collected in Soma cups, it was offered to Soma, Indra, Mitra and other companion gods.

Depending upon the purpose, Soma Sacrifices lasted for a day or two, while some went on for days, weeks or even months. In some cases, especially those hosted by kings, animals were also sacrificed. Daylong sacrifices were conducted on the line of the Agnistoma sacrifice. Soma juice was pressed ritually with the chanting of the hymns and was offered to the gods three times, in the morning, in the midday and in the evening respectively.

In the two day sacrifices, an animal was sacrificed on the first day, and Soma was prepared and offered the next day. In some instances, more than one animal was sacrificed and the sacrifice continued for several days or a whole year. According to some scholars, Vedic people performed Soma sacrifices to appease the gods of heaven and obtain rains, which increased the possibility of the return of the ancestors from the ancestral world.

It was originally an independent sacrifice, but was later made part of the Soma Sacrifice. For the purpose of the sacrifice, a few pots were made using a particular clay, which was specially chosen for the purpose. One of the pots was designated as the Mahavira pot and used in the sacrifice, while the remaining ones were kept as spare. The Mahavira pot was placed on a raised bed of Munja grass, and the milk of a goat or a cow was poured into it. The pot was heated on fire, and the heated milk was offered to Asvins along with two rice cakes, once in the morning and once in the evening.

At the end of the sacrifice, a human figure was created and worshipped by placing the various utensils used in the sacrifice, with the pot serving as the head. The purpose of the sacrifice was said to be to provide a new body and heal the worshipper who was mortally injured in a war or was extremely sick. This is a more elaborate form of animal sacrifice, in which eleven animals were sacrificed for the one animal that was sacrificed in the standard Agnistoma sacrifice.

Thirteen posts were set up for the purpose. Of them eleven were used to tie the animals.

The twelfth post was kept unused, and the thirteenth one was used only at the end of the ceremony. The placing of the posts and their proximity to the sacrificial fire were crucial to the purity and the efficacy of the ritual. Each post to which an animal was tied was meant for a specific deity. The central one was meant for Agni, while the remaining ones were meant for Saraswathi, Soma, Varuna, Tvastr, etc.

Jyotistoma was the generic name given to at least seven, different types of sacrifices, which lasted from a day to weeks and months or even a year. Of them the first was Agnistoma or Atyagnistoma. However, this list is inconclusive and does not appear in the older Samhitas. All the sacrifices followed the same standard pattern, but differed with regard to how and when the Soma juice was to be pressed and offered and how many Samans needed to be sung during the sacrifice.

Apart from them, Vedic people practiced several one-day Jyotistoma sacrifices also, which went by different names such as Visvajit, the Six Sadhyakras, the four Vratya Stomas, the Upavahya, the Gosava, etc. The Vajapeya was a more formal sacrifice of food and drink, which was meant to increase the strength and majesty of the worshipper, who was usually a king or a member of the royal family.

It might have also been performed to obtain divine help to win wars and overpower enemies. The sacrifice lasted for a minimum of 17 days and up to a year. Of the 17 days, the first day was meant for pressing the Soma Juice, the next 13 days for the worship of gods with chants and prayers and offerings of food and oblations, and the last three days for the Upasad ceremony, in which the host observed fasting, while subsisting entirely on specific quantities of milk, as part of his cleansing.

During the sacrifice the host also sacrificed several animals for the Maruts and Prajapati. The priests, the host and his wife wore gold garlands, which formed part of the priestly fees. After the sacrifice began on the first day with the midday pressing of the Soma Juice, the king organized a mock chariot racing, in which he participated along with sixteen other charioteers. His chariot was yoked to three horses, while those of his competitors to four each. The chief priest organized the racing in which the king was eventually declared the winner, and drums were beaten.

It was followed by other rituals in which the priests and the host paid respects to several gods with cups of Soma juice and other offerings. Vajapeya sacrifice was a pompous ceremony, which was performed by the kings to display their strength and prowess, impress their subjects and intimidate their enemies. The Rajasuya Yajna was also performed with a lot of pomp, in a show of strength by a king or emperor to commemorate his coronation or declare his might and supremacy.

During the ceremony the king was anointed and declared a victor in a game of make believe dice and a staged battle. Preparation for the actual event began several years in advance, with the king declaring his intent Diksha to perform the sacrifice. The sacrifice was complex, with several rounds of offerings, libations, chanting of Samans, the drinking of several cups of Soma, invocations to several gods, the cutting of hair and other observances. Due to the prestige associated with it, the sacrifice offered a great opportunity to the priests to earn the appreciation of the king and receive lavish gifts of food grains, cows, land, a seat in the royal court, gold and jewelry, etc.

Asvamedha was one of the most popular and prestigious Vedic sacrifices in ancient India, which is mentioned in several scriptures, including the Upanishads. Like the Vajapeya and Rajasuya, it was also performed by kings to expand their territories and celebrate their victories. The sacrifice began with the selection of an able horse. On the appointed day, the priests were entertained with lavish offerings of food.

The king, accompanied by his queens, priests and royal entourage assembled in an open ground and camped there for the night near the Garhapatya fire, listening to religious discourse of music. The next day, the horse was consecrated with rituals and set free, along with a hundred other horses, an army of four hundred young soldiers guarding them.

Armed with swords, arrows, spears, etc. If the horse died due to sickness or an accident, it was replaced by another. For a year or six months, the horse was allowed to roam free in whichever direction it went. The king claimed all the land through which it passed as his own and declared his sovereignty over it. If anyone challenged him, he waged a war. If everything went well, at the end of the expedition, the horse was guided back to the ritual place and anointed by the chief queen.

They fed the sacrificial horse and tied it to a ritual post along with hundreds of other animals, from elephants to even birds and bees. On the chosen day, the king sacrificed the horse to the chants of the priests. It was followed by the sacrifice of the remaining animals. The night the horse was sacrificed, the chief queen slept with the horse as a symbolic gesture of sleeping with a divine being Purusha.

The rituals lasted for days, even after the horse was sacrificed, in which Indra, Varuna and other gods were invoked and nourished with rich offerings. We do not know how frequently Vedic people engaged in human sacrifices and for what ends, and whether they actually sacrificed any human being for the purpose or whether it was a mere symbolic ritual. Human sacrifices might have been practiced in prehistoric Vedic traditions to appease certain gods, choosing victims from among slaves or those who were captured in wars or those who were sentenced to capital punishment. The practice might have been discontinued later or replaced with more benign, symbolic sacrifice.

The Katha Upanishad vaguely mentions the sacrifice of young Naciketa by his own father and his visit to the house of Yama upon departing from the world. None of the Brahmanas mention the actual sacrifice of a human being because either the references to it were edited out or the practice itself was discontinued and forgotten. The texts suggest that the human sacrifices followed the same pattern as the horse sacrifice.

The priests who presided over it were those who belonged to a separate class and were not treated on par with other Brahmana families. The victim who was chosen for the sacrifice was supposed to be a person of either the Brahmana or the Kshatriya caste. He was purchased from his parents, masters or captors for a hefty price. After purchasing him and formally consecrating him, he was allowed to live freely for a year and go wherever he wanted, just at the horse in case of the horse sacrifice. However, he was instructed to remain chaste and avoid the company of women.

When he returned, the priests set the stage for the sacrifice. At the end of a five-day ceremony, he was tied to a post and sacrificed in the presence of the king and queen. As in case of the horse sacrifice, the queen was instructed to lay beside the body of the victim for a night. We do not know what purpose the sacrifice served. The idea of self-sacrifice is an integral part of Hindu spiritual practices, which prevailed in the Vedic period also. Vedic people believed that the world was ruled by the God of Death Kala who devoured everything. Probably similar reasoning led to the idea of renunciation as the ultimate human sacrifice which led to liberation.

The Vedas proclaim that God himself said to have sacrificed parts of his own body to create the world. Following the example, some teacher traditions of ancient India also practiced willful self-mortification through fasting or self-immolation to attain final liberation. The idea of a devotee symbolically becoming Bhakta sacrificial food to God the Bhokta through bhakti devotion or the act of offering on the path of devotion probably arose from the ancient practice of human sacrifices or self-sacrifices.

Although it is mentioned in the Vedas, the Sarvamedha sacrifice might have never been practiced in real life in the Vedic period. Rather it may have been used to symbolically represent the highest ideal of renunciation or giving up everything for the sake of liberation. According to Varnashrama Dharma, at the end of Vanaprastha a person had to give up everything, including fire and cooked food, and live in the forests entirely at the mercy of the elements, awaiting his final release from the mortal body. The phase of Sanyasa symbolically represents the practice of Sarvamedha only. We find a similar approach in the legend of Naciketa also, who refuses to accept any worldly gifts and enjoyments from Yama as they will not lead to his liberation, or grant him eternal peace.

Ideally, in all other sacrifices, the worshippers make offerings to gods with the expectation receive something in return. In the Sarvamedha, there is no such exchange. The worshipper expects nothing in return, while he gives away everything, including his name, fame, riches, possessions, relationships, likes and dislikes, and attachments to spend the rest of his life in search of liberation. Whether it was practiced or not, the Sarvamedha sacrifice represented the highest ideal of the Vedic spirituality, which was exemplified by the ancient seers and sages.

Even the Buddha went in search of Nirvana, after sacrificing everything. Apart from the domestic sacrifices and Srauta rituals, Vedic people also practiced several sacrificial ceremonies called the Samskaras or Sacraments to commemorate important events in their lives, staring from conception, until death. The ceremonies added structure and order to their lives and kept them bound to the duties of Dharma.

They also ensured the continuation of their families and the order and regularity of the world. Most of these ceremonies had a social dimension and a festive aspect about them since they were ceremonially practiced in the presence of friends and family members with a lot of festivity and rejoicing, except for the last rite. The following is a brief account of important ceremonial rituals and important events in the life of an individual, which are still practiced by many orthodox Hindu families, while a few of them are practiced by almost all Hindus.

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