20-24 septembrie 2009 - Biblioteca Metropolitana Bucuresti

The importance of myths in search of the significance of the saumikī dīkṣā 633connection with the rājasūya sacrifice, the rite exclusively of a kṣatriyasacrifice, and prescribes certain rites for the one who is consecrated eventhough he is a kṣatriya. The reference is: yaḥ[…] dīkṣate kṣatriyaḥsan /(34.5).These are some rites to be performed before the consecration ceremonyand their replica are to be performed with different mantras after thecompletion of the sacrifice. In the 35 th chapter a preparatory rite is describedto be performed before the consecration. Its name is iṣṭāpūrtasyāparijyāniofferings. It is in fact a set of offerings. The sacrificer offers four oblationsof clarified butter before the consecration and similar four at the end of thesacrifice. Sāyaṇa has explained the word aparijyāni as vināśābhāvaḥ ‘theabsence of destruction’. The word iṣṭa means ‘the duties of the sacrificerto be performed according to his varṇa and āśrama, and pūrta means thebenevolent acts such as the making of water reservoir, etc. Therefore, theword iṣṭāpūrtasyāparijyāni would mean ‘the absence of the destruction(of the fruit acquired by) the fulfilment of duties and the benevolent acts(performed by the sacrificer)’.The verses to be recited at the time of making these offerings are verysignificant. At the time of making the offerings before the consecration, thesacrificer recites the mantra:punar no indro maghavā dadātu brahma punar iṣṭaṁ pūrtaṁ dadātusvāhā / – Thereby he prays, “May Maghavan Indra give me back thebrahma (‘brahminhood’ or holy power, as translated by KEITH), andthe iṣṭa and pūrta done by me. Therefore I offer this offering.”The mantra to be recited after the completion of the sacrifice is:punar no agnir jātavedā dadātu kṣatram punar iṣṭam pūrtaṁ dadātusvāhā / – Thereby he prays: “May Agni Jātavedas give me back thekṣatra (‘lordly power’), and iṣṭa and pūrta done by me. Therefore I offerthis offering.”The contents of these prayers make it clear that these offerings aregiven by the sacrificer for getting back the fruit of the iṣṭa and pūrta andalso the brahma and the kṣatra. It can be said that the first offerings forma kind of a preparatory rite through which the sacrificer wants to acquirebrahma and be consecrated, while the offerings after the completion forma kind of redressing rite by which he wants to acquire the kṣatra and be akṣatriya again.In the next sub-section, i.e. AitBr 34.4, an option to these offerings isprescribed. These are called ajītapunarvaṇya offerings. They are introduced