VEDIC HINDUISM by S. W. Jamison and M. Witzel - people.fas ...

Jamison & Witzel VEDIC HINDUISM 36
exact center of the ritual, for Vedic rituals are bilaterally symmetrical,43 leading
up to and away from the climactic moment,44 The simplest of the categories is
that of the Haviryajñas, with oblations of vegetable and dairy products; also
technically considered Haviryajñas are animal sacrifices, but it is convenient to
treat these separately. And finally Somayajñas, with oblations made with the
highly prized inspiring drink soma. This classification is very early; it underlies
already the ordering of mantra collections in the YV Sa�hitås (MS, KS, TS, VS).
First or second in these early Mantra collections are the two small Mantra
Sa�hitås of the New and Full Moon and of the Soma ritual. The New and Full
Moon sacrifice of cakes is the base pattern (prak�ti) of all food offerings (I��i
rituals), while the simplest form of the Soma ritual (Agni��oma, adhvara) is that
of the more complicated Soma rituals, such as the Ukthya, Atiråtra, Våjapeya.
The offerings (havis) of vegetarian dishes or meat (i��i) are "strewn" (nir-vapati),
and those of liquids (soma, ghee) are "poured" (juhoti).
These oblations are not mutually exclusive. Animal sacrifices also include
offerings of the other Haviryajña classes, and the Soma Sacrifice has both
offerings of that sort and animal sacrifices embedded in it. Indeed, many of the
basic actions and patterns of Vedic ritual are common to all the rituals or to
large groups of them. In particular, certain rituals serve, as has been alluded to
above, as the type or model of a group of variants. Moreover, rituals can be
nested or embedded in other rituals, building larger and increasingly intricate
ritual structures out of a collection of smaller, self-contained ritual units.
(Hillebrandt 1897, 1987; Heesterman 1957, 1985; Staal 1982, 1983, 1990; Witzel
1987b, 1992, Minkowski 1991.)
e. The development of ritual
Reference has already been made to the pre-history of the Classical Vedic
ritual as preserved in the Yajurveda Mantras and the various Bråhma�as and
Sūtras. The major development took place towards the end, or rather after the
�gvedic period, during the linguistically defined "Mantra" period. The Śrauta
rituals which were then shaped are the priestly elaboration of more simple
rituals (partly preserved in the G�hyasūtras) of great antiquity.
43 For this feature, see Minkowski 1991, cf. Staal 1982, etc.
44 Something already found in �gvedic "guest worship of the gods" and still reflected in
modern pūjå, see above ch. 2.b (as well as in the closely related Zoroastrian ritual).