![Homa during Sri Thimmaraya swamy Pratishthapana](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/76/Homa_during_Sri_Thimmaraya_swamy_Pratishthapana..jpg)
''Vedi'' () is the sacrificial
altar
An altar is a table or platform for the presentation of religious offerings, for sacrifices, or for other ritualistic purposes. Altars are found at shrines, temples, churches, and other places of worship. They are used particularly in paga ...
in the
Vedic religion. Such altars were an elevated outdoor enclosure, generally strewed with
Kusha grass
The kusha () grass, the darbha () grass and the pavitram (), are the Sanskrit terms for ''Desmostachya bipinnata'' grass. This grass is of literary and ritual significance in Hinduism.
In the performance of Vedic rituals such as the homam and ta ...
, and having receptacles for the
sacrificial fire
Worship or deification of fire (also pyrodulia, pyrolatry or pyrolatria) is known from various religions. Fire has been an important part of human culture since the Lower Paleolithic. Religious or animist notions connected to fire are assumed to ...
; it was of various shapes, but usually narrow in the middle.
They were used in various types of
Yajna
Yajna ( sa, यज्ञ, yajña, translit-std=IAST, sacrifice, devotion, worship, offering) refers in Hinduism to any ritual done in front of a sacred fire, often with mantras.SG Nigal (1986), Axiological Approach to the Vedas, Northern Book ...
rituals, of which the lengthiest was the ''
agnicayana
The Agnicayana ('; ) or Athirathram ( ml, അതിരാത്രം) is a category of advanced Śrauta rituals.
After one has established the routine of the twice-daily routine of Agnihotra offerings and biweekly ''dara-purna-masa'' offerin ...
'', lasting twelve days. In Vedic times, offerings, often including animals, were burnt in the fire, and fully consumed by it. This contrasts with modern Hindu offerings to gods, which are all vegetable, and are preserved to be consumed by the devotees (which was also the case in other religions, such as
ancient Greek religion
Religious practices in ancient Greece encompassed a collection of beliefs, rituals, and mythology, in the form of both popular public religion and cult practices. The application of the modern concept of "religion" to ancient cultures has been ...
).
Fire altars remain part of the rituals in some
Hindu festival
Across the globe, Hindus celebrate a diverse number of festivals and celebrations, typically marking events from ancient India and often coinciding with seasonal changes. These celebrations take place either on a fixed annual date on the solar ...
s and rites of passage; in particular circling around a sacred fire (''
saptapadi
Saptapadi () is regarded to be the most important rite (Sanskrit: ) of a Hindu wedding ceremony. After tying the sacred knot known as the Mangalsutra, mangalasutra, the newly-wed couple takes seven steps together, during which the marriage is so ...
'') remains an essential part of
Hindu wedding
A Hindu wedding, also known as Vivaha (Devanagari: विवाह; Kannada script: ವಿವಾಹ; ''Vivaaha'') (), Lagna (लग्न), or Kalyanam (Devanagari: कल्याणम्; Kannada script: ಕಲ್ಯಾಣಮ್; ta, கல ...
s.
Although
Agni
Agni (English: , sa, अग्नि, translit=Agni) is a Sanskrit word meaning fire and connotes the Vedic fire deity of Hinduism. He is also the guardian deity of the southeast direction and is typically found in southeast corners of Hindu ...
, the Vedic
god of fire
This is a list of deities in fire worship.
African mythology Yoruba mythology
* Ogun, fire god and patron of blacksmiths, iron, warfare, metal tools
* Ọya, goddess of fire, wind, transforms into buffalo, fertility
* Shango, god of thunder and f ...
, has an important place in the
mandala
A mandala ( sa, मण्डल, maṇḍala, circle, ) is a geometric configuration of symbols. In various spiritual traditions, mandalas may be employed for focusing attention of practitioners and adepts, as a spiritual guidance tool, for e ...
setting out the plan in
Hindu temple architecture
Hindu temple architecture as the main form of Hindu architecture has many varieties of style, though the basic nature of the Hindu temple remains the same, with the essential feature an inner sanctum, the ''garbha griha'' or womb-chamber, where ...
, in the south-east part of the temple, fire altars are not now a normal part of regular
Hindu temple
A Hindu temple, or ''mandir'' or ''koil'' in Indian languages, is a house, seat and body of divinity for Hindus. It is a structure designed to bring human beings and gods together through worship, sacrifice, and devotion.; Quote: "The Hind ...
rituals. Modern fire sacrifices are covered at
Homa rituals.
Types
![Danidhar28](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f7/Danidhar28.JPG)
As deduced from descriptions in ancient texts, the types of vedi were:
*, the great or entire altar
*, the northern altar made for the sacred fire ()
*, a sort of subordinate or side-altar, generally a heap of earth covered with sand on which the fire is placed
*, an altar shaped like a trough (Shulbas. 3.216)
*, a second altar at the
Soma sacrifice
Yajna ( sa, यज्ञ, yajña, translit-std=IAST, sacrifice, devotion, worship, offering) refers in Hinduism to any ritual done in front of a sacred fire, often with mantras.SG Nigal (1986), Axiological Approach to the Vedas, Northern Book ...
The was in the shape of a
falcon
Falcons () are birds of prey in the genus ''Falco'', which includes about 40 species. Falcons are widely distributed on all continents of the world except Antarctica, though closely related raptors did occur there in the Eocene.
Adult falcons ...
( 'piled up in the shape of the bird Alaja'), and was piled up with bricks in the
Agnicayana
The Agnicayana ('; ) or Athirathram ( ml, അതിരാത്രം) is a category of advanced Śrauta rituals.
After one has established the routine of the twice-daily routine of Agnihotra offerings and biweekly ''dara-purna-masa'' offerin ...
ritual.
Vedic altars are described in the circum-Vedic texts dealing with
Kalpa
Kalevan Pallo (KalPa) is a professional ice hockey team which competes in the Finnish Liiga. They play in Kuopio, Finland at the Niiralan monttu, Olvi Areena.
Team history
Established in 1929 as ''Sortavalan Palloseura'' in Sortavala, the club r ...
(the proper performance of sacrifice), notably the
Satapatha Brahmana
The Shatapatha Brahmana ( sa, शतपथब्राह्मणम् , Śatapatha Brāhmaṇam, meaning 'Brāhmaṇa of one hundred paths', abbreviated to 'SB') is a commentary on the Śukla (white) Yajurveda. It is attributed to the Vedic ...
, and the
Sulbasutras The ''Shulva Sutras'' or ''Śulbasūtras'' (Sanskrit: शुल्बसूत्र; ': "string, cord, rope") are sutra texts belonging to the Śrauta ritual and containing geometry related to fire-altar construction.
Purpose and origins
The ...
say that the
Rigveda
The ''Rigveda'' or ''Rig Veda'' ( ', from ' "praise" and ' "knowledge") is an ancient Indian collection of Vedic Sanskrit hymns (''sūktas''). It is one of the four sacred canonical Hindu texts (''śruti'') known as the Vedas. Only one Sh ...
corresponds to an altar of mantras.
Fire altars are already mentioned in the Rigveda. According to
Taittiriya Samhita
The ''Taittirīya Shakha'' (Sanskrit, loosely meaning 'Branch or School of the sage Tittiri'), is a ''shakha'' (i.e. 'branch', 'school', or rescension) of the Krishna (black) Yajurveda. Most prevalent in South India, it consists of the ''Taitti ...
5.2.3., they are made of twenty-one bricks.
In ŚBM 10.4.3.14-20, the altar is made of 396 (360 + 36) (special) bricks, and of 10,800 (ordinary) bricks. 10,701 bricks belong to the altar, 78 to the hearths and 21 to the . Around the altar are 360 stones (261 around , 78 around , 21 around ).
ŚBM 10.3.1. describes that the altar is symbolically built with
''gayatri'' (24 syllables), (breath, 28 syllables), (mind, 40 syllables), ''
tristubh
''Trishtubh'' ( sa, त्रिष्टुभ्, , IAST: ) is a Vedic metre of 44 syllables (four padas of eleven syllables each), or any hymn composed in this metre. It is the most prevalent metre of the Rigveda, accounting for roughly 40% of ...
'' (ear, 44 syllables), (awakening) (48 syllables) and generative breath. The altar's height is to the knees, the ''
's'' to the navel and the ''
's'' to a man's height.
Agnicayana
In the Agnicayana ritual, the (great altar) has a length of 24 ''
prakrama'' in the east, 30 in the west and 36 in the north and south. Inside the , an altar is placed. In the smaller ritual space to the west of the (, ), three altars are placed: the (earth, west), (sky, east) and (or , southwest). The round and the square have the same area. The
Squaring the circle
Squaring the circle is a problem in geometry first proposed in Greek mathematics. It is the challenge of constructing a square with the area of a circle by using only a finite number of steps with a compass and straightedge. The difficulty ...
problem was also investigated because of such ritualistic considerations. The altar has five layers (), representing earth, space and the sky.
Archaeology
At
Kalibangan
Kalibangān is a town located at on the left or southern banks of the Ghaggar (Ghaggar-Hakra River) in Tehsil Pilibangān, between Suratgarh and Hanumangarh in Hanumangarh District, Rajasthan, India 205 km. from Bikaner. It is also identifi ...
(at the
Ghaggar
The Ghaggar-Hakra River is an intermittent river in India and Pakistan that flows only during the monsoon season. The river is known as Ghaggar in India, before the Ottu barrage, and as the Hakra in Pakistan, downstream of the barrage, ending ...
river) the remains of what some writers claim to be
fire
Fire is the rapid oxidation of a material (the fuel) in the exothermic chemical process of combustion, releasing heat, light, and various reaction Product (chemistry), products.
At a certain point in the combustion reaction, called the ignition ...
altar
An altar is a table or platform for the presentation of religious offerings, for sacrifices, or for other ritualistic purposes. Altars are found at shrines, temples, churches, and other places of worship. They are used particularly in paga ...
s have been unearthed. S.R. Rao found similar "fire altars" in Lothal which he thinks could have served no other purpose than a ritualistic one.
[S.R. Rao. The Aryans in Indus Civilization.1993:175]
See also
*
Agiary
A fire temple, Agiary, Atashkadeh ( fa, آتشکده), Atashgah () or Dar-e Mehr () is the place of worship for the followers of Zoroastrianism, the ancient religion of Iran (Persia).
In the Zoroastrian religion, fire (see ''atar''), together wi ...
*
Yajna
Yajna ( sa, यज्ञ, yajña, translit-std=IAST, sacrifice, devotion, worship, offering) refers in Hinduism to any ritual done in front of a sacred fire, often with mantras.SG Nigal (1986), Axiological Approach to the Vedas, Northern Book ...
Notes
References
*
Subhash Kak
Subhash Kak is an Indian-American computer scientist and historical revisionist. He is the Regents Professor of Computer Science Department at Oklahoma State University–Stillwater, an honorary visiting professor of engineering at Jawaharlal ...
. ''Birth and Early Development of Indian Astronomy''. In ''Astronomy across cultures: The History of Non-Western Astronomy'',
Helaine Selin
Helaine Selin (born 1946) is an American librarian, historian of science, author and the editor of several bestselling books.
Career
Selin attended Binghamton University, where she earned her bachelor's degree. She received her MLS from SUNY Alb ...
(ed), Kluwer, 2000
*Subhash Kak, ''The Astronomical Code of the Rigveda'', Delhi, Munshiram Manoharlal, 2000, .
*Sen, S.N., and A.K. Bag. 1983. ''The Sulbasutras''. New Delhi: Indian National Science Academy.
*
Frits Staal
Johan Frederik "Frits" Staal (3 November 1930 – 19 February 2012) was the department founder and Emeritus Professor of Philosophy and South/Southeast Asian Studies at the University of California, Berkeley. Staal specialized in the study of ...
, ''Agni, the Vedic ritual of the fire altar'' (1983).
External links
*{{Commonscatinline
*http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/george/vedi.html
Vedas
Hindu architecture
Hindu temple architecture
Altars
Yajna