Concept
Agnihotra
Overview
Agnihotra (IAST: Agnihotra, Devnagari: अग्निहोत्र) refers to the yajna of offering ghee into the sacred fire as per strict rites, and may include twice-daily heated milk offering made by those in the Śrauta tradition. The ritual has been described by P.E. Dumont as a "fertility charm", and as a "solar charm" which symbolically preserved and created the sun at nightfall and sunrise.
This tradition dates back to the Vedic age; the Brahmans perform the Agnihotra ritual chanting the verses from the Rigveda. It is part of a pan-Indo-Iranian heritage, which includes the related Iranian fire-worship ritual called Zoroastrian Yasna Haptaŋhāiti ritual mentioned in the Old Avestan. In the historical Vedic religion, Agnihotra was the simplest public rite, and the head of every Brahmin and Vaishya family was required to conduct it twice daily. It was already popular in India with Upaniṣads as religious performance. The tradition is now practiced in many parts of South Asia in the Indian sub-continent, including primarily India and also in Nepal. The Brahmin who performs the Agnihotra ritual is called an Agnihotri.
Overview adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0; see the article history for authors).
Possible passages
Found by search and not yet checked by a person; they may only mention the idea in passing.
99. Others of the Indians, dwelling to the East of these, are pastoral and eat raw flesh: these are called Padaians, and they practise the following customs:—whenever any of their tribe falls ill, whether it be a woman or a man, if a man then the men who are his nearest associates put him to death, saying that he is wasting away with the disease and his flesh is being spoilt for them: 89 and meanwhile he denies…
Herodotus, The History of Herodotus — Volume 1
States what Agnihotra is.
Our interpretation of vegetation cults is supported particularly by the conditions prevailing in the original home of totemism, Australia. These cults here occur chiefly in the northern districts, into which there were early Melanesian immigrations; towards the south, they have gained but a relatively small foothold. The more northerly regions, as we have seen, are the very ones in which plant totems also are…
Wilhelm Max Wundt, Elements of Folk Psychology Outline of a Psychological History of the Development of Mankind
States what Agnihotra is.
We had first _âkâsa_, then came heat, then it became liquified, and when still more condensed appeared as solid matter. It goes back to the unmanifested condition in exactly the reverse way. The solids will be converted into liquid and the liquid into a mass of heat, that will slowly go back into the gaseous state, disintegration of atoms will begin, finally equilibrium of all forces will be reached, vibration will…
Swami Vivekananda, Jnâna Yoga, Part II
States what Agnihotra is.
Related ideas
- Deva (Hinduism)
- India
- Vedas
- Satya
- Kathmandu
- Indo-Iranians
- Indian subcontinent
- South Asia
- UNESCO
- Brahmin
- Zoroastrianism
- Rigveda
- Dayananda Saraswati
- International Alphabet of Sanskrit Transliteration
- Upanishads
- Atharvaveda
- Sunrise
Place in the tradition
Part of Mīmāṃsā.