B. Walker's Hindu World/azvamedha

Thu Nov 30 17:20:02 UTC 2000

Off-the-cuff, Walker's description seems "okay" (given its brevity).  There
is more than one text regarding the azvamedha and he may be blending various
aspects from different texts/recensions (if he has looked at the primary
sources...I don't know).  For example  descriptions of the horse, its color,
etc. varies across texts.  Also, if I recall correctly, Madhyandina SB does
not send the king out with the horse to roam for a year (does any text? I
don't know).  While I do not currently have the SB handy, I recall also that
in Madh. SB that the king is to be in seclusion, not to do his kingly
duties, not to engage in intercourse, etc. while the horse is roaming.
Whether all these things happened literally or were ritually represented is
unanswerable in the early sources.  I tend to lean towards the former.

That said, however, I see no reason to necessarily assume that a king
performing the azvamedha was actually trying to conquer new territory
(especially if my memory of his seclusion is correct).  Ritual error (i.e.,
dead or captured horse being the most extreme) would be quite possible, not
to mention very embarrassing for the king (there are expiations for this,
but they are also for accidental or natural death).  The king in an
azvamedha may simply have been ritually asserting or inaugurating his
authority over his territory (perhaps newly acquired, perhaps not).  Bear in
mind that the army "letting the horse wander" needs only to feed to horse to
keep it from running off and starting a war.

s

--
Steven E. Lindquist
email: s-lindquist at the-foundry.net

In the US:                    In India:
Doctoral Candidate            AIIS Junior Fellow/Affiliated Research Scholar
Dept. of Asian Studies        Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute
University of TX at Austin    Pune, Maharashtra
--

> From: Prasad Velusamy <prasad_velusamy at HOTMAIL.COM>
> Reply-To: Indology <INDOLOGY at LISTSERV.LIV.AC.UK>
> Date: Mon, 27 Nov 2000 16:20:00 -0800
> To: INDOLOGY at LISTSERV.LIV.AC.UK
> Subject: Re: B. Walker's Hindu World
>
> Prof. A. W. Thraser gave the bio-data of Walker:
>> Personal Information: Family: Born November 25, 1923, in Calcutta,
>
> However, the Library of Congress and US universities list his year of
> birth to be 1913.
>
> Is Walker's azvamedha description correct?
>
> --------------
>
> AUTHOR: Walker, George Benjamin, 1913-
> TITLE: The Hindu world; an encyclopedic survey of Hinduism
> IMPRINT: New York, Praeger [c1968]
>
> HORSE SACRIFICE, or as is known in Sanskrit, the *asvamedha*, was a
> special *soma* rite performed by kings of ancient India for extending
> their dominion, obtaining offspring or atoning for a sin. Preparations
> for the main sacrifice lasted for over a  year and the attendant
> rituals were extremely elaborate.
>
> The first *asvamedha* was said to have been performed by Brahma at
> Prayaaga (Allaahaabad) to commemorate his recovery of the Vedas which
> had been lost.  At the request of the gods, who were now jealous of
> the sanctity accorded to Prayaaga, Brahma performed a second
> *asvamedha* with ten horses at a spot in Benaaras named after the
> incident the Dasasvamedha Ghaat, thus giving Benaaras greater merit
> than Praayaga
>
> The  *aswa* or the sacrificial horse was selected with great care,
> and had to be a young male preferably white in colour.  It was bound
> and bathed, consecrated with fire and offered different kinds of wheat
> cakes for three days.  It was then set free to wander about at will,
> accompanied by an escort of princes and retainers.  If the ceremony
> was being performed for purporses of aggrandisement the wandersings of
> the horse became a ritual feature of aggressive intent.  The king with
> his army followed the horse, and all the territory through which the
> animal passed was claimed as the king's domain.  If the territory
> happened to belong to another ruler that ruler had either to establish
> his sovereignty by battle or submit to the invading king.  If all went
> well the king returned in triump with horse and army before the
> completion of one year.
>
>
> During their absence the continuity of the ceremonies had to be
> maintained in the capital, and on the return of the horse the final
> stage of asvamedha began.  In all the subsequent proceedings the
> mahishi or chief queen played a significant role.  In the last phase
> of the sacrifice was inaugurated with a new-moon rite enacted by the
> king; he washed his mouth in a golden bowel, shaved his head and
> beard, and seated himself on the lap of the chief queen while a short
> mantra (chant) was recited.  After this the king and the chief queen
> kept an all-night vigil before the sacred fire, and welcomed the
> rising sun at dawn.
>
> On the following day the first three queen entwined pearls or coins
> into the horse's mane and tail, and then anointed the animal, the
> chief queen the head, the second queen the back and the belly, and the
> third the rump and tail.  The fourth queen just looked on, doing
> nothing. On the same day a number of animals were sacrifices, fowls,
> goats, cows and camel.  Some speak of a wider variety of offerings,
> 'from the elephant to the bee' (I,p.253); domestic and wild animals,
> bird, fish and reptiles, totaling 609 animals in all, perhaps even a
> human being.  Then followed the sacrifice of the horse. It is not
> clear how this is done or whether a common practice was ever followed.
> It was usual for the king and chief queen to assist in the killing of
> the animal, which seems to have been hastened by strangling or
> 'stifling with robes'.
>
> The four queens then walked around the dead animal nine  times,
> fanning it with with their garments.  The horse was now identified
> with the god Prajaapati, and the chief queen had to go through a
> curious ceremony so that she might be impregnated with the deity's
> seed.  She lay in the sacrificial pit and both queen and cadaver were
> covered with a large sheet.  She then took hold of the horse's member
> and went through the motions of union with the animal and performed
> other acts of bestiality (III, p.80).  This was followed by a exchange
> of obscene dialogue between the chief queen and the other queens and
> the priests.  Some texts seem to suggest that four wives had
> intercourse with the four officiating priests.  The whole ceremony is
> believed to be part of a long-forgotten fertility rite (II, p.80) for
> bringing prosperity to the realm.
>
> Thereafter the *mahishi* marked out with metal needle the lines of
> dissection on the carcass, the other queens assisting.  The flesh of
> the animal was cooked and ritually eaten by the priests and other
> participants and  the remainder was burned.  The sacrifice was brought
> to an end with the chanting of mantras.
>
> It was believed that the performance of one hundred asvamedhas would
> enable a mortal king to become supreme over Indra and all the gods,
> and gain mastery over the universe.  But as the proper performance of
> each sacrifice took more than a year there is no record of a
> historical king having carried out the full century, although some
> rulers did sacrifice a hundred horses at a single ceremony.  Among the
> historical monarchs who performed the single asvamedha were
> Pushyamitra of the Sungas, Khaaravela of the Kalinga, Saatakarni of
> the Saatavaahanas, Pravarasena of the Vaakaatakas, Bhavanaaga of the
> Bhaarasivas, and the Gupta emperor Samudragupta.  The last asvamedha
> was offered by the ruler of Jaipur in Rajputaana in about the middle
> of the eighteen century A.D
>
> Reference
>
> I.  Chatterji, S. K. et al.  "The cultural Heritage of
> India", Culcautta, Rev. Ed., 1958.
>
> II. Chaudhuri, J. B. "The position of Women in Vedic
> Ritual", Calcutta, 2nd Ed., 1956.
>
> III.  Dasgupta, S. B. "Obscure Religious Cults",
> Calcutta, 1946.
>
>
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