Pakayajna

{{Short description|Hindu ritual}}

{{Hinduism}}{{Use Indian English|date=August 2024}}

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The Pakayajna ({{Langx|sa|पाकयज्ञ|translit=Pāka-yajñās}}) or Pakayaga (ISO: {{Transliteration|sa|ISO|Pāka-yaga}}) is a Hindu ritual. It is a type of Yajna associated with the Vedic sacrifices of cooked food offering, and regarded as an obligatory ritual (nitya-karma) for a householder.{{Cite journal |last=Smith |first=Brian K. |date=1986 |title=THE UNITY OF RITUAL: The Place of the Domestic Sacrifice in Vedic Ritualism |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/24654536 |journal=Indo-Iranian Journal |volume=29 |issue=2 |pages=79–96 |doi=10.1163/000000086790082154 |jstor=24654536 |issn=0019-7246|url-access=subscription }}{{Cite book |last=eGangotri |url=http://archive.org/details/4146UPSSPakaYajnaLaugakshiSharada |title=4146 UPSS Paka Yajna Laugakshi Sharada}}

The term "paka" means "cooked" or "prepared". Unlike other types of sacrifices, such as Haviryaga, which involves the offering of uncooked food, a Pakayajna utilizes cooked food material such as bhat. The food (rice of other grains) is cooked in a pot made out of clay called "sthālī", and then offered in the yajna fire during the ritual.{{Cite web |last=Yegnasubramanian |first=S. |title=Vaidika Samskaras |url=https://svbf.org/wp-content/uploads/vaidika-samskaras/6_VaidikaSamskaras.pdf |access-date=August 12, 2024 |website=svbf.org}}{{Cite book |last=Mehra |first=B. S. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nJkoAAAAYAAJ |title=Vaitānaśrautasūtra |date=1994 |publisher=Sanjay Prakashan |isbn=978-81-7453-000-4 |language=en}}