agnihotra

File:Agni deva.JPG, the recipient of the evening agnihotra.]]

File:Vedic Sacrificial Arena after Olivelle.png

The ritual is conducted twice daily, right before or after sunrise and after sunset or the appearance of the first night star. The morning and evening agnihotras differ by the mantras and chants made by the officiants. At least four people take part in the sacrifice: the sacrificer, who hires priests to perform the ceremony (Brahmin), his wife, an Adhvaryu ({{langx|sa|अध्वर्यु}}) and a milker.{{cite journal |last1=Dumont |first1=Paul-Emile |title=The Agnihotra (Or Fire-God Oblation) in the Taittirīya-Brāhmaṇa: The First Prapāṭhaka of the Second Kāṇḍa of the Taittirīya-Brāhmaṇa with Translation |journal=Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society |date=1964-08-27 |volume=108 |issue=4 |pages=337–338 |jstor=985912 |url= https://www.jstor.org/stable/985912 |access-date=23 September 2021}}{{Cite book|last=Keith|first=Arthur Berriedale|title=The Religion and Philosophy of the Veda and Upanishads|publisher=Harvard University Press|year=1925|pages=318}}

Vedic rituals are typically performed by four priests: the aforementioned adhvaryu, who is responsible for the physical details of the sacrifice and chants the Yajurveda, a hotṛ ({{langx|sa|होतृ}}) who recites the Rigveda, an udgātṛ ({{langx|sa|उद्गातृ}}) who sings hymns of the Samaveda, and a brahman ({{langx|sa|ब्राह्मण|brāhmaṇa}}) who supervises the ceremony, and recites the Atharvaveda while correcting any errors that may occur. There are three fires: an eastern offertorial fire called an āhavanīya ({{langx|sa|आहवनीय}}) lit in a square fire pit, a western fire called the gārhapatya ({{langx|sa|गार्हपत्य}}) lit in a circular fire pit, which represents the householder's fire, and a southern fire simply called the dakṣiṇāgni (Southern fire) ({{langx|sa|दक्षिणाग्नि}}). During the ceremonies, a ritual poker, pot ({{langx|sa|अग्निहोत्रस्थाली|agnihotrasthālī}}), a spoon ({{langx|sa|स्रुव|sruva}}), and ladle ({{langx|sa|अग्निहोत्रहवनी|agnihotrahavanī}}) are all used. At the centre of the ritual space is an earthen altar ({{langx|sa|वेदी|vedī}}) where the tools to perform the ritual are placed.{{cite book |last1=Olivelle |first1=Patrick |title=Upaniṣads: A New Translation by Patrick Olivelle |date=1996 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Oxford |isbn=0192835769 |pages=xlii-xliv |edition=2nd }}

The most common offering in the Agnihotra ritual is milk. The Kātyāyana Śrautasūtra advises devotees to sacrifice with milk to obtain cattle or a position in heaven. Alternative offerings for different goals are also recommended: the acquisition of a village with rice gruel, strength with plain rice grains, refined senses with curds, and "sharpness" or "spirit" ({{langx|sa|तेज|teja}}) with ghee. Performance of the Agnihotra as a purely ritual obligation is known as nitya ({{langx|sa|नित्य}}), while performance with a special purpose is called kāmya. ({{langx|sa|नित्य}}) {{cite thesis |last=Madan |first=Haloi |date=2018 |title=The Agnistoma Somayaga in the Shukla Yajurveda |url=https://shodhganga.inflibnet.ac.in/handle/10603/255606 |degree=PhD |location=Guwahati |publisher=Gauhati University |access-date=20 May 2025}}

When the sacrificial area has been cleaned and the sacrificial fire lit, a cow is brought to the grounds and the milker, an ā́rya and not a śūdra,{{Cite book|last=Dalal|first=Roshen|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UCEoAwAAQBAJ&dq=agnihotra+shudra&pg=PT258|title=The Vedas: An Introduction to Hinduism's Sacred Texts|publisher=Penguin Books|year=2014|isbn=9788184757637 }}{{cite book|author=Ram Sharan Sharma|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gsZkAu-RHVgC&pg=PA60|title=Śūdras in Ancient India: A Social History of the Lower Order Down to Circa A.D. 600|publisher=Motilal Banarsidass|year=1990|isbn=978-81-208-0706-8|pages=60–61, 192–200, 261–267 with footnotes}} recites mantras before it, then brings the calf to the right side of its mother before beginning the milking. The milk is kept in the agnihotrasthālī, which can also only be made by an ā́rya.

When the milking is complete, the adhvaryu pours water around the three fires, before boiling the collected milk on coals collected from the gārhapatya. The adhvaryu draws milk into the ladle, pouring it first onto the āhavanῑya twice: first while reciting mantras, and the second silently as an offering to Prajapati. The mantra for offering the milk during the evening is "Agni is the light. The light is Agni, svaha". ({{langx|sa|अग्निर् ज्योतिर् ज्योतिर् अग्निः स्वाहा|agnir jyotir jyotir agniḥ svāhā}}). In the morning, Surya is substituted for Agni: ({{langx|sa|सूर्यो ज्योतिः ज्योतिः सूर्यः स्वाहा|sūryo jyotiḥ jyotiḥ sūryaḥ svāhā}}).

When the libations are complete, the ladle is cleaned with Darbha grass and refilled with water. It is then heated on the āhavanīya as additional mantras are recited, and poured onto the altar as an additional libation. In certain versions of the ritual (but not that contained in the Tattirīya Brahmana), this is followed by a blade of grass being offered to the āhavanīya. When the ceremony is complete, the adhvaryu sips some of the leftover water, recites the mantra "From Rta I have found Satya" and pours water on his head.

The Brāhmaṇas give several explanations for the origin of the agnihotra. In one, Prajapati creates Agni, and then offers the sweat of his brow (which became ghee) or his eye after hearing his voice commanding himself to sacrifice, creating Surya. The origin of the exclamation svāhā, said as offerings are made into the sacrificial fire, is explained as a combination of svā (own) and āha (spoken). In another, the agnihotra is a condensed version of a thousand-year sacrifice Prajapati and the other devas performed to gain divine power.{{sfn|Bodewitz|1976|p=14-29}}

File:Agam House Agam Ghar Pashupatinath Temple Kathmandu Nepal Rajesh Dhungana.jpg

Witzel (1992) locates the first Agnishala hypothetically at Jhul (Mātātīrtha), in the western ridge of the Kathmandu valley and later at the southern rim of the palace of Aṃśuvermā at Hadigaon, Kathmandu. The first source of inscription evidence was from Tachapal tole, east part of Bhaktapur city, also shown by a legend that the Maithila King Harisimhadeva would establish the yantra of Taleju Bhavānī in the house of an Agnihotri. From 1600 CE onward, the Agnihotra has been attested to the Agnishala temple in Patan only.

The Agnihotra ritual in Nepal has been first recorded in an inscription of King Anandadeva in c. 1140 CE that mentions of the initiations of his two sons, viz. Yasho Malla and prince Somesvara at Agnimatha (or Agnishala in Lalitpur).{{Cite journal|last=Witzel|first=Michael|date=1992|editor-last=Hoek|editor-first=A W van den|editor2-last=Kolff|editor2-first=D H A|editor3-last=Oort|editor3-first=M S|title=Meaningful Rituals: Vedic, Medieval, and Contemporary Concepts in the Nepalese Agnihotra Ritual|journal=Ritual, State and History in South Asia: Essays in Honour of J.C. Heesterman|publisher=E J Brill|pages=774–828|doi=10.1163/9789004643994_044 |isbn=9004094679}} The temple of Agnishala since the 12th century maintains the Vedic tradition of Agnihotra fire sacrifice ritual and despite having undergone many ritual changes, the basic Vedic performance is still intact.{{Cite book|title=Fire Rituals in Newār Community: The Dynamics of Rituals at Agnimaṭha, Pāṭan [MA Thesis]|last=Rajopadhyaya|first=Abhas D|publisher=Department of Anthropology, Tri-Chandra College (affiliated to Tribhuvan University)|year=2017|location=Kathmandu}} The Agnishala is maintained by the Newar Rajopadhyaya Brahmins of Patan, who are the premier Krishna Yajurvedic Brahmins of Nepal.

Along with these, there are other Agnishalas identified and recently revived, viz.{{Cite book|title=Formen kulturellen Wandels und andere Beirtaege zur Erforschung des Himalaya|last=Witzel|first=Michael|publisher=VGH Wissenschaftsverlag|year=1986|editor-last=Kölver|editor-first=B|location=St Augustin|pages=157–187|chapter=Agnihtora-Rituale in Nepal|trans-chapter=Agnihotra Ritual in Nepal|editor2-last=Leinhard|editor2-first=Seigfried}}

• at southern edge of Pashupatinath temple (a UNESCO World Heritage Site of Nepal) by a Purbe Brahmin. This has been in practice for almost 200 years now, and for this Agnishala, in 1974 the government provided NRs. 18,000 (then around US$7,000) per year.
• at Kumarigal, south of Bouddha (another UNESCO World Heritage Site in Nepal) in Kathmandu by Narayan Prasad, a Purbe Brahmin
• at Thamel, north of central Kathmandu by Tirtha Raj Acharya

Arya Samaj is a religious reform movement founded in 1875 advocating a return to Vedic religion as interpreted by its founder, Dayananda Saraswati. Strongly criticizing the "Puranic" ritual of performing pujas to murtis (religious images such as statues), adherents perform a variation of agnihotra as part of the five yajnas as described in Vedic texts.{{cite book |last1=Adcock |first1=C.S. |title=The Limits of Tolerance Indian: Secularism and the Politics of Religious Freedom |date=2013 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Oxford |page=43 }}

File:Snoqualmie Moondance meditation 01.jpg Moondance festival, 1992.]]

A simplified variant of the agnihotra ceremony was popularized in the mid-1900s by Gajanan Maharaj,The Gajanan Maharaj who promoted agnihotra was not the 19th century saint, but [https://www.agnihotra.org/category/parama-sadguru-shree-gajanan-maharaj/ an identically-named religious leader] active in the 20th century and entails the offering of ghee and brown rice into only a single fire lit in a copper pyramid-shaped brazier with cow dung and additional amounts of ghee. Mantras are repeated during this process.{{cite news |title='Mass agnihotra' camp conducted |url=https://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Visakhapatnam/mass-agnihotra-camp-conducted/article2987572.ece |website=The Hindu |date=12 March 2012 |access-date=29 July 2021}} Practitioners claim a number of physical and environmental benefits from performing the ritual; however, these are pseudoscientific.{{cite news |title=Pseudo science abounds Krishi Mela 2017 |url=https://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/bangalore/pseudo-science-abounds-krishi-mela-2017/article20492168.ece |work=The Hindu}} In 2007, Sylvia Kratz and Ewald Schaung found that while Agnihotra ash possibly increased the amount of phosphorus in soil, levels were the same regardless of whether the ceremony was done at the prescribed times with mantras or not. The composition of the pyramid was found to be a factor, with ash created in iron pyramids containing significantly less phosphorus than ones made of copper.{{cite journal |last1=Kratz |first1=Sylvia |last2=Schung |first2=Ewald |title=Homa Farming - a vedic fire for agriculture: Influence of Agnihotra ash on water solubility of soil P |journal=Landbauforschung Völkenrode |date=2007 |pages=207–11 |access-date=19 August 2021 |url=https://literatur.thuenen.de/digbib_extern/bitv/dk038377.pdf}}

Like the Vedic Agnihotra, the modern version of Agnihotra perpetuated by Gajanan Maharaj and groups such as Homa Therapy has two variants, one for the evening and one for the morning. At sunset, the practitioner says "Agnaye svāhā idam Agnaye na mama" (Devanagari: अग्नये स्वाहा इदम् अग्नये न मम),{{efn|Lit. "[This is] for Agni, svāhā. [This is] for Agni, and not for me."}} offering the first half of the rice or ghee into the fire after "svāhā" is spoken. After the first mantra is said, the practitioner then says, "Prajāpataye svāhā Prajāpataye idam na mama" (Devanagari: प्रजापतये स्वाहा प्रजापतये इदम् न मम),{{efn|Lit. "[This is] for Prajāpati, svāhā. [This is] for Prajāpati, and not for me.}} again offering a second portion of rice and/or ghee as soon as "svāhā" is spoken. The morning Agnihotra is identical, save for the fact that Surya is substituted for Agni.{{cite web |title=Mantras |url=https://www.agnihotra.org/mantras/ |website=Agnihotra.org — Agnihotra & Homa Therapy Information |publisher=Homa Therapy |access-date=19 December 2021}}

• Agni
• Homa
• Agnicayana
• Fire Sermon
• Yajna
• Dhyāna in Hinduism#Agnihotra
• Pranagnihotra Upanishad

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• [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nZYdXczveyY Modern performance of the Vedic agnihotra]

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