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Agnicayana
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Atiratra Agnicayana (ati-rātrá agní-cayana "the building up of the fireplace performed over-night") or piling of the altar of Agni is an ancient ritual of the Vedic religion. The entire ritual takes twelve days to perform, in the course of which a great bird-shaped altar, the uttaravedi "northern altar" is built out of 10,800 bricks. The liturgical text is in chapters 11 to 18 of the White Yajurveda; the corresponding exposition of the ritual is in Books 6 to 9 of the Shatapatha Brahmana.
In 1975 Indologist Frits Staal documented in great detail the performance of an Agnicayana performed by Nambudiri Brahmins in Kerala. The last performance before that had been in 1956, and the Nambudiris were concerned that the ritual was threatened by extinction. It had never before been observerd by outsiders. In exchange for a financial participation of the scholars towards the cost of the ritual, the Nambudiris agreed that it should be filmed and recorded. The ritual was performed from 12 to 14 April, 1975.
After the 1975 Agnicayana, there have been severalmore Nambudiri Śrauta yajnas, the 1984 Agnistoma at Trivandrum, the 1990 Agnicayana at Kundoor, the 2003 Agnistoma at Trichur, the 2006 atiratram and agnistoma.
- Frits Staal, Agni, the Vedic ritual of the fire altar (1983).
- Itti Ravi Mamunne, Agni and the Foreign Savants EJVS 10 (2003) [1]