Yadnyasya Katha Ramyah

(Also spelt as Yajna, yagya, etc)

Yadnya

Lord Krishna underscored the importance of Yadnya in Bhagavad Gita:

Aham Kraturaham Yadnyah Svadhahamahamaushadham

Mantro.Ahamahamevajyam-ahamagniraham Hutam .. Bhagavad Gita 9\-16

I am the Vedic ritual, I am the sacrifice, I am the offering to the departed, I am the herbage and foodgrains, I am the sacred mantra, I am the clarified butter, I am the sacred fire, and I am verily the act of offering oblation into the fire.

Yadnyas were most revered in Vedic rituals. Bhagavata Purana refers to Yadnya as a manifestation (one of 23 avataras) of Mahavishnu. 

The word Yadnya is derived from Sanskrit verb yaj, which refers to worship and charity. Yadnya is the ritual, practiced in historical Vedic religion where specific offerings are made, of ghee, milk, cakes, grain and herbs (such as Soma) into a sacred fire, accompanied by the chanting of Vedic mantras.  Offerings into the fire are believed to reach the deities. ‘Agni’ is treated as mouth of all the Gods. Vedic (Shrauta) Yadnyas are typically performed by four priests: the hotr, the adhvaryu, the udgatar and the Brahman. One recites invocations and prayers, other offers oblations third one chant hymns set to melodies and fourth one supervises and corrects the errors.

Few hundred Yadnyas are described in the Vedas. Some are obligatory and are called nitya-karmas but the word "nitya" here does not denote "daily". The Agnihotra and the Aupasana are to be performed daily (twice). Some of them may be performed only once in life time.

In the Ramayana, rakshasas are also convinced of the power of yadnyic practices. The demon king Ravana and his son Meghanada used to perform Yadnyas to accumulate power, wealth and prosperity and would spoil the Yadnic rituals of the rishis. Meghanada would have remained invincible had not Hanuman spoiled his tantric Yadnya.

Nonobligatory Yadnyas are mostly ‘Kamya Karma’ performed to fulfill certain desires. Some of the famous nonobligatory Yadnyas are known to us through various stories in Puaranas and Itihas

Putrakameshti Yadnya-King Dasharatha performed it on the advice of Sage Vashishtha to beget progeny with the help of sage Rishyashringa. Through the Prasad given by Yadnyadevata, his queens gave birth to the four sons, the eldest being Rama. The King Drupada also performed putrakami Yadnya with the hep of sages Yaja and Upayaja. Draupadi and Drishtadhyumna emerged through fire. Birth of Vishwamitra and his nephew Jamadagni bears some similarity, both being born because of sacrificial offerings of Sage Ruchika.

Purushamedha Yadnya- King Harischandra carries tapas to Varuna to get a child. Varuna puts a condition that the first born should be sacrificed to him. After getting the child, Rohita, Harischandra delays the sacrifice for Rohita, to grow older. Rohita find a substitute for himself in form of Shunahshepa, son of poor Brahmin, by paying money. Shunahshepa bound to the stake, frees himself by reciting mantras taught to him by Vishvamitra. The storey in Aitareya Brahmana perhaps indicates practice of Purushamedha Yadnya. In later times Purushamedha did not call for human times. Surprisingly this storey is so different from the one we read in Puranas.

Rakshasamedha Yadnya-When Parashara learned that his father was eaten by a rakshasa, Kalmashapada he became very angry. His grandfather persuaded him to meditate on Shiva for peace. But Parashara through his tapas started destroying all rakshasas through Rakshasamedha Yadnya. Pulastya and Vashishtha told him that it was wrong to punish many for the sins of one, who is already dead and convinced him to stop the Yadnya.

Sarpasatra Yadnya-Uttanka was a sage offended by Takshaka. He reminded Emperor Janamejaya that his father, Parikshita was also killed because of Takshaka’s bite. Janamejaya arranged snake-sacrifice with the help of sage Somashrava, the son of Shrutashrava. But after annihilation large number of snakes in Yadnyagni, son of Jaratkaru, Astika, managed its termination by obtaining a boon from Janamejaya.

Killing of Bhrugus by Haihayas followed Parashurama’s 21 times annihilation of Kshatriyas from the face of earth to avenge killing of his parents by Sahasrarjuna also can be looked-upon as Kshatriyamedha (?) Yadnya as he later gave away all the land he won to sage Kashyapa by performing Ashwamedha Yadnya.

Ashwamedha Yadnya

Famous Yadnya, which was performed by the great emperors, after their victories is Ashwamedha. This also signified sovereignty of the performing king over a large number of kingdoms and the liberal gifts that were given to Brahmins and scholars during the ceremonies. In Ashwamedha, the army is led by a wandering horse let loose from the capital of the king who performs this sacrifice. The land covered by the Horse was considered part of his kingdom. If any king/person stops the horse to refuse accept the superiority of the King, he need to fight for that. The ashwa (Horse) was sacrifice during the rituals. The object of the Yadnya was acquisition of power and glory, sovereignty over neighboring provinces, seeking progeny and prosperity of the kingdom. Ashwamedha Yadnya was also performed as a penance for any sin committed. Lord Rama’s Ashwamedha was to penance for Stee-hatya (Tatka) and Brahmahatya (Ravana).  Yudhisthira also performed it after war of Kurukshetra.

One who performs 100 Asvamedha yanjas use to obtain Indra-pada in heaven. Purandara Indra who performed them was called Shatakratu (kratu means Yadnya). Indra always tried to create hindrances in such performances. He stole King Prthu's horse on his 100^th Yadnya. Lord Vishnu in the Vaman incarnation hindered Bali’s 100 Aswamedha. Sagara’s sacrificial horse also was stolen by Indra, to disrupt his Ashwamedha through the curse of sage kapila. Fortunately because of this we got Ganga. King Dilipa also couldn’t complete his 100^th Ashwamedha. King Nahusha completed 100 Ashwamedhas and became Indra for some time. Bhagiratha, Bahu, Dasharatha and many other kings performed it. After annihilating Kshatriyas 21 time Parashurama performed Ashwamedha and donated all land to sage Kashyapa (hence earth is called Kashyapi).

Many of his followers advised Rama to perform Rajasuya. Rama refrained from performing Rajasuya on the advice of Bharata “Since all kings look at you as father, you should not perform that sacrifice which calls for defeating all the royal dynasties. You should not do anything that unnecessarily burdens the world”. Therefore he preferred Ashwamedha Yadnya (In some versions of Ramayana Luv-Kush have shown to fight and defeat army of Lord Rama, but later release the horse). After the war yudhishthira performed Ashwamedha Yadnya to free himself of debt of Poor, Brahmins, Pitr and Gods and attain fame and best lokas through Ashwamedha (Where as Yudhishthira performed Rajasuya before gambling away his kingdom, to fulfill desire of his deceased father Pandu, of attaining Indraloka, like Harishchandra).  Parikshit had four sons, Janamejaya, Bhimasena, Ugrasena and Shrutasena. They also performed the Ashwamedha Yadnya. Ashwamedha performed by the Chedi king Uparichara Vasu, however, did not involve animals  sacrifice.

Rajasuya Yadnya

Rajasuya Yadnya (also called Sarvajit, Emperor’s inauguration sacrifice) was performed by the ancient kings of India who considered themselves powerful enough to be an emperor. It would occur after the return of generals of the king (in most cases his brothers or sons) from a successful military campaign. After conquering other kings and collecting tribute from them, the generals would invite the vanquished kings to attend the sacrifice ceremony. All the vanquished kings would in effect consider the performer of these sacrifices as an emperor. The generals planned their route themselves, no horse was involved. Rajasuya sacrifices were rarer than Aashwamedha Yadnya, since they were riskier and costlier. King Pruthu was the first King ever who performed Rajasuya Yadnya.  Soma also performed it but letter abducted Tara, Brihaspati’s wife, which led to Deva-asura war. When Rajasuya Yadnya was conducted by Yudhishthira, rishi Vaishampayana described to him a list of 16 Samrats who had lived before the Mahabharata era and were called Shodasha Rajika:

Marutta Avikshita ( Suryavanshi and Vaishali kingdom)

Suhotra Atithina    ( Chandravanshi, Puru (Bharatvansh) and Kurujangala kingdom)

Brihadratha Anga  ( Chandravanshi and Anga kingdom)

Shivi Aushinara     ( Chandravanshi, Anu and Shivi kingdom)

Bharata Daushyanti ( Chandravanshi, Puru and Kurujangala kingdom)

Ram Dasharathi     ( Suryavanshi and Ayodhya or Kosala kingdom)

Bhagiratha Dileepa (Suryavanshi and Ayodhya or Kosala kingdom)

Dileepa Khatvanga ( Suryavanshi and Ayodhya or Kosala kingdom)

Mandhata Yauvanashva ( Suryavanshi and Ayodhya or Kosala kingdom)

Yayati Nahusha      ( Chandravanshi and ruled Puru+Anu+Yadava+Turvasu+Druhyu kingdom)

Ambarisha Nabhagi  ( Suryavanshi and Ayodhya or Kosala kingdom-from Vaivaswat Manu)

Shashabindu Chaitrarathi ( Chandravanshi, Yadava and Yadava kingdom)

Gaya Amurtarayas  ( Chandravanshi and Kanyakubja kingdom)

Rantideva Sankruti  ( Chandravanshi and Charmanvati (Chambal) kingdom)

Sagara Aikshvaku   ( Suryavanshi and Ayodhya or Kosala kingdom)

Prithu Vainya          ( Older than the formation of Suryavansha and Chandravansha)

The list varies a bit in different scriptures to include Satya Harishchandra of Ayodhya, Ajamidha Vaikuntha of Purus, Kartavirya Arjun of Haiheyas (Yadavas). Sometimes there are 24 Samratas to include Kakshivanta, Valhika, Damana, Saryati, Ajita, Nala; Viswamitra,  Manu, Ikshaku, Kritavirya, Janamejaya Srinjaya, Matinara Anadrishti, Maharatha and Dasharathi Rama. Sambhava upaparva of Mahabharata says that “Mahabhisha born in the race of Ikshvaku performed a thousand Ashwamedhas and a hundred Rajasuyas” which seems exaggerated.

Lord Krishna fully supported Rajasuya of Yudhisthira but thwarted the one planned by Hansa and Dimbhaka. Unfortunately Yudhishthira’s Rajsuya Yadnya ended with the beheading of Shishupala at the hands of Krishna, and trigerred a series of events which culminated in the Kurukshetra war. After winning the dice game, Duryodhana sent Pandavas to forest. Karna’s victorious march all over, made him consider Rajasuya, but could not perform it since Yudhisthira who performed it was still alive. He had to be content with Vishnuyaga.

As per Brahma Vaivarta Purana, Rajasuya and Ashwamedha are from five rites forbidden in the Kali Yuga, the present age.

In recorded history many kings performed Rajasuya and Ashwamedha Yadnyas- Pushyamitra Shunga, Samudragupta, Chandragupta II Vikramaditya of Gupta dynesty, Gautamiputra Satakarni (also known as Shalivahana Satavahana), Vikramaditya & Raja Bhoja Parmara dynesty, Kharavela, Bhavanga Vakataka, Pravarasena,  Shivaskandavarman Pallava, Simhavarmana Pallava, Chalukya Pulakeshi I & Pulakeshi II, Vishnukundian Madhavavarman (extension of Vakatakas), Siri Chantamula I,  Ikshvaku king. In 11th century during the Chola dynasty Ashwamedha Yadnya was performed successfully.

When Jayachanda Rathod attempted to perform it, Prithviraja Chauhan disrupted. The last known instance seems to be in 1716, by Jai Singh II of Amber, Jaipur.

All these Samrarts were great warriors and human beings too. There are so many inspiring and interesting stories associated with Yadnyas that one can easily write ‘Yadnya Purana”.  Most such Yadnyas led to wars and violence, because they were (sakama) performed to fulfill some or other desires. Often it led to conflicts within sages as well such as-Brihaspati-Samvarana, Brihaspati-Shukracharya, Vaishampayana-Yadnyavalkya, Vasistha-Vishvamitra.

Duties and responsibilities of the Hindu life have been classified into five great Yadnyas-Pancha MahaYadnyas - BrahmaYadnya (study of scriptures, learning and self-development and teaching others), DevaYadnya (meditation, sandhyavandanam, praying and worship, oblations, sacred fire, aupasana, and agnihotra Yadnyas), PitriYadnya (offering tarpana libations), ManushyaYadnya (caring for, looking after and feeding fellow humans), BhutaYadnya (caring for nature and feeding animals like cows, ants and birds). All these are performed without any personal desire (nishkama) in mind. These are the ones which lead to individual and universal peace.

The essence of Yadnya has been clearly brought out by Lord Krishna himself

Shreyandravyam-ayadYadnya-dnyanaYadnyah Parantapa .

Sarvam Karmakhilam Partha Dnyane Parisamapyate .. Bhagavad Gita 4\-33..

Arjuna, Sacrifice through knowledge is superior to sacrifice performed with material things. For all actions without exception culminate in knowledge, o son of Kunti