Yasastilaka and Indian Culture

SR No.: 001609
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Krishnakant Handiqui
Publisher: Jain Sanskruti Samrakshak Sangh Solapur
Publication Year: 1968
Total Pages: 566
Language: English
Classification: Book_English, Story, Literature, & Culture
File Size: 16 MB

Page 397

378
YASASTILAKA AND INDIAN CULTURE
the Vaiseșika scheme of spiritual discipline, prescribes in the first instance Smārta rites such as the five Mahāyajñas and the Pākayajñas, and then mentions the Srauta sacrifices: the Haviryajñas (Agnyādheya, Darśapaurņamāsa etc.) and the Somayajñas (Agnistoma, Ukthya etc.), to be undertaken if one has the capacity to do so. Udayana who wrote in the last quarter of the tenth century says in his Nyāyakusumāñjali, chap. 2, that Vedic rites such as Rājasūya and Aśvamedha were dying out in his time, as they were no longer performed, and that in his age Dharma rested only on one foot, charity, owing to the decline of the Vedic sacrifices. The Nyāya theory of sākhoccheda, the dying out of the Vedic schools, was, in fact, more in conformity with the process of history than the Mimāṁsā view which refused to believe in any such decay.
It may, however, be readily admitted that Vedic sacrifices continued to be sporadically perfomed till quite recent times; and contemporary evidence of the performance of such rites is not rare. The Aśvamedha, in particular, attracted many kings of the ruling dynasties. For example, the Ikşvāku king Vāsişthiputra Cāṁtamūla I, who reigned in the Andhra country about the second quarter of the third century A. D., is said to have performed the Aśvamedha and Vājapeya sacrifices. Several inscriptions of the Vākāțaka kings, who ruled in Central Provinces and Berar, state that Pravarasena I who reigned about the end of the third century A. D. performed four Aśvamedhas besides several other Vedic sacrifices such as Agnistoma, Aptoryāma, Ukthya, Sodasin, Atirātra, Vājapeya, Brhaspatisava and Sādyaskra. The inscriptions of the Vākāțakas frequently mention their kinsmen, the Bhārasivas, who seem to have established themselves on the banks of the Ganges, and are said to have celebrated as many as ten Aśvamedhas.* In Gupta records Samudragupta (circa 330-375 A. D.) is stated to have revived the Aśvamedha which had long been in abeyance, evidently in North India; for it seems to have been quite popular in the South. The Pallava king Sivaskandavarman, who has been assigned to about the beginning of the fourth century A. D., is reported to have performed the Agniştoma, Vājapeya and Aśvamedha sacrifices. Dahrasena, the Traikūtaka king of Northern Deccan, who ruled in the second half of the
1 'पञ्चानां महायज्ञानां सायंप्रातरनुष्ठानम् एकाग्निविधानेन पाकयशसंस्थानां च नित्यानां, शक्तौ विद्यमानायामध्याधेयादीनां
च हविर्यसंस्थानामग्निष्टोमादीनां सोमयशसंस्थानां च ।' 2 'वैदिका अप्याचारा राजसूयाश्वमेधादयः समुच्छिधमाना दृश्यन्ते । यत इदानीं नानुष्ठीयन्ते । 'पूर्व चतुष्पाद्धर्म आसीत्
*********** fa fa alaTI 3 Sarkar: The Early Pallavas, p. 17. 4 'पराक्रमाधिगतभागीरथ्यमलजलमूर्धाभिषिक्तानां दशाश्वमेधावभृथस्नातानाम्' 5 Sarkar (op. cit.), p. 38.