Amrita Collected Papers by A M Ghatage

SR No.: 006968
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Jitendra B Shah
Publisher: Kasturbhai Lalbhai Smarak Nidhi Ahmedabad
Total Pages: 530
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 10 MB

Page 364

General President's Address
355
types of persons only and that no one other than these is allowed to sacrifice to Mahendra. Both of them are of doubtful validity. In reality the word gatasri should restrict the members of these three types by qualifying them as those who have lost their prosperity. If any one of these three, who has not lost their prosperity, should again sacrifice to Mahendra he is not justified to do so and commits ati-yajana.
An external control in this case is supplied by the exact meaning of the verb ati-yaj-. The traditional explanation ätmiyām devatām atikramya yajate has no authority and is unique. There is no other passage in Vedic ritual where it is used in this sense. But another form of the verb yaj- with the prefix anu is used to mean to perform an anuyaga and with ati further added to it, it is used repeatedly in the Satapatha 3.8.5.1 where the context is quite clear to mean 'in addition, more, excessive', the other meaning of ati. Hence svām devatām atiyajate means 'he sacrifices to his deity excessively or unnecessarily because he is in no need of pratistha as he has not lost it. We thus come to the conclusion that gataśrī has the same meaning both in Vedic ritual and classical Sanskrit, and there is no trace of a thanks-giving offering in the Vedic ritual.
A change in practice can also be detected by the use of a careful. interpretation. The traditional ritual method of immolating an animal victim involves no use of a sharp instrument to kill it. In its place some kind of strangulation is used to achieve the same end. The description of the texts on this point of ritual are found in the TaiS. and SatBr. but are not sufficiently explicit to make the mode of immolation quite clear. Hence it has led to some amount of speculation which involves both historical and linguistic evidence for the justification of a given interpretation. Linguistic taboo and a shift in the practice are involved and hence a proper interpretation of the evidence becomes crucial.
Three important moments in this part of the ritual must be carefully considered. They are the typing of the victim to the sacrificial post, the way in which the animal is put to death and the cutting up of its parts for the purpose of offering them to the deities. As regards the first, the description of the texts like the TaiS and the Śrautasūtras of Baudhāyana, Āpastamba and Kätyāyana is not very precise and hence it is difficult to visualise the details of the act. What is clear is the fact that this method was different from the one used in the ordinary killing of an animal for secular use, which consisted of throwing a rope round the neck of the victim over its head when it faced