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EPIGRAPHIA INDICA.
[VOL. XVIII.
According to this authority1 the shaft of a yupa, except for the lower portion, should be octagonal and bent at the top. At the same time a yupa is distinguished by a head-piece or top-ring (cha. shala) and marked by a girdle rope (rasana) which winds round it. The Kirari pillar reveals none of these characteristics. Taking it for granted that all the eight corners and the 17 cloths with which, according to this authority, a sacrificial post is to be wrapt or bound, have disappeared, we cannot account for the absence of the hollow at the top and the disagreement in height which ought to be 17 cubits in the case of a yupa. But as the Brahmana gives different heights for different purposes and says that "the sacrificial stake of the (ordinary) animal sacrifice is either three or four cubits long and one above that belongs to the Soma sacrifice" we cannot depend on the length of the pillar for its identification. That it cannot be a yupa or pillar connected with animal sacrifice will be shown by a reference to Patanjali who in his Mahabhashya clearly puts down that a yupa must be made of either Bilva (Egle marmelos) or Khadira (Acacia catechu)
" खादरी वा युधः स्यात्" इत्युच्यते । यूपच नाम पचनुबन्धार्थसुपादीयते । शक्यं चानेन यत्किञ्चिदेव काष्टमुच्छ्रित्यानुच्छ्रित्य वा पशुरनुबन्धुम् । तत्र नियमः क्रियते ।।"
As I have already stated, the Kirari pillar is made neither of Ægle marmelos nor of Acacia catechu but of Pterocarpus marsupium. In the Rāmāyaṇa3 of Valmiki, however, it is stated that 21 yupas were erected at the time when a horse sacrifice or Asramedha was performed by Dasaratha. Out of these six were made of Bilva (Egle marmelos), six of Khadira (Acacia catechu), six of Palasa (Butea frondosa), one of Śleshmataka (Cordia Myxa or Latifolia) and two of Devadāru (Avaria longifolia and Erythroxylon sideroxyloides or Pinus deodar). Including the one added by Monier Williams in his Sanskrit Dictionary we find that the pillar under examination cannot come within the category of yūpas as far as the tree of which it is made is concerned. In other words the Kirari pillar cannot be connected with any animal sacrifice (paévanubandha) on the authority of Valmiki and Patanjali at least. The description given in the Satapatha Brahmana is not free from confusion and if we follow it, I think, the Kirāri pillar might be connected with the Vajapeya rites. The top portion does not provide a very convenient seat for the householder to occupy at the time he has to hold a dialogue with his wife in reference to their mounting to heaven. Still, as we learn from the Brahmana, in
1Satapatha Br. S.B.E., Vol. XLI, p. 31, and Vol. XLIV, p. 124. The height of a sacrificial stake has to vary, for the Brahmana says: "When he who is about to perform an animal sacrifice makes a stake one cubit long, he thereby gains this (terrestrial) world; and when he makes one two cubits long, he thereby gains the air world; and when he makes one three cubits long, he thereby gains the heavens ; and when he makes one four cubits long, he thereby gains the regions."
*Adhyaya 1, Pada 1, Ahnika 1.
I, 14, sts. 22-25.
Under the word yupa and in reference to the Ramayana he has brought in one yupa of Udumbera (Ficu glomera a) saying 6 of Bilva, 6 of Khadira,6 of Palaia, one of Udumbara, one of Śleshmataka and one of Devadăru The text would not support this division for, it makes no mention of the Udumbara yupa. It runs as follows:प्राप्त रूपोच्छयै तस्मिन् षङ्गैश्वाः खादिरशस्तथा ।
ar
faefar: fds art
मानकमयी दिटो देवदारुमयस्तथा ।
हावेव तच विहिती बाहुव्यक्तपरिग्रही ॥
The words drātēva as explained by the commentator Rama (drau dēvudārumayan vihilau) mear: two of Devadare and make no room for Udumbara. Possibly Mon. Williams had another edition before him.
Bee S. B. E., Vol. XLI, p. 31, and footnotes, etc.; also Barnett's Antiquities of India, p. 167, ani references given above.
