Indo-European Mythology and Religion

by Alexander Jacob

  “sūnuh”, rather than with the typical Sanskritic “putra” ( ibid. ). This confirms the relative lateness of the formation of Sanskrit.

  384 See A. Jacob, Ātman.

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  represented as a castration of the Purusha. The semen that

  fal s from the castrated phal us impregnates the Purusha

  himself with a Cosmic Egg from which emerge the

  manifest cosmos comprised, again, of Earthly substance

  and Heavenly light (Brahman). This luminous Brahman is

  also represented anthropomorphical y as a Cosmic Man.

  However, this light, again represented in

  anthropomorphic form, continues to possess a stormy

  quality which is a persistence of Chronos in the manifest

  cosmos. This force, represented as Zeus/Seth/Ganesha,

  shatters the light and forces it to descend to the lower

  regions of Earth, where it lies moribund as, for instance,

  Osiris. However, the same storm-force has, in its assault

  on the manifest light, swallowed the divine phal us and it

  eventual y revives the moribund light in the underworld

  with its potency. Separating the substance of Earth, into

  which the cosmic light has sunk, into the earthly regions

  and heaven of our universe, it emerges through the cleft

  between the two into the mid-region of the stars as a

  universal Tree of Life, or Phal us. The seed of this newly

  formed universe is then emitted within our galaxy, first as

  the moon, and then the solar force final y emerges above

  the top of the Tree (Phal us) as the sun.

  Āryan Rituals

  The fire-based rituals of the Indo-Āryans are based on

  the original sacrifice of the Ideal cosmic macroanthropos,

  Purusha, as well as on its repetitions in the manifest

  cosmos and in the underworld, for it is these sacrifices

  that result in the formation of the sun.385 The primary

  aim of the Vedic ritual is thus to restore the disintegrated

  385 For a detailed study of the ancient Indo-European rituals, see A.

  Jacob, Brahman.

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  Purusha and, especial y, his solar energy. As Gonda

  pointed out with regard to the construction of the Vedic

  fire-altar,

  In building the great fireplace one restores

  and reintegrates Prajāpati [Purusha], whose

  dismemberment had been the creation of the universe,

  and makes him whole and complete. At the same time

  and by means of the same ritual act, the sacrificer, who

  is identified with Prajāpati (cf. Shatapatha Brāhmana

  VII,4,15) constructs himself a new social personality

  and secures the continuance of his existence.386

  The sacrifice of the Purusha which initiated the formation

  of the universe was most probably imitated in the ancient

  Indo-European religions by a human sacrifice.387 Human

  sacrifice is indeed archaeological y evidenced in the early

  Bronze Age (fourth millennium B.C.) Luhansk site in

  the Ukraine which forms part of the Yamnaya culture

  associated with the Āryans. It is attested among the ancient

  Germanic peoples too and discernible (in Caesar’s writings)

  among the Celts, as well as among the Scythians, and

  Thracians.388 Among the Indo-Āryans the human sacrifice is

  natural y called a Purushamedha (sacrifice of the Purusha).

  The primary purpose of a sacrifice is, however, self-

  sacrifice and the sacrifice of a human involved in the

  proto-Vedic Purushamedha must original y have been

  conducted as a substitute for the sacrifice of the sacrificer

  himself, since the sacrificer is, in all Vedic sacrifices,

  386 See J. Gonda, Prajāpati’s rise, p.16f.

  387 See A. Jacob, Brahman, Ch.I.

  388 K. Rönnow, (“Zur Erklärung des Pravargya”) pointed to the

  significant evidence of human sacrifice among the Germans, Celts, Scythians and Thracians and suggested that it must have been practised even by the Greeks and Indians, in spite of the dearth of such evidence among them (see B. Lincoln, Myth, Cosmos and Society, p.172).

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  identified with the victim. As Heesterman states, “self-

  sacrifice is an all-but-ubiquitous theme in the ritual

  brāhmana texts, the victim as well as the other offerings

  being regularly equated with the sacrificer”.389 That is why

  the victim in the Purushamedha was original y exclusively

  a brāhman or a kshatriya, since only these two castes were

  qualified to act as representatives of the Purusha and to

  conduct sacrifices.

  The sacrificial victim is also always a male390 since

  only his energy can substitute for the phallic force of

  the Purusha that fil s the universe with its life. We have

  observed in our survey of the cosmological bases of

  sacrifices that the entire evolution of the material universe

  arises from repeated castrations, and preservations, of

  the divine phal us, first in the Ideal realm of the Purusha,

  then in the early cosmos of Brahman and, lastly, in the

  material universe, as the Tree of Life that arises from the

  underworld and extends to the heavens. If what is most

  important in the Purusha is his phallic power, as is evident

  also in the Hesiodic account of the castration of Ouranos

  by Chronos,391 it is probable that the sacrifice original y

  focussed on the victim’s phal us, as we observe, for

  example, in the veneration of the penis of a slaughtered

  stallion noted among the ancient Nordic peoples.392

  Similarly, in the Equus October ceremony in ancient

  Rome, a race-horse was slaughtered and its tail (standing

  no doubt for its penis) was brought to the regia.393

  389 J.C. Heesterman, The Broken World of Sacrifice: An Essay on Ancient Indian Ritual, Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1993, p.173.

  390 This is reflected even in the Hebrew Paschal sacrifice (see below), where the lamb necessarily has to be a male one.

  391 See Hesiod, Theogony, I, 170ff.

  392 See 'Volsa pattr' in Óláfs saga helga.

  393 See J. Mallory and D.Q. Adams, Encyclopedia of Indo-European Culture, p.330.

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  Over time, however, the human victim was substituted

  with animals that equal y represented the energy of the

  divine phal us, thus a horse or a bul , and final y with

  lesser animals such as sheep and goats. Indeed, at the time

  of the composition of the Shatapatha Brāhmana, the most

  common substitute was the goat ( SB VI,2,1,39). In all cases, however, the original significance of the sacrifice as a self-sacrifice is never forgotten, as many of the processes of

  the Vedic sacrifices as well as many of the accompanying

  Vedic chants reveal. SB I,3,2,1, for instance, identifies the sacrifice (also frequently called Vishnu) with the Purusha:

  “Now the sacrifice is the man”.

  Just as the death of Osiris is followed by his revival

  in our universe as the sun, the Indo-European religious

  sacrifices also betoken not only a self-sacrifice of the

  sacrificer but also a solar rebirth that they allow the

  sacrificer to undergo as a brāhman,
or one who has

  realised the solar virtue of his soul. In the Indian horse-

  sacrifice, Ashvamedha, for instance, the horse represents

  the sun which has been lost and must be recovered. Thus

  SB XIII,3,1,1 declares:

  Prajâpati's eye swelled; it fell out: thence the horse

  was produced; and inasmuch as it swelled (ashvayat),

  that is the origin and nature of the horse (ashva). By

  means of the A s vamedha the gods restored it to its

  place, and verily he who performs the A s vamedha

  makes Prajâpati complete, and he (himself) becomes

  complete; and this, indeed, is the atonement for

  everything, the remedy for everything.

  This is the same significance that attaches also to the

  Osirian funereal rites, especial y the mouth-opening

  ritual.394 For the assault on the solar force by Seth is

  394 See A. Jacob, Brahman, p.211f. 188

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  referred to as the damage or robbing of the “Horus eye”

  [the sun] which must be restored to Horus the Elder/

  Osiris.

  By transfiguring the sacrificer into the solar force,

  the sacrifice simultaneously bestows immortality on him.

  The nectar of immortality that sacrificers seek for by toil

  and penance is indeed Soma ( SB IX,5,1,8). The underlying

  motif of the Soma sacrifice is one related to the pressing,

  or killing of the Purusha, as SB II,2,2,1 suggests: “in

  pressing out the king [Soma] they slay him”. This may have

  a special phallic connotation as well since the soma juice is

  akin to the seminal power of Prajāpati which serves as the

  source of the sun. Thus the sacrifice, though representing

  the death of the sacrificer, also signifies the production of

  Soma, the nectar of immortality. The sacrificer's spiritual

  rebirth is essential y akin to that of the solar force Agni

  that we have observed above.

  The ultimate aim of the original Indo-European

  sacrifices, modelled after the cosmic sacrifice of the

  Purusha, however, must have been the liberation of the

  self from the il usions of the material fabric in which it is

  entangled and the direction of the energy of man into the

  divine consciousness. This is indeed the principal aim of

  yogic ascesis as wel , which, according to Heesterman, is

  an internalisation of the sacrifice. However, since yoga is

  likely to have preceded fire-sacrifices since it is the basis

  of the cosmic vision that informs both, it is more probable

  that the fire-sacrifices were a later externalisation of yogic

  practice rather than that the latter was an internalisation

  of the former.

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  Agnicayana

  One of the most important of the rituals of the ancient

  Indians is the Agnicayana, which recreates the birth of

  the universe in the form of Prajāpati as well as the birth of

  Agni as Agni (the fiery solar force)-Vāyu (the life-force)-

  and Āditya (the sun).395 The first rites of this ceremony are

  dedicated to the engendering of Agni as the elemental

  solar fire. This is done through an initial sacrifice of five

  forms of animal life, starting with a human. These five

  victims also symbolise the five layers of the altar that is

  to be built in the course of this ceremony ( SB VI,2,1,16).

  After the initial animal sacrifices, the fire-pan (ukha) is

  fashioned, which is considered to be the “ātman” (soul) of

  the fire-altar. It is four-sided to represent the four quarters

  of the universe. The first major step in this ceremony

  ( SB VI,2,2,27) is the symbolic pouring of his seed by the sacrificer into the fire-pan representing a womb. As SB

  VI,2,2,22 declares “there is seed here in the sacrifice”.

  SB X,4,1,1-2 explains that the pouring of the seed of the sacrificer into the fire-pan as into a womb is the same as

  the pouring of the seed of Prajāpati.

  Agni is later looked for in the clay ( SB VI,3,3) and

  dug up ( SB VI,4,17) and then deposited on an antelope-

  skin representing Earth (also called the “sacrifice”) and a

  lotus-leaf representing the Sky (“the womb”), for the first

  birth of Agni is from the Heavens, the second from Earth

  and the third from the Waters surrounding Earth.396 Agni

  is poured as seed into the lotus-leaf ( SB VI,4,3,6). Then Agni is created for a second time from Earth, represented

  now by the fire-pan ( SB VI,5,1,11-12), which is the “earthen 395 The Agnicayana rituals are described in SB, Books VI-X (cf. also KYV V-VI). They are also detailed in the Shulba Sutras.

  396 For a detailed description of the Indo-European cosmology

  underlying the rituals see A. Jacob, Ātman; A. Jacob, Brahman.

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  womb for Agni” ( SB VI,5,2,21). Milk is poured into it and Agni is generated as Vishnu ( SB VI,6,6,2,16). The sacrificer now fashions the “seed” of Agni in the form of a winged

  solar bird ( SB VI,7,2,5). Next, he takes the Vishnu strides which formed the universe ( SB VI,7,2,10). The ashes of

  the fire in the fire-pan are then thrown into water ( SB

  VI,8,2,2), since the last birth of Agni is from the Waters.

  Then follows the construction of the three hearths, the

  circular gārhapatya, representing earth and the world of

  men ( SB VII,I,1) and the square āhavanīya representing

  heaven and the world of the gods ( SB VII,2,2). The air of the Mid-region is represented by the āgnīdhrīya fire ( SB

  VII,1,2,12). During the building of the gārhapatya hearth,

  the fire-pan is again impregnated with sand to conceive

  Agni a second time (SB VII,1,1,41-42). In addition,

  a Nirriti hearth is built representing the corruption

  and evil that have to be removed from the sacrifice ( SB

  VII,2,1). This is followed by the construction of the vedi,

  also representing earth, and the mahāvedi, representing

  heaven ( SB VII,3,1,27). The catvala (pit/womb) represents the original site of the sun before it moved to the heavens

  of our universe ( Jaiminiya Brāhmana I, 86,7). The area on which the fire-altar is to be constructed is scattered with

  sand representing seed in order to fill Prajāpati with seed

  ( SB VII,3,1,42).

  The construction of the fire-altar is begun a year

  (suggesting a year’s gestation period) after the ukha is

  prepared. The process of constructing the five layers of the

  fire-altar is described in SB VII,4,1-VIII,5,1. A lotus leaf representing Earth is placed in the centre of the altar site

  and on it a gold plate that the sacrificer has been wearing

  for a year. On top of this plate, which represents the orb

  of the sun, a gold man representing the Purusha final y

  manifest within the sun ( SB X,5,2,6) is placed facing the east. The sacrificer sings over the gold man to transfer

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  his virility or semen into it ( SB VII,4,1,24). SB X,4,1,6

  equates the gold plate with Indra symbolising kshatra

  (sovereignty) and the gold man with Agni symbolising

  brahman (priesthood). The identification of the yajamāna

  with the gold man stresses the identification of the


  sacrificer with Agni as the Purusha.

  Then the Purusha sāman is sung and the laying of the

  bricks is begun, the first being the svayamātrrina (‘the

  natural y pierced’) placed on the gold man to allow him

  to breathe. Within the first layer of the altar are buried

  the fire-pan (representng a womb), a living tortoise and a

  mortar and pestle (representing a penis in a womb). The

  tortoise, an avatār of Vishnu, represents the form of the

  universe, comprising heaven and earth.397 Thus the fire-

  pan and the lotus leaf are considered to be “female”398 and

  the “womb” which the sacrificer impregnates in order to

  generate Agni, the solar force, as Āditya, the sun.

  Next, after a square mortal (ulūkhulaka) made of

  udumbara wood is installed at the 'northern shoulder' of

  the fire-altar, the fire-pit (ukhā) is placed in the middle.

  The fire-pan that was used by the sacrificer for carrying

  around the fire for a year is buried in the first layer, and

  the heads of the five sacrificial victims are placed in it,

  the human head in the middle of the fire-pit, the head of

  a horse towards the west, of a bull towards the east, of a

  ram towards the south, and of a goat towards the north,

  while seven pieces of gold are laid in the seven orifices of

  the human head.399 The bricks of the altar are animated by

  397 See M. Biardeau, Le sacrifice dans l'Inde ancienne, p.18.

  398 See H.W. Tul , The Vedic Origins of Karma, Albany: SUNY Press, 1989, p.87f.

  399 See H.T. Bakker, “Human sacrifice (Purushamedha), construction sacrifice and the origin of the idea of the 'man of the homestead (Vāstupurusha)” in H.N. Bremmer (ed.) The Strange World of Human Sacrifice, Leuven: Peeters, 2007, p.183.

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  vital breaths represented by certain bricks called “breath-

  holders” (prāna-bhrt). The altar indeed represents the

  cosmic body of Agni as Purusha, and the brick-layers

  represent the various breaths of the Purusha.

  Macrocosmical y, Purusha's feet represent earth,

  legs intermediate space, waist the mid-region, chest

  intermediate space, and head heaven.400 The lowest level

  of the altar in which the image is embedded represents

  the Svarloka (Heaven), the third level the Bhuvarloka (the

  Mid-region of the stars), the fourth level Brahman and

  the immortal regions, and the fifth the Bhurloka (Earth).