Vaidika Samskaras
S. Yegnasubramanian
... three groups of seven
yajnas each are also prescribed as part of the forty
samskAras. All these are fire-rituals and are very seldom done these days.
During the
vivAha samskAra, a particular fire ritual known as
vivAha homa is performed. That
vivAha-homa-agni is supposed to be preserved till a person dies or takes to
sannyAsa. All the above mentioned 21
yajnas are to be performed in that agni alone. (At the time of
sannyAsa, the person renounces all karma and gives up all agnis, and so is called
nirAgni.
The
grihastha is supposed to perform a
nitya karma known as
aupAsana, twice a day, in that
agni (This ritual can be considered as a replacement of
samidh AdhAnam.). The same
agni is used for all the later
samskAras of the children –
upnayana, vivAha etc. – and other karmas, like
SrAddha etc. When the son gets married, the father’s
vivAha agni goes to the son, and so, is supposed to be maintained eternally.
Since these
agni samskAras are connected with the well being of the family, it is called
grihya agni. This will vary from family to family; for example, for
Rigvedis, it is prescribed by the
AswalAyana grihya sutras; for
yajurvedis, by the
Apasthamba griya sutras; for
sAmavedis, by the
gobila griha sutras etc. These rituals are not given in
Sruti (the Vedas), but prescribed by the
Rishis in
grihya sutras – from
smritis. Since rituals prescribed in the smritis are performed in this
agni, it is also called
smArta agni, grihya agni, aupAsana agni etc.
It is in this
smArta agni, the first set of seven
pAka yajnas are performed.
As was mentioned earlier, the
vivAha agni is also known as
smArta agni. This
agni is maintained in a circular
kuNDa. A portion of this
agni is taken to perform vedic rituals –
srauta karmas – and is called
srauta agni. The fourteen
yajnas, namely the
sapta-havir-yajnas and
sapta-soma-yajnas, which are prescribed in the Vedas, are performed in the
srauta agni, which should be preserved all the time.
...
The
srauta agni is like the master of the
griha – the
grihapati - is supposed to protect from all calamities etc. and so is called the
gArhapatya agni This is divided in to three, before the ritual. On the eastern side, a square
kuNDa is established and a portion of the
gArhapatya agni is transferred. There are prescriptions regarding the size of the
kuNDa, the size of the bricks etc. This
agni is called
Ahavaneeya agni. On the southern side of the
gArhapatya agni another
kuNDa – semicircular in shape – is established. Another portion of fire from the
gArhapatya agni is transferred to this
kuNDA and is called
dAkshiNAgni:.
Since the
smArta agni is never divided, it is also called
ekAgni, and, since the
srauta agni is divided in to three, it is also called
tretAgni.
Most of the
srauta rituals are done in the
Ahavaneeya agni. No ritual is actually done in the
gArhapatya agni and is only a witness. After the performance of the ritual, the
Ahavaneeya agni and
dAkshiNAgni are joined back in to
gArhapatya agni.
When a person dies, his cremation is performed using the
srauta agni. The
smArta agni is preserved for the wife. When the husband dies first, he will use up the
srauta agni, and the
smarta agni will be used to cremate the wife, which is supposed to give her
svarga loka. If the wife dies first as a
sumangali, part of the
srauta agni will be used for her, which is believed to give her
brahma loka. One should remember that these rituals are prescribed in the
karma kANDa, only for those who are not
jnAnis!
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