HISTORY OF fortune of Rajas. The priest should then return to the altar, and a Bráhman, INDIA. who sings the Yajur Veda, should bathe the Raja with water in a golden pot, PART II. having a hundred holes, mixed with Survanshadi and Mahanshadi (certain classes of drugs), ghee, sandal-paste, flowers, the common citron, gems, and kusa grass. The water is to be purified by mixing it with the above articles one by one, attended with the recitation of their respective mantras from the Yajur Veda. A Brahman, who sings the Atharva Veda, should afterwards mark the head and throat of the Raja with the yellow pigment, called Gorachana.

"After this a great number of Brahmans having assembled together should place a pot filled with Sarvanshadi (a class of drugs), and water brought from all the Tirtahs (places of pilgrimage), before the Raja, whilst he shall be fanned with the tails of the Bosgrunnies, and music and singing be carried on. The Raja shall behold the pot, a looking-glass, some ghee, and some other fortunate omens. He should then worship Vishnu, Brahma, Indra, and other gods; also the planets and elephants. The Purohita being seated on a bed covered with a tiger's hide, the Raja should present him with a dish of curds and honey, and have his turban bound. The turban of the Raja, seated on a bed covered with the hides of a bull, cat, elephant, lion, and tiger, should then be bound. The door-keeper is to point out to him his ministers, etc. The Raja should offer cars, goats, sheep, houses, and other gifts to his Purohita and the astrologer, and give away various other things to other Brahmans. Having gone round the sacrificial fire, made obeisance to his spiritual tutor, and touched the back of a bull, he is to present his Guru with cows and clothes. Let him then proceed along the main street on a horse or an elephant, attended by his forces, and having circumambulated the city re-enter its limits. He is to entertain all the persons present, and then dismiss them."--Wilson's MSS. in the Library of the Asiatic Society of Bengal.

CHAPTER XVI.

THE HORSE SACRIFICE OF RAJA YUDHISHTHIRA.

INDIA.

an Aswamedha

by Yudhish

a more important rite than the Rajasúya.

WHEN Yudhishthira was established in the Raj of HISTORY OF Bhárata, he attempted the celebration of a great PART II. sacrifice known as the Aswamedha, or sacrifice of a Performance of horse. This extraordinary rite bore some resem-contemplated blance to the Rajasúya sacrifice, which he had al- thira. ready performed when he and his brethren had cleared the jungle of Khándava-prastha and founded the Raj of Indra-prastha. But whilst the Aswamed- The Aswamedha ha seems to have been an assertion of sovereignty over conquered Rajas, it was invested with an importance and significance which were wanting in the Rajasúya. Indeed the performance of an Aswamedha was a task of peculiar difficulty, whilst it was the greatest rite that a Raja could perform. By the Rajasúya a Chieftain seems to have asserted his sovereignty over a new and independent Raj. But by the Aswamedha he was popularly supposed by an ignorant and childlike people to have asserted his sovereignty over the whole earth; and by the successful performance of a hundred Aswamedhas, it was implicitly believed that a mortal Raja would overthrow the celestial Raj of Indra, and become at once the ruler of the universe and the sovereign of the gods.

HISTORY OF

INDIA.

Idea involved in

horse, and wars

against the Rajas whose territory he might enter.

The idea involved in this imposing ceremonial PART II. was at once primitive and warlike. An ambitious Raja who desired to establish his supremacy over friends the Aswamedha. and enemies without the formality of declaring war, and without perhaps the danger of encountering a formidable confederacy, would perform an AswamedLoosening of a ha in the following fashion. He would procure a horse of a particular colour, and let it run loose in public with certain ceremonies; and from that day, and for an entire year, the horse would be permitted to wander into whatever territory it pleased, followed by the Raja and his whole army. The wanderings of the horse were thus left entirely to chance, whilst its entrance into a foreign Raj was virtually a challenge to the Raja of that country; for every Raja was bound either to carry away the horse and offer battle, or else to tender his submission by restoring the horse and joining his army to that of the invaders. Moreover, if the Raja who attempted the Aswamedha and followed the horse, failed in any one case to secure the restoration of the animal by the force or terror of his arms, the Aswamedha was brought to an untimely close, and the Raja who had attempted it was disgraced in the eyes of his subjects and neighbours. Grand sacrifice If, on the contrary, he succeeded in reducing to subclose of a suc- mission every Raja who carried away the horse, and thus at the end of the year brought the horse triumphantly home to his own city, the animal would be sacrificed to the gods in the presence of the whole assembly of conquered Rajas; and the Aswamedha would be brought to a close by a grand feast, at which the roasted flesh of the horse would be regarded as the imperial dish. Henceforth the performer of the Aswamedha would be held in the highest honour.

Failure of an Aswamedha if the horse was not recovered.

and feast at the

cessful Aswamedha.

Renown of

every Raja who performed an Aswamedha.

INDIA. PART II.

The fame of his power and majesty would be spread HISTORY OF abroad by bards and eulogists throughout all lands, and be handed down in song and ballad to all future generations; whilst every descendant for countless ages would preserve the memory and exult in the glory of his mighty ancestor.

tions of the

war and gam

It is easy to conceive that under such circum- Great attrac stances the performance of an Aswamedha would be Aswamedha. particularly fascinating to a warlike race like the ancient Kshatriyas. It would combine all the ex- Combination of citement of war with that of high play. If the bling. horse entered the territory of too powerful a Raja, before the army which followed had been reinforced by the retainers of weaker Rajas who had been conquered, the Aswamedha might be brought to a disastrous termination. If, on the contrary, the horse confined himself to the territories of weaker Rajas, or deferred entering the territory of a stronger Raja until his followers had swelled into an overwhelming force, the Aswamedha might be brought to a triumphant conclusion. Probably in times still more remote the loosening of the horse may have been a mere festival held for the purpose of deciding the supremacy between the military settlers in a particular neighbourhood, and lasting perhaps only a few days or a lunar month, instead of an entire year. But whether on a large or a small scale, the greatest General exciteinterest would be excited, and a general agitation would prevail. Every Chieftain in the neighbourhood would speculate as to whether the horse would enter his Raj, and whether in such a contingency he should hazard a battle or tender his submission. Every spot where the horse was caught, or where Memory of Asa battle ensued, would be eagerly remembered and served in local

ment.

mawedhas pre

tradition.

HISTORY OF pointed out to the inquisitive inquirer, and doubtless PART II. would be long preserved in local tradition.

INDIA.

Sacrifice of the horse at the

close of an Asciated with the

wamedha asso

worship of the Sun.

tion of the Sun

god.

The Aswamedha thus originally combined the idea of conquest and sovereignty with that of a national banquet at which the roasted horse might have been regarded as a national or imperial dish. But, at the same time, the sacrifice was undoubtedly invested with a religious significance, which is wanting in the Rajasúya. It was connected with the worship of the Sun, which, like the worship of the serpent, appears to have been one of the most Greek concep ancient of all religions. The idea that the Sun god was carried through the firmament, from his rising to his setting, in a golden chariot drawn by fleet and invisible steeds, was a favourite conception of Horse sacrifice the Greek bards. Again, Herodotus states explicitly, that the Massagetæ of High Asia sacrificed horses to the Sun, under the idea that the swiftest of animals should be offered to the swiftest of deities. In the two Aswamedha hymns in the RigVeda, the horse is regarded as the type of the Sun, Disappearance and also of Agni, or the deity of fire. At a later, but still ancient period, the Aswamedha appears to

of the Massagetæ.

of the Aswamedha in India.

1 Herodotus, Book i. c. 216.

2 See Rig-Veda, Suktas clxii. and clxiii.,. Wilson's translation, vol. ii. pp. 112-125. It must be confessed that the two hymns in question are exceedingly obscure. They are undoubtedly ancient, but still they appear to have been composed in an age of mysticism, long after the primitive age of horse sacrifice, and possibly during some temporary revival of the ancient rite. They are replete with mysticism, and are wholly wanting in that exultation in victory, and joyous anticipation of a feast, which are likely to have found expression in a more primitive and barbarous period, of which relics are to be found in the legendary narrative preserved in the Maha Bhárata. Indeed, in the opening verse of the first of the Aswamedha hymns, the worshipper positively deprecates the wrath of certain Vedic deities for thus paying reverence to the horse:-"Let neither Mitra nor Varuna, Aryaman, Ayu (i. e. Vayu), Indra, Ribhukshin (? Prajapati), nor the Maruts censure us, when we proclaim in the sacrifice the virtues of the swift horse sprung from the gods."-Wilson's translation.