Functions of sacred artifacts and god of fire in Vedic sacrificial ritual

Abstract

The suggested article deals with the problems of symbolism of the special instruments (sacrificial spoons) and of the corresponding substances (melted butter or fat) in them. Two types of rituals, namely, the ‘great’ one (‘śrauta’) and the ‘home’ one (‘gRhya-‘), are briefly characterized in the paper; in both of them the personified fire or God of Fire (Agni-) was always acting as the main subject and — simultaneously — as one of the objects of the ritual. It is demonstrated in the paper that the names for sacred instruments — namely, ‘srúc-’ (masc.) “scoop” and sruvá- (fem.) “ladle”- are originally the verbal nouns generated from verbal root sru- “to stream down” and “to destroy” — and an attempt is made to explain why this split in semantics of the root is not a casual one. It is also shown in the paper that ancient Indo-Aryans believed in a kind of the so called “sexual union” (mithuná) between the sacrificial spoons and melted butter (ā́ jya-) or fat (ghRtá-) as well as in the new mithuná of the substances accumulated in spoons with Agni of the altar. The detailed descriptions of the parameters of sacrificial spoons, of the types of materials used for their manufacture, of the varieties of their usage, etc. are supplied in the paper; the special function of the scoop (srúc-), as manifested in funeral rituals, is also explained. The reasons and circumstances causing the existence of the feature of “superpurity” in sacrificial spoons and in fatty substances inside them are listed in the paper; it is also marked there that it was absolutely impossible to use the spoons in question in any everyday necessities of life.

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