Pravargya

'Pravargya' (Sanskrit प्रवर्ग्य) means ' a ceremony introductory to the Soma Yagya (at which fresh milk is poured into a heated vessel called, mahā-viira or gharma, or into boiling ghee)'.^[3] It is also similarly defined as a 'ceremony preliminary to the Soma Yagya'.^[4] The term seems to be derived from 'Pravarga' (प्रवर्ग), which means 'a large earthenware pot (used in the Pravargya ceremony)'.^[3] 'Pravargya' also means 'distinguished' and 'eminent'.^[5] Both words seem to be formed from the roots:

• '√pra', meaning 'forward, in front, on, forth'.^[3]
• '√vrj', meaning 'to twist off, pull up, pluck, gather', or 'to avert, remove'.^[6]

According to A.B. Keith and A.A. Macdonell 'Mahāvīra' (महावीर) 'is the name in the later Samhitās and the Brāmaṇas of a large earthenware pot which could be placed on the [sacrificial] fire, and which was especially employed at the introductory Soma ceremony called Pravargya'.^[7]

'Mahāvīra' literally translates to 'great hero', 'thunderbolt', and 'white horse' (which seem to relate to GodKing Indra). It also translates to 'archer',^[8] which is particularly notable as two (linked) legends relating to this pot in the Pravargya ceremony concerns Makha and Vishnu respectively being decapitated by their bows (i.e. in the Shatapatha Brahmana, the Mahāvīra earthen pot represents the severed head of Vishnu).^[9]

According to the Monier-Williams Sanskrit Dictionary, 'Makha' (मख) means 'cheerful, sprightly, vigorous, active, restless', or ' a feast, festival, any occasion of joy or festivity', or 'a Yajña, sacrificial oblation'.^[10] Makha is also the name of a nakshatra (star).^[11]

The class or 'Varna' (वर्ण) system also influenced the proceedings of the Pravargya ceremony. According to the Monier-Williams Sanskrit dictionary, 'Varna' has many different meanings. Generally, it is used to refer to the forms, shapes, appearances, categorisations and arrangements of things. This includes of physical objects, living beings, letters, words, sounds, musical notes, and arrangements of songs and poems.^[12] A more specific definition given by the dictionary is also 'class of men, tribe, order, caste... [which is] properly applicable to the four principal classes described in Manu's code, viz. Brāhmans, Kshatriyas, Vaiśyas, and Sūdras ; the more modern word for 'caste' being jāti'.^[12] The relation between the varna and caste systems is discussed in more detail below.

Vishnu, stated to be synonymous with the Yagya(Yagyo Vai Vishnuh Yajurveda), is decapitated in a legend relating to the Mahāvīra earthen Pot used in the Pravargya Yagya (e.g. Shatapatha Brahmana 14.1.1).

Synonymous with Krishna, Vishnu is the "preserver" in the Hindu triad (Trimurti) and is revered as the supreme being In Vaishnavism.^[13][14] Also stated to be synonymous with the Yagya (e.g. in the Shatapatha Brahmana, see below), Vishnu is particularly notable for adopting various incarnations (avatars such as Varaha, Rama, and Krishna), time to time in every Yug to preserve and protect dharmic principles whenever the world is threatened with evil, chaos, and destructive forces.^[15]

In the Pravargya ceremony, a Mahāvīra earthen pot is made and used to boil milk as an oblation to the Ashvins.

W.J. Wilkins states that the 'Asvins are regarded as the physicians of the gods; and are declared to be able to restore to health, the sick, the lame, and the emaciated amongst mortals. They are the special guardians of the slow and backward; the devoted friends of elderly women who are unmarried. They are said to preside over love and marriage, and are implored to being together hearts that love... the Asvins are invoked for "offspring, wealth, victory, destruction of enemies, the preservation of the worshippers themselves, of their houses and cattle'.^[16]

In the legend of Vishnu's decapitation, the Yagya is stated to have begun without the Ashvins. Wilkins relates another legend in the Shatapatha Brahmana (4.1.5)^[17] that leads to the Ashvins joining the Yagya, and as physicians, using their power to replace the head of Vishnu/Makha as the head of the Yagya (i.e. the Pravargya, itself). Their request to the gods for this was to be granted oblations at the Yagya, which was accepted (hence boiled milk is offered to them in the Pravargya Yagya). The story related by Wilkins is that after attempting and failing twice to take away Sukanya, the young wife of an elderly Rishi called Chyavana, she tells the Ashvins one of the reasons she won't leave her husband for them is because they are imperfect, but will only tell them why after they make her husband young again. They agree, and so she 'tells the Asvins that they are imperfect because they have not been invited to join the other gods in a great Yagya that was to be celebrated at Kurukshetra (where Vishnu/Makha is later decapitated). The Asvins proceed to this Yagya, and, asking to be allowed to join in it, are told they cannot do so, because they have wandered familiarly among men, performing cures. In reply to this, the Asvins declared that the gods were making a headless Yajña. The gods inquiring how this can be, the Asvins reply, "Invite us to join you, and we will tell you." To this the gods consented'.^[16]

Just as in the Rigveda, Indra is stated to become 'Makhavan' (1.3.43),^[18] in the Shatapatha Brahmana it is also stated that Indra 'became Makhavat (possessed of makha)' in a legend relating to the Mahāvīra earthen pot made in the Parvargya Yajña (i.e. the decapitation of Vishnu). Indra is also stated to be the 'slayer of Makha' in the Taittiriya Samhita of the Black Yajurveda (3.2.4).^[19] Should the Mahāvīra be broken during the Yajña, Indra is invoked for atonement (Pañcaviṃśa Brāhmaṇa, see below).

In the Vedas, Indra is the king of Svarga (Heaven) and the Devas. He is the deity of the heavens, lightning, thunder, storms, rains, river flows, and war.^[20][21] Indra is the most referred to deity in the Rigveda.^[22] He is celebrated for his powers, and the one who kills the great symbolic evil (malevolent type of Asura) named Vritra who obstructs human prosperity and happiness. Indra destroys Vritra and his "deceiving forces", and thereby brings rains and the sunshine as the friend of mankind.^[23][24]

'The Rudras, having gathered together the earth', he says; these deities first gathered him together; verily with them he gathers him together. 'Thou art the head of Makha', he says; Makha is the Yagya, the firepan is his head; therefore he says thus.

In the Parvargya Yajña, the Mahāvīra earthen pot made from clay is referred to as 'Makha'. In a legend relating to the Mahāvīra, Makha (in the Pañcaviṃśa Brāhmaṇa) or Makha-Vishnu (in the Shatapatha Brahmana and Taittiriya Aranyaka) is decapitated. The pot is referred to as Makha's head, which at the end of the ceremony is used as the symbolic head of a man's body (see below).

The above quote from the Taittiriya Samhita concerns a Soma Yajña to Rudra. Other references to the head of Makha are all in the Taittiriya Samhita (e.g.1.1.8, 1.1.12, and 4.1.5, as well as that quoted above), and all seem to be in relation to Agni, the fire god.

A.A. Macdonell states that 'Makha appears to designate a person in two passages of the Rigveda [9.101.13. where the Bhrgus are mentioned as chasing Makha], but in neither passage does the context explain who he was. Probably a demon of some kind is meant. In the later Samhitas [Vajasaneyi Samhita (White Yajurveda) 11.57; 37.7; Taittiriya Samhita, 1.1.8.1, 3.2.4.1] mention is also made of the 'head of Makha,' an expression which has become unintelligible to the Brahmanas [Shatapatha Brahmana 14.1.2.17].^[26]

In regards to this ambiguity, S. Shrava states that 'Innumerable manuscripts of the valuable [Vedic] literature have been lost due to atrocities of the rulers and invaders, ravages of time, and utter disregard and negligence. These factors contributed to the loss of hundreds of manuscripts. Once their number was more than a few hundred. Had these [including Brahmanas] been available today the ambiguity in the interpretation of Vedic hymns could not have crept in'.^[27]

Notably, according to the Brihat Parasara Hora Sastra (an important book on Vedic Astrology), Makha is a nakshatra (star). The presiding deity of that star is also stated to be the Sun, which is notable given the sun is regarded as the 'soul of all' (i.e. 'best', as in best of or 'head' of the Yagya), and the severed head of Vishnu in various Brahmanic legends is stated to become the sun (see below).^[11]

R.L. Kashyap states that 'Somayaga is a general name for those Yagya in which libations of the soma juice are offered in the duly consecrated fire. There are seven types of Soma Yajnas namely, agnishtoma, atyagnishtoma, ukthya, shodashi, vajapeya, atirata and aptoryama... Agnishtoma is a typical Somayaga, forming the prakriti or model for other Soma Yagya'.^[1] Kashyap also details the 5-day Agnishtoma rite, in which the Pravargya ceremony within it is performed on the third and fourth days.

The Somyagyas are still performed. Here is the list of various somyagyas held in recent time.

The Pravargya rite is complex and involves following numerous strict rules in regards to timing, objects used, placements, movements, actions, and what is said. The summaries given below are very much simplified. Kashyap states that 'The Pravargya must be commenced on the day of the new or full moon, or on a day in the wane when the moon is in an auspicious nakshatra'.^[1]

U.M. Vesci states that the Pravargya ritual has two distinct parts:^[28]

1. At its beginning, the Mahāvīra earthen pots are prepared, and the milk boiled in them are offered to the Ashvins. This is repeated in the evening for three consecutive days.
2. At its conclusion, the implements used in this ritual, particularly the Mahāvīra are carried in procession to the fire-altar (uttaravedi) and buried there.

A.B. Keith states that from 'clay chosen from a pit east of the Ahavaniya fire, to which a horse leads the way, a Mahavira pot is made, a span high, two spare pots, and various other utensiles. A stool of Munja grass is also made as a throne for the pot. The pot is heated, the milk of a cow and a goat is poured in. Finally, the hot drink is offered to the Asvins, and two Rauhina cakes are also offered in the morning to the day, in the evening to the night. At the outset of the ceremony the wife of the conductor is made to cover her head, but she joins with the rest at the close in the finale of the Saman which is sung. At the end the offering utensils are arranged so as to make up the semblance of a man, the three Mahavira vessels marking the head, and so on... The pot is covered with a golden plate, which can be nothing else than a symbol of fire or the sun, the pot glows, the milk, which in its whiteness is a sun symbol, boils with heat. The Yagya by drinking as usual a share of the milk thus gains power at the same time as the sun is strengthened'.^[29]

S. Ketkat agrees, elaborating that at the Pravargya ceremony 'a cauldron [i.e. the Mahāvīra earthen pot] is made red-hot on the sacrificial fire, to represent symbolically the sun; in this cauldron milk is then boiled and offered to the Asvins. The whole celebration is regarded as a great mystery. At the end of it the sacrificial utensils are so arranged that they represent a man: the milk-pots are the head, on which a tuft of sacred grass represents the hair; two milking-pails represent the ears, two little gold leaves the eyes, two cups the heels, the flour sprinkled over the whole the marrow, a mixture of milk and honey the blood, and so on. The prayers and formulae naturally correspond with the mysterious ceremonies'.^[30]

The Shrautasutras have not been cited in this article, in part due to difficulty in finding English translations. Instead, English translations of Brahmanas and Aranyakas containing details of the Pravargya ceremony have been cited; these constitute Sruti literature of the Vedas as much as the Samhitas (hymns and mantras).

The Samhitas of the Vedas are generally concerned with hymns and mantras, recited during sacrificial ceremonies such as the pravargya. The Brahmanas are generally commentaries on the Samhitas and provide instructions on the performance of the sacrificial ceremonies. Sharva states that in 'the brahmana literature this word ['brahmana'] has been commonly used as detailing the ritualism related to the different Yagya or yajnas... The known recensions [i.e. schools or Shakhas] of the Vedas, all had separate brahmanas. Most of these brahmanas are not extant.... [Panini] differentiates between the old and the new brahmanas... [he asked] Was it when Krishna Dvaipayana Vyasa had propounded the Vedic recensions? The brahmanas which had been propounded prior to the exposition of recensions by [Vyasa] were called as old brahmanas and those which had been expounded by his disciples were known as new brahmanas'.^[27]

J. Dowson states that 'Aranyaka' means 'belonging to the forest' as this type of text is intended to 'expound the mystical sense of the [sacrificial] ceremonies, discuss the nature of God [etc.]. They are attached to the Brahmanas, and [are] intended for study in the forest by brahmanas who have retired from the distractions of the world'.^[31] Although the Aranyaka texts are generally best known for containing Upanishads, the Taittiriya Aranyaka is notable for also providing details on the performance of the Parvargya ceremony, which have been published separately as the 'Pravargya Brahmana'.^[32]

The Yagya went away from the gods (saying), 'I shall not be your food.' 'No', replied the gods, 'Verily thou shalt be our food.' The gods crushed it; it being taken apart was not sufficient for them. The gods said 'It will not be sufficient for us, being taken apart; come, let us gather together the Yagya.' (They replied) 'Be it so'. They gathered it together; having gathered it together they said to the Açvins, 'Do ye two heal it', the Açvins are the physicians of the gods, the Açvins the Adhvaryus; therefore the two Adhvaryus gather together the cauldron [Mahāvīra pot]. Having gathered it together they say, 'O Brahman, we shall proceed with the Pravargya offering; O Hotṛ, do though recite.'

A.B. Keith states it 'is certainly the case that the two Brahmanas [the Aitareya and Kausitaki] represent for us the development of a single tradition, and there must have been a time when there existed a single Bahrvea text... the Soma Yagya alone forms the real subject of the [Aitareya] book'.^[34] The above-quoted verse itself explains why the Ashvins are offered an oblation in the Pravargya ceremony (i.e. putting together or 'healing' the Mahāvīra Pot from the clay dug up), and the process of gathering itself may link to the name 'Pravargya' (i.e. as above, the root-word '√vrj', means 'to pull up, pluck, gather').

The Pravargya Yagya is itself is detailed in Pancika (book) 1, Adhyaya (chapter) 4, verses 1-22. The overall placement of the Pravargya as an early or introductory ceremony of the overall Soma Yagya is (Pancika II, Adhyaya III onwards is not detailed here):

The Mahāvīra is the head of the Yagya... it is the self of the Yagya; verily thus with the self he completes the Yagya. The Mahāvīra is he yonder that gives heat; verily thus he delights him... The man of whom men speak in the sun us Indra, is Prajapati, is the holy power; thus herein the conductor attains identity if [the] world and union with all the deities.

A.B. Keith states about the Kauṣītaki Brahmana that 'the first four Adhyayas cover fully enough for a Brahmana the Agnyadhana, the Agnihotra, the new and full moon Yagyas, and then follows a section on the function of the Brahman priest before the seventh Adhyaya carries us to the discussion of the Soma Yagya with occupies the rest of the book'.^[34] The extensive and elaborate Soma Yagya is thus detailed throughout Adhyayas 7-30 (i.e. 23 of 30 chapters); the Pravargya Yagya is itself is detailed Adhyaya 8, verses 3–7. The overall placement of the Pravargya as an introductory part of the overall Soma Yagya is (Adhyaya IX onwards is not detailed here):

If the Mahāvīra (the pot used at the pravargya-ceremony) breaks, he should touch, when it is broken (muttering the three verses): 'He, who, even without a clamp, before the piercing of the neck-ropes, makes the combination, he, the bountiful, the one of much good, removes again what is spoiled. - Let us not fear as strangers, o Indra, as removed from thee! O God with the thunderbolt, we thought ourselves ill-famed, as trees that are devoid (of leaves). - We thought ourselves slow and weak, o Slayer of Vrtra! May we once more, O Hero, through thy great liberality be gladdened after our praise', (with these verses) he should touch the broken Mahāvīra (pot). This is therefore the atonement.

C. Majumdar states that the Panchavimsha Brahmana 'is one of the oldest and most important of Brahmanas... and includes the Vratyastoma, a ceremony by which people of non-Aryan stock could be admitted into the Aryan family'.^[37] R. Pandey elaborates, adding that 'According to the scriptures, persons [also] outcast for nonperformance [i.e. of Yagya] were eligible to re-admission into the Aryan fold after performing the Vratyastoma Yagya'.^[38]

In terms of content, the Pañcaviṃśa Brāhmaṇa seems to focus on numerous other sacrificial rites (e.g. the Vratyastoma), rather than the Soma Yagya, of which the Pravargya ritual is an early part. However, of the two direct references found, the above-quoted verse from prapathaka (chapter) 9, Adhyaya (section) 10 entitled 'Expiations for various occasions' instructs the performers of the Pravargya ritual of what to do should one or more of the Mahāvīra pot(s) break in order to atone and continue the Yagya.

The Gods Agni, Indra, Vayu, and Makha, desirous of glory, performed a sacrificial session. They said: 'The glory that will come to (one of) us, must be in common to (all of) us'. Of them it was Makha to whom the glory came. He took it and stepped forth. They tried to take it from him by force and hemmed him in. He stood there, leaning on his bow, but the end of the bow, springing upwards, cut off his head. This (head) became the pravargya; Makha, forsooth, is the Yagya; by holding the pravargya (ceremony), they put the head on the Yagya.

This seems to be made in reference to Indra slaying Makha as mentioned in the Taittiriya Samhita (3.2.4) of the Black Yajurveda.^[40] The above-quote from the Panchavimsha Brahmana is particularly notable for three reasons (all detailed below). First, altered versions of this exact legend are contained in the Shatapatha Brahmana (White Yajurveda) and the Taittiriya Aranyaka (Black Yajurveda) where it is Vishnu that completes the Yagya and is decapitated, although He is still referred to as Makha in the Pravargya ritual. Second (again, as detailed below), the head is symbolically the highest, best, or most important, and thus the Pravargya ceremony as the head of the (Soma) Yagya is the highest, best, or most important part of it. And third, again, the word 'Mahāvīra' can also be translated as 'archer' (see above), hence the possible presence of a bow.