DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.638#0157
VEDIC AGE DEVELOPMENTS 93
them in the sea; the Spartans offered up their horses,
like the Buriats, on a hilltop.
There can be little doubt that the Greek and Roman
horse sacrifices were also intended to ensure fertility.
A horse was offered up to Diana at the August harvest
festival, and we know that that popular goddess gave
plentiful crops and was the guardian of flocks and herds
and wild animals of the chase; she also presided at birth,
and women invoked her aid. Virgins and youths took
a prominent part at this harvest festival. The Roman
horse sacrifice took place on 15 October. The animal
was offered to Mars; the head was conveyed to the
king's house1 and decorated with loaves, and the blood
was preserved until April, when it was mixed by virgins
with the blood of calves; this mixture was given to
shepherds to ensure the increase of flocks which were
fumigated. In the Mahdbhdrata the king and the princes
stand for a time in the smoke belching from the altar,
to be cleansed of their sins.
The Persians, and other peoples of Aryan speech and
custom, sacrificed horses regularly. But the custom was
not confined to Indo-Europeans. The Scythians,2 who
were probably Mongols, not only offered horses to the
Spirit of Fertility, but also, like the Buriats, to the dead.
The Patagonians sacrificed horses to tree spirits. In this
connection it may be noted that some European horse
sacrifices took place in sacred groves; the Buriats tied
their horse to a birch tree, which was carried to the
mountain top and fixed to a stake; the Indian sacrificial
posts were probably substitutes for trees.
In the Upanishads the sacrifice of the horse is infused,
as we have indicated, with mystic symbolism. We read:
1 That is, the so-called " royal house ", or bouse of the " king of the sacred rites ".
* A broad-headed people.
them in the sea; the Spartans offered up their horses,
like the Buriats, on a hilltop.
There can be little doubt that the Greek and Roman
horse sacrifices were also intended to ensure fertility.
A horse was offered up to Diana at the August harvest
festival, and we know that that popular goddess gave
plentiful crops and was the guardian of flocks and herds
and wild animals of the chase; she also presided at birth,
and women invoked her aid. Virgins and youths took
a prominent part at this harvest festival. The Roman
horse sacrifice took place on 15 October. The animal
was offered to Mars; the head was conveyed to the
king's house1 and decorated with loaves, and the blood
was preserved until April, when it was mixed by virgins
with the blood of calves; this mixture was given to
shepherds to ensure the increase of flocks which were
fumigated. In the Mahdbhdrata the king and the princes
stand for a time in the smoke belching from the altar,
to be cleansed of their sins.
The Persians, and other peoples of Aryan speech and
custom, sacrificed horses regularly. But the custom was
not confined to Indo-Europeans. The Scythians,2 who
were probably Mongols, not only offered horses to the
Spirit of Fertility, but also, like the Buriats, to the dead.
The Patagonians sacrificed horses to tree spirits. In this
connection it may be noted that some European horse
sacrifices took place in sacred groves; the Buriats tied
their horse to a birch tree, which was carried to the
mountain top and fixed to a stake; the Indian sacrificial
posts were probably substitutes for trees.
In the Upanishads the sacrifice of the horse is infused,
as we have indicated, with mystic symbolism. We read:
1 That is, the so-called " royal house ", or bouse of the " king of the sacred rites ".
* A broad-headed people.