DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.636#0024
12 Vedisni.
What, then, were the various ideas expressed by the term
sacrifice ? In its purest and simplest form it denoted a dedi-
cation of some simple gift as an expression of gratitude for
blessings received. Soon the act of 'making sacred' became
an act of propitiation for purely selfish ends. The favour of
celestial beings who were capable of conferring good or in-
flicting harm on crops, flocks, and herds, was conciliated by
offerings and oblations of all kinds, and especially of the
products of the soil.
With this idea the gods were invited to join the every-day
family meal. Then they were invoked at festive, gatherings,
and offered a share of the food consumed. Their bodies
were believed to be composed of ethereal particles, dependent
for nourishment on the invisible elementary essence of the
substances presented to them, and to be furnished with
senses capable of being gratified by the aroma of butter
and grain offered in fire {homo)l; and especially by the
fumes arising from libations of the exhilarating juice ex-
tracted from the Soma plant.
This plant—botanically known as Sarcostema Viminalis, or
Asclepias Acida, a kind of creeper with a succulent leafless stem
—which was indigenous in the ancient home of the Aryans, as
well as in the soil of India and Persia, supplied an invigorating
beverage supposed to confer health and immortality, and held
to be the vital sap which vivified the world. Hence its juice
became an important ingredient at every sacrifice, and was the
subject of constant laudation in numerous Vedic hymns. It
was believed to be peculiarly grateful to the Rain-god (Indra),
while oblations of butter were specially presented to the god
of fire. Eventually the great esteem in which the Soma plant
was held led to its being itself personified and deified. The
god Soma was once the Bacchus of India. The whole ninth
Book of the Rig-veda is devoted to his praise.
1 Compare Gen. viii. 21.
What, then, were the various ideas expressed by the term
sacrifice ? In its purest and simplest form it denoted a dedi-
cation of some simple gift as an expression of gratitude for
blessings received. Soon the act of 'making sacred' became
an act of propitiation for purely selfish ends. The favour of
celestial beings who were capable of conferring good or in-
flicting harm on crops, flocks, and herds, was conciliated by
offerings and oblations of all kinds, and especially of the
products of the soil.
With this idea the gods were invited to join the every-day
family meal. Then they were invoked at festive, gatherings,
and offered a share of the food consumed. Their bodies
were believed to be composed of ethereal particles, dependent
for nourishment on the invisible elementary essence of the
substances presented to them, and to be furnished with
senses capable of being gratified by the aroma of butter
and grain offered in fire {homo)l; and especially by the
fumes arising from libations of the exhilarating juice ex-
tracted from the Soma plant.
This plant—botanically known as Sarcostema Viminalis, or
Asclepias Acida, a kind of creeper with a succulent leafless stem
—which was indigenous in the ancient home of the Aryans, as
well as in the soil of India and Persia, supplied an invigorating
beverage supposed to confer health and immortality, and held
to be the vital sap which vivified the world. Hence its juice
became an important ingredient at every sacrifice, and was the
subject of constant laudation in numerous Vedic hymns. It
was believed to be peculiarly grateful to the Rain-god (Indra),
while oblations of butter were specially presented to the god
of fire. Eventually the great esteem in which the Soma plant
was held led to its being itself personified and deified. The
god Soma was once the Bacchus of India. The whole ninth
Book of the Rig-veda is devoted to his praise.
1 Compare Gen. viii. 21.