DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.636#0035
Ritualistic Brahmanism. 23
sixteen different classes of priests, every one of whom received
adequate gifts, was the great object of every pious Hindu's
highest ambition. The whole course of prayer, praise, ritual,
and oblation—sometimes lasting for weeks and even years—
though called, as in Vedic times, Yajfia, 'sacrifice,' was very
inadequately expressed by that term. It was a protracted
religious service which could only be compared to an intricate
piece of mechanism. It was a chain of which every link
required to be complete and perfect in all its parts. It could
then effect anything in this world or the other. It was the
great preservative from all evil, the great maintainer of the
energies of the Universe, the great source of all benefits. It
could procure a whole line of sons and grandsons1, or secure
the attainment of the highest heaven, or even raise the sacri-
ficer to the level of the highest deities. It was even believed
that the gods themselves had attained their celestial position
by performing sacrifices. ' By sacrifices/ says the Taittirlya-
brahmana, 'the gods obtained heaven.'
The most preposterous of all the ideas connected with the
sacrificial act was that of making it the first act of creation.
In the Purusha hymn of the Rig-veda (X. 90) the gods are
represented as cutting up and sacrificing Purusha, the pri-
meval Male, and then forming the whole Universe from his
head and limbs (see p. 17). The Tandya-brahmana makes
the lord of creatures offer himself up as a sacrifice. Even
Sacrifice (Yajna) itself was sometimes personified as a god.
Lastly, the shedding of blood was believed by some to
atone for sin. The limb of the victim consigned to the fire
was thought to be an expiation for sins committed by the
gods, by the fathers, and by men. The innocent was sup-
posed to be killed for the guilty; but this belief never became
general.
1 An uninterrupted line of sons, grandsons, and great-grandsons was
needed for the due performance of funeral rites, through which alone
the heavenly bliss of departed spirits could be secured.
sixteen different classes of priests, every one of whom received
adequate gifts, was the great object of every pious Hindu's
highest ambition. The whole course of prayer, praise, ritual,
and oblation—sometimes lasting for weeks and even years—
though called, as in Vedic times, Yajfia, 'sacrifice,' was very
inadequately expressed by that term. It was a protracted
religious service which could only be compared to an intricate
piece of mechanism. It was a chain of which every link
required to be complete and perfect in all its parts. It could
then effect anything in this world or the other. It was the
great preservative from all evil, the great maintainer of the
energies of the Universe, the great source of all benefits. It
could procure a whole line of sons and grandsons1, or secure
the attainment of the highest heaven, or even raise the sacri-
ficer to the level of the highest deities. It was even believed
that the gods themselves had attained their celestial position
by performing sacrifices. ' By sacrifices/ says the Taittirlya-
brahmana, 'the gods obtained heaven.'
The most preposterous of all the ideas connected with the
sacrificial act was that of making it the first act of creation.
In the Purusha hymn of the Rig-veda (X. 90) the gods are
represented as cutting up and sacrificing Purusha, the pri-
meval Male, and then forming the whole Universe from his
head and limbs (see p. 17). The Tandya-brahmana makes
the lord of creatures offer himself up as a sacrifice. Even
Sacrifice (Yajna) itself was sometimes personified as a god.
Lastly, the shedding of blood was believed by some to
atone for sin. The limb of the victim consigned to the fire
was thought to be an expiation for sins committed by the
gods, by the fathers, and by men. The innocent was sup-
posed to be killed for the guilty; but this belief never became
general.
1 An uninterrupted line of sons, grandsons, and great-grandsons was
needed for the due performance of funeral rites, through which alone
the heavenly bliss of departed spirits could be secured.