ritual

Ashvamedha

Rituals

The named Vedic horse-sacrifice of royal sovereignty, paced by a year-long roaming steed. Not yajna as every fire-offering, and not a generic animal sacrifice dump.

Also known as Aśvamedha · Horse sacrifice

Vedic tradition

  • Ashvamedha appears in Vedic tradition.

    The Ṛgveda preserves horse-sacrifice hymn speech (including the aśvamedha sequence) in which the steed is praised and offered for sovereignty. A named Vedic ritual in that corpus, not every yajña and not a generic animal-sacrifice dump.

    from Stephanie W. Jamison and Joel P. Brereton (translation) · The Rigveda, 2014 (this translation); hymns much older

    appears in · sourced · documented

  • Horse is used in Ashvamedha.

    In Ṛgveda aśvamedha hymn speech the horse is the offered animal of the rite — the steed whose body and praise carry the sacrifice. A named ritual use, not horse→vedic appears_in alone and not horse→sacred_to→Indra as chariot-team.

    from Stephanie W. Jamison and Joel P. Brereton (translation) · The Rigveda, 2014 (this translation); hymns much older

    used in · sourced · documented

sources

  • The Rigveda · Stephanie W. Jamison and Joel P. Brereton (translation)

    Stephanie W. Jamison and Joel P. Brereton, The Rigveda: The Earliest Religious Poetry of India.