Some Vedic sacrifices of this century

[Anand V. Hudli]

On Mon, 14 Jun 1999 16:26:16 -0700, Sankaran Panchapagesan
<panchap at ICSL.UCLA.EDU> wrote:
>I am not saying that animal sacrifices in the vedas are adharmic. They
>were dharmic, at that time and place. Are they still so? I remember
>reading somewhere that earlier animal sacrifices used to accompany even
>rites like the SrAddha ceremony, etc., but are no longer carried out. Are
>brahmins doing animal sacrifices nowadays? I think not. Else, can we
>conclude that "vedic" dharma is dead?

 Here are some examples of Vedic sacrifices belonging to the pAshuka and
 saumika categories performed in this century. Both pAshuka and saumika
 yajnas require the sacrifice of animals. In addition, the saumika yajnas,
 as the name indicates, require the extraction and offering of juice of
 the soma plant. The saumika yajnas are also called soma-yAga's. The yajnas
 which fall into the category of AishhTika do not involve the sacrifice of
 animals. An example of AishhTika would be the darsha-pUrNamAsa-ishhTi.

 agnishhToma - Gokarna, Karnataka, 1946
 (soma-yAga)   Salkodu (Uttara Kannada District), Karnataka, 1947
               Itagi (Uttara Kannada District), Karnataka,
               Sringeri (vidyAraNyapura), 1934
               Mysore
               Dharwad, Karnataka
               Kundapura (Dakshina Kannada District), Karnataka, 1936
               Vayi, Maharashtra, 1950
               Satara, Maharashtra,
               Pune, Maharashtra
               Pataluru, Andhra Pradesh, 1967
               Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh

 vAjapeya -   Sangli, Maharashtra, 1938
 (soma-yAga)  Pune, Maharashtra, 1955,
              Harihara, Karnataka,
              Dharwad, Karnataka

 nirUDha pashubandha - Gokarna, Karnataka, 1945
 (pAshuka yajna)       Sringeri, Karnataka,


 Source: Krishna-Yajurveda, Vol. 1,  Jyoti Samskritika Prakashana,
         Bangalore, 1988.

 Unfortunately, the dates of some of the sacrifices are missing in the
 book. But the book is indeed a reliable source, since it has the foreword
 of none other than HH Shri Abhinava Vidya Teertha, and has been edited
 by the eminent Vidvan Rameshvara Avadhani.

 The book adds that apart from the list it gives, (of which only a part
 I have reproduced above), such Vedic yajnas have been conducted in many
 places all over India, in this century.


 Anand