Then after the completion of one year and on regaining the ritual horse, the Emperor Dasharatha commenced his Vedic Ritual on the northern banks of River Sarayu.
COMMENT: In aswametha yaga, a well-decorated horse will be let out with an insignia on its forehead challenging any king to capture it and face the wrath of the releasing king. If any one captures the horse, he should be prepared to face the army of the releasing king. Otherwise, the valour and invincibility of the releasing king are well established and he may proceed with the ritual proper. Now that the ritual horse released last year by King Dasharatha had come back without being captured by anyone, the invincibility of King Dasharatha was well established, and as such he can commence the ritual proper.
End Comment.
Keeping Rishyasringa at the helm of affairs, eminent Brahmans commenced the ashva medha Yaga, the Horse-ritual of the invincible King Dasharatha.
Day by day those expert Brahmans had performed all ritual works as encouraged by Vashishta and others and as contained in scriptures.
Three hundred animals were tied to the ritual posts, along with the ritual horse of the King Dasharatha.
[Many animals were sacrificed in the Horse ritual. But they would be segregated as wild animals and domestic animals. In them many of the wild animals would be let off by taking them around the fire on to their right in salutation to fire, 'agni paradakshiNa namaskara'. The domestic animals however, will be sacrificed in the ritual. Hence it is up to the priests to decide which were to be retained and which were to be let off.]
[Here Kausalya did not butcher the horse (queens do not butcher animals) in the ritual, but the horse was already sacrificed. It was a symbolical act of queens to pierce with three golden knives like needles. The scripture says that all the eligible wives of the performer of ritual have to pierce that way. So all the three queens had performed that symbolic act by piercing that horse, which was already dead, with golden needle-like knives.]
The horse-ritual was normally conducted only for three days. But Dasharatha got it performed for a longer period with more variously connected rituals, in all his eagerness to appease gods for progeny.
After the successful completion of the yaga, king Dasharata thanked Sage Rishyasringa and told him "Sir, you alone are eligible to perform the ritual for the expansion of my dynasty."
Rishyasringa nodded to the proposal and told him that the king would get four sons to ennoble his dynasty. On hearing the sweet words of Sage Rishyasringa, Dasharatha went into a state of ecstasy and venerated that great soul, Rishyasringa, again.
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COMMENT: In aswametha yaga, a well-decorated horse will be let out with an insignia on its forehead challenging any king to capture it and face the wrath of the releasing king. If any one captures the horse, he should be prepared to face the army of the releasing king. Otherwise, the valour and invincibility of the releasing king are well established and he may proceed with the ritual proper. Now that the ritual horse released last year by King Dasharatha had come back without being captured by anyone, the invincibility of King Dasharatha was well established, and as such he can commence the ritual proper.
End Comment.
Keeping Rishyasringa at the helm of affairs, eminent Brahmans commenced the ashva medha Yaga, the Horse-ritual of the invincible King Dasharatha.
Day by day those expert Brahmans had performed all ritual works as encouraged by Vashishta and others and as contained in scriptures.
Three hundred animals were tied to the ritual posts, along with the ritual horse of the King Dasharatha.
[Many animals were sacrificed in the Horse ritual. But they would be segregated as wild animals and domestic animals. In them many of the wild animals would be let off by taking them around the fire on to their right in salutation to fire, 'agni paradakshiNa namaskara'. The domestic animals however, will be sacrificed in the ritual. Hence it is up to the priests to decide which were to be retained and which were to be let off.]
Queen Kausalya, with great delight but reverently made circumambulations to the horse, and symbolically killed the horse with three knives.
The horse-ritual was normally conducted only for three days. But Dasharatha got it performed for a longer period with more variously connected rituals, in all his eagerness to appease gods for progeny.
After the successful completion of the yaga, king Dasharata thanked Sage Rishyasringa and told him "Sir, you alone are eligible to perform the ritual for the expansion of my dynasty."
Rishyasringa nodded to the proposal and told him that the king would get four sons to ennoble his dynasty. On hearing the sweet words of Sage Rishyasringa, Dasharatha went into a state of ecstasy and venerated that great soul, Rishyasringa, again.
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