The parvargya rite

The parvargya rite is an exalted vedic sacrifice performed by an Arya to the ashvins and offers a glimpse of the fusion of the two ancient ritual streams of the pre-R^igvedic past. One component of it is the ancient gharma rite to the Ashvins instituted by the bhR^igus under the great atharvan chyavAna. ChyavAna was revived from decrepitude and disease by the ashvins and went on to win sukanya the daughter of shAryAti and accordingly in their honor offered the great sacrifice of congealed milk (tereti pAl in Dravidian). Then the bhArgava dadhichi, gained secreted vidyas from the ashvins who had fixed on him the head of the horse, hence he worshipped them as the gods of medicine. These ancient memories resulted in the atharvans instituting a sacrificial pouring for the Ashvins with the mantra AV 7.73 (Shaunaka SaMhita of AV, samiddhoagnir...). Simultaneously in the Vedic stream of the bhAratas, the school of the prAjapatya vAishvAmitras instituted a rite to commemorate the twelve month year also known as prajapati, with a twelve day pouring two the deities: savitA, agni, mAtarishvAn, the Adityas, the nakshatras, the R^ita, dhAtA, bR^ihaspati, mitra, varuNa, indra and soma. The end of the year was marked symbolically by the beheading of prajapati by rudra. The restoration of his head in the new year was through the surgery of the ashvins.

The myth of the cephalic surgery on prajapati and dadhichi served as the fusion point of these rites during the early settlement of the bhAratas in the sub-continent. This resulted in the pravargya rite in which marks the restoration of the head of yagna or the prajapati also called makha’s head in the brAhmaNa literature. Thus the taittiriya AraNyaka states:

te devA ashvinAvabruvan.h | bhishhajau vai staH | idaM yagnasya shiraH prati dhattameti |...

The head is symbolically denoted by the parvargya pot in the pravargya rite. Thus is the rite performed:

The adhvaryu first set up sacrificial fire and offers ghee to savitA. Then he mixes clay and makes the pravargya pot with an hourglass-like shape with a spout in the top half from three pieces of clay. He also makes the other chamasas and the ladles for the rite with the remaining clay. They are sun dried and then the adhvaryu fumigates them in a fire fueled by horse dung. Then they are heated in the fire in the sacrificial pit taken out and cooled by the pouring of goat’s milk. On the day of the rite the adhvaryu uses his forceps to hold the pravargya pot over the AhAvaniya fire and melts ghee in it and the prastotA priest sings the pravargya sAmans during this process. The pot is then place on a raised altar on a silver disk. Ghee is poured again into it and its heated by the adhvaryu and then surrounded by samids and covered with a gold lid and a fire lit. It is fanned with 3 fans till the pot becomes redhot and all except the yajamAna’s wife look at it chanting yajushes. Finally the other participants leave and the pratiprastAtA priest and yajmAna’s wife not looking at the pot chant the fertility yajushes to tvashTa. Then a goat and a cow are milked and the milk is poured into the pravargya pot. It is then held by tongs and taken to the AhAvaniya fire and the gharma offering to the ashvins is made. An indra pouring with the formula “svAhendrAya svAhendrA vaD.h” is made and the milk is made to overflow from the pot into the fire. The pourings to pUshaN and rudra are made. Then after performing the agnihotra and worshiping the prANa as indra and agni with the formula “prANa evainaM indratamegnau juhoti” the yajamAna, his wife and priests eat the congealed milk of the gharma with honey. The adhvaryu then disposes the sacrificial implements used in the rite: the forceps, the tripod, the fans, two fire pokers in the east by arranging them in the shape of a man. The prastotA priest sings the rakshoha sAmans during the process. Then singing the shukra samans, the yajamAna, his wife and the priests dispose the pravargya pot on the east on the west sides of the uttaravedi platform. If he desires to slay his foes he lays a death-dealing charm invoking agni-vaishvAnara and disposes it on the branch of an audumbara fig tree. He may also dispose it near a termite heap with darbha grass for successful farming.