In Hinduism, Yagya (Sanskrit यज्ञ wikt:yajna; also Anglicized as Yajna, Yadna) is a ritual of sacrifice (Monier-Williams gives the meanings "worship, prayer, praise; offering, oblation, sacrifice") derived from the practice of Vedic times. It is performed to please the gods or to attain certain wishes. An essential element is the sacrificial fire - the divine Agni - into which oblations are poured, as everything that is offered into the fire is believed to reach the gods.
A Vedic (shrauta) yagya is typically performed by an adhvaryu priest, with a number of additional priests such as the hotar, udgatar playing a major role, next to their dozen helpers, by reciting or singing Vedic verses. Usually, there will be one or three fires in the centre of the offering ground and items are offered into the fire. Among the items offered as oblations in the yagya include large quantities of ghee, milk, grains, cakes, or soma. The duration of a yagya depends on the type; some can last a few minutes, hours or days and some even last for years, with priests continuously offering to the gods accompanied with sacred verses. Some yagyas are performed privately, others with a large number of people in attendance.
Post-Vedic yagyas, where milk products, fruits, flowers, cloth and money are offered, are called "yaga",homa or havana.
A typical Hindu marriage is a yagya, because Agni is supposed to be the witness of all marriages. Brahmins and certain other castes receive a yagyopavita "sacred cord" at their upanayana rite of passage. The yagyopavita symbolizes the right of the individual to study the Vedas and to carry out yagyas or homas.
Temple worship is called agamic, while communication to divinity through Agni, is considered Vedic. Today's temple rites are a combination of both Vedic and Agamic rituals. The sacrificial division of Hindu scripture is the Karma-Kanda portion of the Vedas which describe or discuss most sacrifices.
Today, only a few hundred individuals know how to perform these sacrifices and even fewer are able to maintain the sacred fires continuously and perform the shrauta rituals.Only a few thousand perform the Agnihotra or basic Aupasana fire sacrifice daily .
Yagyas in the Vedas
There are 400 yagyas described in the Vedas. Of these, 21 are theoretically compulsory for the Twice-Born (Dvijas: Brahmin, Ksatriya and Vaisya). They are also called nityakarmas. The rest of the yagyas are optional, which are performed kamyakarma (for particular wishes and benefits). The Aupasana is not part of the above list, but is also compulsory .
Out of the 21 nityakarmas, only the Agnihotra and the Aupasana are to be performed twice daily, at dawn and dusk. The remaining ones have certain allotted frequencies over the course of the year. The more complicated the yagya, the less frequently it is performed. The most complex ones need to be performed only once in a lifetime. The first seven yagyas are called pākayagyas "cooked sacrifice", the second seven haviryagyas "oblation, burnt offering", and the third seven are called somayagyas "Soma sacrifice".
- Seven are paka Yajñas (aṣtaka, sthālipāka, parvana, srāvaṇi, āgrahayani, caitri and āsvīyuji). They involve consecrating cooked items.
- Seven are Soma Yajñas (agnistoma, atyagnistoma, uktya, shodasi, vājapeya, atirātra and aptoryama). The yāgā that involves the extraction, utility and consumption of Soma (in the general sense nectar, but extract of a particular tree specifically) is called a Soma Yajña. Others are usually referred to as haviryañnas.
- Seven are Havir Yajñas (agniyādhāna, agni hotra, Darśa-Pūrṇamāsa, āgrayana, cāturmāsya, niruudha paśu bandha, sautrāmaṇi). They involve offering havis.
- Five are the panca mahā Yajñās.
- Four are Vedavratas, which are done during Vedic education.
- Remaining sixteen are one-time samskāras that are done at different stages in life. They are garbhādhānā, pumsavana, sīmanta, jātakarma,nāmakaraṇa, annaprāśana,chudākarma/caula,niskramana,karnavedha,vidyaarambha, upanayana,keshanta, snātaka and vivāha,nisheka,antyeshti. These are specified by the gṛhya sūtrās.Some gṛhya sūtrās like Vaikhanasa prescribe 2 more samskaras like Vishnu bali and Pravasagamana/Pindavardhana.
Hindu tradition has the Pancha Mahayagyas ("Five Great Yajnas", Taittiriya Aranyaka 2.10). These sacrifices are to be performed daily by all "householders" (married couples) daily to best of one's ability:
- Devayagya- worship of the gods (devas) through the twilight prayers (sandhya), aupasana, and agnihotra
- Pitryagya- offering libations to ancestors or pitrs
- Bhutayagya- offering food ("bali") to animals
- Manushyayagya- charitable offerings of food to fellow humans
- Brahmayagya- recitation of a section of one's Veda ("bráhman") in rotation
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