Book Reviewed: Illustrated dictionary of Vedic rituals by H.G. Ranade

The Vedic Ritual: A concordance to the terms used in ritual practices

This book reviews the words and tools used in the practice of various Vedic rituals. It does not offer any details about the ritual itself but written as a guide/dictionary/concordance for the terms. Imagery and symbols of ritual items have been used wherever necessary to illustrate the significance.

The author classifies the Vedic ritual into three broad categories; obligatory (nitya), incidental (naimittika) and optional (kamya). The obligatory rituals include Agnadheya, Agnihotra (daily), Chaturmasya (four-monthly (season-wise)), Darsapurnamasa (fortnightly), Agrayana, Sautramani and Pasubandha (animal sacrifice). The annual Soma sacrifice is also classified as an obligatory sacrifice. Incidental rites are perfomed if some deficiencies were found in the prior sacrificial procedures. Rites may also be performed for the fulfillment of specific desires.

A sacrifice can have any one of the three offerings; Havir-yajna (ghee), Soma-yajna (Soma juice) and Pasu-yajna (animals). The Vedic sacrifices require three constituents; the oblatory material (dravya) to be offered; the divinity (devata) to whom the offering is made; and the act of offering (tyaga), (Katyayana Srautasutra 1.2.1.).

Generally, the sacred fire is set up first and this is followed by other sacrifices. There are numerous requirements and procedures that are followed for each sacrifice, but the scope of this book precludes the author to go into any detail.

This book is a modest improvement over the prior works, which contains about 5000 entries. There are extensive references to Vedas, Brahmanas and other ancient literature. Prior works include; Srautapadarta Nirvacana (1931) edited by Joshi, Vocabulaire du Rituel Vedique by Louis Renou (1954) and the Dictionary of Vedic Ritual by Chitrabanu Sen (1978).

I found some meaningful discussion of sacrifice terms such as; Amsu, Agni-Cayana, Apri, Rtvij, Purodasa, Yajamana, etc. At the end of the book, the author gives diagrammatic sketches of the sacrificial altars for Sautramani Sacrifice, Pasubandha Sacrifice and a few others. Vedic sacrifices and many ritual practices are almost extinct in India, and animal sacrifices are forbidden by law. The Agin-cayana sacrifice performed in Kerala by Namboodiri Brahmins in the last century used effigy of goats instead of the actual animal.