{{Short description|Vedic custom}} {{Redirect|Athirathram|the Malayalam film|Athirathram (film)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=December 2019}} {{Use Indian English|date=December 2019}} thumb thumb {{Hinduism small}} The '''Agnicayana''' (''{{IAST|ati-rātra agni-cayana}}''; {{literally|over-night piling up of the fire}}){{sfn|Knipe|2015|p=36}} or '''Athirathram''' ({{langx|ml|അതിരാത്രം}}) is a category of advanced Śrauta rituals.
After one has established the routine of the twice-daily Agnihotra offerings and fortnightly ''darśa-pūrṇa-māsa'' offerings (Full and New Moon rites), one is eligible to perform the Agnistoma, the simplest soma rite.{{sfn|Knipe|2015|p=41-49, 220-221}} After the agnistoma, one is eligible to perform more extensive soma rites and Agnicayana rites.{{sfn|Knipe|2015|p=46-47, 220-233}} There are several varieties of Agnicayana.{{sfn|Knipe|2015|p=222-233}}
Agnicayana continues to be performed in Kerala.{{sfn|Knipe|2015|p=46}}
==Overview== thumb|left|Replica of the altar and utensils used during Athirathram
The entire ritual takes twelve days to perform, in the course of which a great bird-shaped altar, the ''uttaravedi'' "northern altar" is built out of 1005 bricks. The liturgical text is in Chapters 20 through 25 of the ''Krishna Yajurveda''. The immediate purpose of the Agnicayana is to build up for the sacrificer an immortal body that is permanently beyond the reach of the transitory nature of life, suffering and death that, according to this rite, characterizes man's mortal existence.<ref name="Converse">{{cite journal |jstor=1062002|title= The Agnicayana Rite: Indigenous Origin?|author= Hyla Stuntz Converse|date= November 1974|journal=History of Religions |volume=14 |issue=2 |pages=81–95 |doi=10.1086/462716|s2cid= 162189887}}</ref>
[[File:Garhwal(4).jpg|thumb|left|Falcon-shaped ''vedi'' excavated from Purola, Uttarkashi; likely belonging to the Kuninda period (150 BCE - 250 CE).]] The earliest known falcon-shaped vedi are dated to the period of Kuninda Kingdom, between 2nd century BCE and 2nd century CE,<ref>{{Cite news |last=Pattanaik |first=Devdutt |date=2023-01-27 |title=How the Gayatri Mantra, composed by men, heard by men, for a male deity, became embodied as a goddess |language=en-IN |work=The Hindu |url=https://www.thehindu.com/society/history-and-culture/how-the-gayatri-mantra-composed-by-men-heard-by-men-for-a-male-deity-became-embodied-as-a-goddess/article66416316.ece |access-date=2023-04-23 |issn=0971-751X}}</ref> examples being discovered at Purola, Uttarkashi,<ref>{{Cite web |date=2023-04-23 |title=Archaeological Survey of India Dehradun Circle -Uttarkashi |url=http://asidehraduncircle.in/uttarkashi.html |access-date=2024-07-03 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230423081256/http://asidehraduncircle.in/uttarkashi.html |archive-date=23 April 2023 }}</ref> and Kosambi, Kaushambi.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Sharma |first=G. R. |url=http://archive.org/details/in.gov.ignca.18859 |title=Excavations at Kausambi (1957-59) |date=1960 |language=English}}</ref>
The ritual emerged from predecessor rituals, which were incorporated as building blocks, around the 10th century BCE,{{Citation needed|date=July 2024}} and was likely continuously practiced until the late Vedic period, or the 6th century BCE.{{Citation needed|date=July 2024}} In post-Vedic times, there were various revivals of the practice, under the Gupta Empire in the north (ca. 4th to 6th century), and under the Chola Empire in the south (ca. 9th century), but by the 11th century, the practice was held to have been discontinued, with the exception of the Nambudiris of Kerala.{{Citation needed|date=July 2024}} The 1975 Nambudiri Agnicayana filmed by Frits Staal, was criticized by Andhra Śrautins who claimed the Nambudiri omitted animal sacrifice, which is an element in their own opinion.{{sfn|Knipe|2015|p=215}}
==See also== *Yajurveda, the Vedic source for the ritual *Brahmanas *Yajna *Vedic priesthood
==References== {{Reflist}}
==Sources== {{Refbegin}} * {{Citation | last =Knipe | first =David M. | year =2015 | title =Vedic Voices: Intimate Narratives of a Living Andhra Tradition | place =Oxford | publisher =Oxford University Press | isbn =9780199397693 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QedcBgAAQBAJ}} {{Refend}}
==Further reading== {{Commons category}} *{{cite journal |title=The Nambudiri Agnicayana of April 1975 |first=Frits |last=Staal |authorlink=Frits Staal |journal=Journal of the American Oriental Society |volume=96 |issue=1 |date=1976 |page=113 |doi=10.2307/599897 |jstor=599897 }} *Drury, Naama. ''The Sacrificial Ritual in the Satapatha Brahmana''. Motilal Banarsidass Publishers, 1981.
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Category:Yajna Category:Culture of Kerala Category:Articles containing video clips Category:Vedic customs