Atirātra
Atirātra · ati-rātra, “that which passes through the night”
Grammar: masculine noun; a compound of ati (beyond, through) and rātri (night): “that which goes on through the night”.
Meaning: one of the seven soma-saṃsthās, the forms of the soma yajña, a great Vedic yajña whose rites continue through the night.
In the scriptures: among the forty-eight saṃskāras which Agnideva names, by which a man becomes equal to the devas, the twenty-ninth to the thirty-fifth are the Agnishṭoma, “the best among yajñas”, the Atyagnishṭoma, the Ukthya, the Shoḍaśī, the Vājapeya, the Atirātra and the Aptoryāma; these seven are the soma-saṃsthās (Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 32).
In the vyūha-nyāsa which Nārada teaches, the seven forms of the yajña-ātmā (the self of the yajña) are named: agnishṭoma, uktha, shoḍaśī, vājapeya, atirātra and aptoryāma; the print gives only six names (Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 25). In the Bhadra maṇḍala, the seven soma rites, from the Agnishṭoma through the Atirātra to the Aptoryāma, are worshipped on the twenty-four-petalled lotus of the third enclosure, after Maharloka, Janaloka, Tapoloka and Satyaloka (Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 30).
Among the Vedic mantras of the sandhyā, the ṛk “Ud u tyaṃ jātavedasam”, whose ṛshi is Praskaṇva, chandas gāyatrī and devatā Sūrya, is used in the Atirātra and the Agnishṭoma (Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 215).
Related terms: Agnishṭoma · Soma-saṃsthā · Vājapeya · Yajña · Kratu
Other meanings
Atirātra has more than one meaning in the Purāṇas and Itihāsas. Besides the meaning above, it names those listed here, each with where it is told.
- Atirātra, son of Cākshusha Manu: Atirātra is one of the sons of Cākshusha Manu by Naḍvalā. Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 18
Sources
- Agni Purāṇa, Chapters 18, 25, 30, 32, 215