Aśvamedha

The Aśvamedha is the greatest of the royal yajñas (fire offerings). It is often called the horse yajña. A great king performed it to show that his rule extended everywhere, to wash away serious pāpa (wrongdoing), especially brahmahatyā (the killing of a brāhmaṇa), and to make his kingdom holy and righteous.

In the Pātāla Khaṇḍa of the Padma Mahā Purāṇa, the Aśvamedha is described as Bhagavān Śrī Rāma performed it after returning from Laṅkā. He did it on the advice of Agastya Maharṣi, to atone for the brahmahatyā that came from killing Rāvaṇa. Rāvaṇa was a rākṣasa, but he had been born in a family of brāhmaṇas. The Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa also tells of an Aśvamedha performed by King Daśaratha, and the Ānanda Rāmāyaṇa gives its own separate account of Rāma’s Aśvamedha.

Its Purpose

The Aśvamedha destroys all the pāpa one has gathered, even the gravest mahāpātaka (great wrong) of brahmahatyā. Agastya told Rāma:

“He who performs a horse yajña overcomes all that pāpa.”

Great kings and ṛṣis of the past performed this yajña and reached the highest realm: Dilīpa, Indra (who performed a hundred aśvamedhas), Manu, Sagara, Marutta and Yayāti. The phala (fruit) of the yajña goes beyond the one who performs it and purifies the people of the whole kingdom.

The Marks of the Horse

Agastya described the ideal horse for the yajña very exactly:

  • A body the colour of the water of the Gaṅgā (white)
  • Dark ears
  • A red face
  • A yellow tail
  • Auspicious marks on the body
  • The speed of the mind
  • Like Uccaiḥśravas, the divine horse of Indra
  • Able to go anywhere

Such a horse was found in Rāma’s own stable.

Preparing and Releasing the Horse

On the full-moon day of Vaiśākha, pūjā was offered to the horse and a golden inscription was tied to his forehead. The inscription named the one performing the yajña and his power, gave the purpose of the yajña, and challenged every warrior on earth to seize the horse and face its protector in battle. Vasiṣṭha wrote this inscription and released the horse with this blessing:

“O horse, roam playfully over the whole earth. Since you are set free for the yajña, come back quickly.”

Rāma’s Vow

For the two years while the horse wandered, Rāma, as the one performing the yajña, kept strict disciplines:

  • Celibacy (the brahmacarya vow)
  • Sleeping on the ground
  • Wearing deer-skin and carrying a deer-horn and a staff
  • Being initiated with a golden image of his wife beside him, since Sītā was not present
  • Giving wealth without pause to the poor, the blind and the helpless, as the rules require

The Arrangement of the Yajña

Vasiṣṭha was the chief ṛtvik (officiating priest) and oversaw the building of the yajña hall, which had eight gates. Famous ṛṣis were placed at the gates:

  • Eastern gate: Devala and Asita
  • Southern gate: Kaśyapa and Atri
  • Western gate: Jātūkarṇya and Jābāli
  • Northern gate: Dvita and Ekata

The main roles were: Vasiṣṭha as chief guide, Agastya as the Brahmā priest, Vālmīki as the Adhvaryu priest, and Kaṇva as the doorkeeper. Married women honoured the horse with turmeric, sacred rice, sandal paste and incense, and the courtesans offered him good wishes.

The Protector and Rāma’s Instructions

Bhagavān Rāma made Śatrughna the rakṣaka (protector) of the horse, with Puṣkala (Bharata’s son) guarding the rear and Hanumān as adviser on strategy. Rāma’s instructions to Śatrughna set out the dharma of a kṣatriya (warrior) in battle:

  • Do not kill those who are asleep, fleeing, unarmed, afraid or who have surrendered
  • Bow to cows, brāhmaṇas and devotees of Viṣṇu wherever you meet them
  • Have no desire for the wealth or the wives of others
  • Regard the devotees of Viṣṇu as Viṣṇu’s own forms

The Horse’s Journey and the Battles

Guarded by Śatrughna’s great army, the horse wandered over the whole earth. Wherever it went, kings had either to accept Rāma’s rule or to seize the horse and fight. The horse’s journey across the land led to many meetings with kings, ṛṣis and divine beings, and each one showed how far Rāma’s righteous rule reached.

Among the kings who seized the horse, out of pride or out of devotion, were Rukmāṅgada, son of King Vīramaṇi of Devapura, and Suratha, king of Kuṇḍala, who seized it out of pure love, so that he might have Rāma’s darśana (sight of the holy one). At last Lava, Rāma’s own son, seized the horse near Vālmīki’s āśrama. This led to the most dramatic part of the whole yajña.

How the Yajña Ended

The Aśvamedha ended with Rāma recognising his sons Kuśa and Lava on the battlefield. Vālmīki brought Sītā to Ayodhyā and declared her purity before everyone, and Varuṇa bore witness to Sītā’s supreme divine glory. So the yajña achieved its purpose of prāyaścitta (atonement). It also brought the family together again and led to the first performance of the whole Rāmāyaṇa in front of Rāma himself.

Daśaratha’s Aśvamedha in the Bāla Kāṇḍa

The Bāla Kāṇḍa of the Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa records an Aśvamedha performed by Daśaratha before the Putrakāmeṣṭi (the yajña for gaining sons), as part of his long effort to have children. Ṛśyaśṛṅga, the great brahmarṣi, was brought to Ayodhyā through King Romapāda’s arrangement. He performed first the Aśvamedha and then the Putrakāmeṣṭi yajña for Daśaratha.

The Bāla Kāṇḍa says that the yajña ground was prepared on the northern bank of the Sarayū river. The great ṛṣi Vasiṣṭha and other purohitas (family priests) took part in the grand yajña. All the devas attended unseen, and kings and ṛṣis from across the land came as guests. The Aśvamedha showed Daśaratha’s rule over all and opened the way for the Putrakāmeṣṭi. From that yajña came the divine pāyasa (sweet rice), and from it the four sons were born.

Rāma’s Aśvamedha in the Ānanda Rāmāyaṇa

The Yāga Kāṇḍa of the Ānanda Rāmāyaṇa gives its own separate account of Rāma’s Aśvamedha.

Why it was done: In the Ānanda Rāmāyaṇa, the yajña is performed because Kumbhodara Muni had earlier challenged Rāma for not having performed it. So the yajña follows Kumbhodara’s urging, just as Rāma’s pilgrimage to the tīrthas did.

The horse: The horse is Śyāmakarṇa, white in body with black ears, feet and tail.

The priests: Brahmā himself served as the Brahmā ṛtvik. Śakti, the son of Vasiṣṭha, was the Adhvaryu. Viśvāmitra was the Ṛgveda ṛtvik. Śatānanda, Janaka’s guru, was the Udgātā. Yama served as Śamitā.

Kāmadhenu’s central role: Kāmadhenu, the wish-granting cow, looked after the feeding for the whole yajña. She fed every guest, from the priests down to the lowest servants, and their numbers equalled the grains of sand, the drops of water and the stars put together.

Śyāmakarṇa’s route: The horse’s journey covered all four directions in careful geographical detail, naming kingdoms, rivers and holy places across the whole Indian subcontinent and beyond.

The final bath and Rāma’s declarations: The Ānanda Rāmāyaṇa account centres on the avabhṛtha snāna (the closing holy bath) on Rāma Navamī at Rāma-tīrtha. There Rāma made declarations: Caitra is the first month, Ayodhyā the highest city, the Sarayū the foremost river, and Rāma-tīrtha the highest of all tīrthas.

Ten Aśvamedhas: The Ānanda Rāmāyaṇa notes briefly that Rāma performed ten Aśvamedha yajñas over twenty years, and that on the tenth, Vasiṣṭha gave all four directions to the priests.

Sources

  • Padma Mahā Purāṇa, Pātāla Khaṇḍa, Chapters 8–66
  • Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa, Bāla Kāṇḍa, Chapters 12–15
  • Ānanda Rāmāyaṇa, Yāga Kāṇḍa (Book 3), Sargas 1–9