Āptoryāma
Āptoryāma · āptor-yāma, “a soma-yāga”
Atirātra has other meanings too: see all meanings of Atirātra.
Grammar: masculine noun; the name of a Vaidika soma-yāga.
Meaning: one of the seven kinds of soma-yāga (the great Vaidika yajñas in which soma is offered), named with Agnishṭoma, Atyagnishṭoma, Uktha, Shoḍaśī, Vājapeya and Atirātra.
In the scriptures: the Bhāgavata Purāṇa names the Āptoryāma three times, each time with the other great yajñas.
From the faces of Brahmā. Maitreya tells Vidura that Brahmā created the yāgas two from each of his four faces: from the eastern face Shoḍaśī and Uktha, from the southern Agnicayana and Agnishṭoma, from the western Āptoryāma and Atirātra, and from the northern Gosava and Vājapeya (Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 3, Chapter 12).
The body of Bhagavān Varāha. When Bhagavān Varāha lifted the earth from the waters, Brahmā and the brahmavādī munis praised his form as the yajña itself, limb by limb. “The soma juice is your seed; the three savanas are your states; and the seven kinds of soma-yāga, agnishṭoma, atyagnishṭoma, uktha, shoḍaśī, vājapeya, atirātra and āptoryāma, are your seven dhātus, skin, flesh, marrow and the rest; all the satra-yāgas are the joints of your body” (Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 3, Chapter 13).
The seven yajñas. Hiraṇyakaśipu, praising Brahmā before asking his varas, said: “The Veda sets forth the yajñas performed by the four ṛtviks, Hotā, Udgātā, Adhvaryu and Brahmā. With that Veda as your body you spread out the seven yajñas: Agnishṭoma, Atyagnishṭoma, Ukthya, Shoḍaśī, Vājapeya, Āptoryāma and Atirātra” (Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 7, Chapter 3).
In the Bhavishya Purāṇa: the Brahma Parva names the Āptoryāma as the seventh of the seven Soma-yajñas, after Agnishṭoma, Atyagnishṭoma, Ukthya, Shoḍaśī, Vājapeya and Atirātra, in the forty-eight saṃskāras by which a brāhmaṇa gains brahmatva (Brahma Parva, Chapter 2).
Related terms: Soma-yāga · Agnishṭoma · Atirātra · Vājapeya · Shoḍaśī · Yajña
Sources
- Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 3, Chapters 12–13; Skandha 7, Chapter 3
- Bhavishya Purāṇa, Brahma Parva, Chapter 2