Vājapeya

Vājapeya · vāja-peya, “the drink of strength”

Atirātra has other meanings too: see all meanings of Atirātra.

Grammar: masculine noun; a compound of vāja (strength, food) and peya (a drink): “the drink of strength”.

Meaning: a great Vedic yajña of the soma rites, one of the seven soma-saṃsthās. In the Agni Purāṇa its phala (fruit) is the measure of the merit of many holy acts.

In the scriptures: among the forty-eight saṃskāras which Agnideva lists, the soma-saṃsthās are the twenty-ninth to the thirty-fifth: the Agnishṭoma, “the best among yajñas”, the Atyagnishṭoma, the Ukthya, the Shoḍaśī, the Vājapeya, the Atirātra and the Aptoryāma. The Vājapeya is the thirty-third (Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 32). Pushkara gives the same saṃskāras in his teaching on the śrauta and smārta dharmas, where the soma-saṃsthās are printed as Atyagnishṭoma, Ukthya, Shoḍaśī, Vājapeya, Atirātra and Aptoryāma (Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 166).

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 to the Aptoryāma, with the Vājapeya among them, are worshipped on the twenty-four-petalled lotus of the third enclosure, after Maharloka, Janaloka, Tapoloka and Satyaloka (Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 30).

The acts that give its fruit. The Agni Purāṇa names these:

  • At Gayā, on the third day of the pilgrimage, after bathing in Brahmasarovara and offering tarpaṇa and piṇḍa for the pitṛs, one who desires the fruit of the Vājapeya yajña should do pradakshiṇa of the yūpa (the yajña post) set up by Brahmā (Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 115).
  • In the rules of dāna, one who makes vidyā-dāna (the gift of knowledge) gains in full the fruit of giving, according to rule, a thousand Vājapeyas: “there is no doubt at all” (Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 211).
  • In the glory of the Agni Purāṇa, one who hears this Purāṇa in Grīshma (summer), after doing pūjā to the book with sandal paste and flowers, gains the fruit of the Vājapeya (Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 383).

Related terms: Agnishṭoma · Atirātra · Soma · Yajña · Kratu · Yūpa

Sources

  • Agni Purāṇa, Chapters 25, 30, 32, 115, 166, 211, 383