Yajñabhāga
Yajñabhāga · yajña-bhāga, “the share of the yajña”
Yajña has other meanings too: see all meanings of Yajña.
Grammar: masculine noun; a compound of yajña (the sacred rite of offering) and bhāga (share, portion): “the share of the yajña”.
Meaning: the portion of the offerings (havis) of a yajña that is due to each devatā, given into the fire with mantras. To be yajña-bhāga-bhoktā, an enjoyer of the yajñabhāga, is the right the Veda gives the devatās.
In the scriptures: the word belongs to the account of Bali‘s yajña. When Bhagavān Vishṇu set out as Vāmana for the aśvamedha of the daitya king Bali, the earth shook, and though the brāhmaṇas offered well with Ṛk and Sāma mantras, the yajña fires would not accept the havis portions. Bali asked his guru Śukrācārya the cause, and Śukrācārya told him: “The Vedas have forbidden the asuras to be enjoyers of the yajñabhāga. By the authority of the śruti the devatās, who are worthy of the yajña portions, have been set aside in this yajña of yours. Seeing that, against the Veda, the devatās are not given their portions, and that the havis is given to the daityas instead, Śrī Hari is coming” (Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapter 64).
In the Saro Māhātmya, Śukrācārya gives Bali this counsel: “Daityarāja! According to the Vedas, the right to eat the yajñabhāga belonged to those endowed with sattva-guṇa. But you, by your power and ability, won it for the rākshasas also.” By the power of Vāmana’s presence, he said, the rākshasas had lost their fitness for yajña, and so the fires did not accept the havis they offered (Vāmana Purāṇa, Saro Māhātmya, Chapter 10).
When Bali had given Vāmana the three steps and had been sent to Sutala, Bhagavān Vishṇu took Yajña with him and went, surrounded by the devas, to the city of Indra. He gave Indra back Trivishṭapa (svarga) and restored to the devas their yajña portions; then, while Indra and the others watched, he withdrew from sight (Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapter 65).
Related terms: Yajña · Havis · Devatā · Aśvamedha · Trivishṭapa
Sources
- Vāmana Purāṇa, Chapters 64–65
- Vāmana Purāṇa, Saro Māhātmya, Chapter 10