Purushamedha
Encyclopedia
Purushamedha is a Vedic
Historical Vedic religion
The religion of the Vedic period is a historical predecessor of Hinduism. Its liturgy is reflected in the mantra portion of the four Vedas, which are compiled in Sanskrit. The religious practices centered on a clergy administering rites...

 yajna
Yajna
In Hinduism, yajna is a ritual of sacrifice derived from the practice of Vedic times. It is performed to please the gods or to attain certain wishes...

 (ritual) described in the Yajurveda
Yajurveda
The Yajurveda, a tatpurusha compound of "sacrificial formula', + ) is the third of the four canonical texts of Hinduism, the Vedas. By some, it is estimated to have been composed between 1400 and 1000 BC, the Yajurveda 'Samhita', or 'compilation', contains the liturgy needed to perform the...

 (VS 30–31). The verse describes people from all classes and of all descriptions tied to the stake and offered to Prajapati
Prajapati
In Hinduism, Prajapati "lord of creatures" is a Hindu deity presiding over procreation, and protector of life. He appears as a creator deity or supreme God Viswakarma Vedic deities in RV 10 and in Brahmana literature...

.

The Purusha Sukta
Purusha sukta
Purusha sukta is hymn 10.90 of the Rigveda, dedicated to the Purusha, the "Cosmic Being". One version of the Suktam has 16 verses, 15 in the meter, and the final one in the meter...

 describes the process of creation of matter from the cosmic Purusha (universal spirit) which is shown as a human-like entity. The Purusha Medha is an enactment of the sacrifice of Purusha that leads to creation.

The ritual in many aspects resembles that of the Ashvamedha
Ashvamedha
The Ashvamedha was one of the most important royal rituals of Vedic religion, described in detail in the Yajurveda...

 (horse sacrifice), with, according to Griffith (1899)

man, the noblest victim, being actually or symbolically sacrificed instead of the Horse, and men and women of various tribes, figures, complexions, characters, and professions being attached to the sacrificial stakes in place of the tame and wild animals enumerated in Book XXIV [VS 24]. These nominal victims were afterwards released uninjured, and, so far as the text of the White Yajurveda goes, the whole ceremony was merely emblematical.

The Vedic Sacrifice

The Shatapatha Brahmana
Shatapatha Brahmana
The Shatapatha Brahmana is one of the prose texts describing the Vedic ritual, associated with the Shukla Yajurveda. It survives in two recensions, Madhyandina and Kanva , with the former having the eponymous 100 adhyayas,7624 kandikas in 14 books, and the latter 104 adhyayas,6806 kandikas in 17...

 is a prose text associated with the White Yajur Veda that provides detailed descriptions of Vedic rituals. In its description of the Purushamedha, the text clearly states that the victims are supposed to be released unharmed:
Then a voice said to him, 'Purusha, do not consummate (these human victims): if thou wert to consummate them, man (purusha) would eat man.' Accordingly, as soon as fire had been carried round them, he set them free, and offered oblations to the same divinities
. Yet there are Vedic texts that contain instructions on how such rituals are to be performed. The texts are not consistent on this point. However archeological evidence of human skulls and other human bones at the site of fire altars suggests that humans may have been used in sacrifices.

During the Vedic Period

The injunction in the Shatapatha Brahmana to release the victims is another reason why scholars have speculated that the Purushamedha originally involved actual killing of humans. Alfred Hillebrandt
Alfred Hillebrandt
Alfred Hillebrandt was a German Sanskrit scholar.-Biography:He studied at Breslau and Munich, and became professor in the former university. His specialty was Vedic mythology. Varuna und Mitra was a prologue to his great work Vedische Mythologie...

, writing in 1897, claimed that the yajna involved real human sacrifices, which were suppressed over time. Albrecht Weber
Albrecht Weber
Albrecht Friedrich Weber was a German Indologist and historian.He was born in Breslau, where his father was a Professor of Political Economy. He studied in that town, Bonn, and in Berlin, 1842-1845, busying himself especially with literature and Sanskrit archaeology. He received a doctor's degree...

, writing in 1864, came to a similar conclusion. Julius Eggeling
Julius Eggeling
Hans Julius Eggeling was Professor of Sanskrit at the University of Edinburgh from 1875 to 1914, second holder of its Regius Chair of Sanskrit, and Secretary of the Royal Asiatic Society, London....

, writing in 1900, could not imagine that actual human sacrifices occurred. Hermann Oldenberg
Hermann Oldenberg
Hermann Oldenberg was a German scholar of Indology, and Professor at Kiel and Göttingen .His 1881 study on Buddhism, entitled Buddha: Sein Leben, seine Lehre, seine Gemeinde, based on Pāli texts, popularized Buddhism and have remained continuously in print since their first publication. With T. W...

, writing in 1917, claimed that the Purushamedha was simply a priestly fantasy, but that sacrifices may have occurred nonetheless. Willibald Kirfel
Willibald Kirfel
Willibald Kirfel was a German Indologist. He is known for his scholarly work on Indian cosmography, medicine and religion.-Works:* Die Kosmographie der Inder, nach den Quellen dargestellt * Die Religion der Jaina's...

, writing in 1951, claimed that an early form of Purushamedha must have preceded the Ashvamedha. According to Jan Houben, the actual occurrence of human sacrifice would be difficult to prove, since the relevant pieces of evidence would be small in number. However, in a late Vedic Brahmana text, the Vadhula Anvakhyana 4.108 (ed. Caland, Acta Orientalia 6, p.229) actual human sacrifice and even ritual anthropophagy is attested: "one formerly indeed offered a man as victim for Prajāpati", for example Karṇājāya. "Dhārtakratava Jātūkarṇi did not wish to eat of the ida portion of the offered person; the gods therefore exchanged man as a sacrificial animal with a horse." References to anthropophagy are also found in Taittiriya 7.2.10 and Katha Samhita 34.11.

The Rise of Sramanic Religions

According to Jan Houben, the early Vedic period was followed by a period of embarrassment about violence in rituals. This period corresponds to the rise of Sramanic religions such as Buddhism and Jainism, both of which place emphasis on non-violence (ahimsa). This period also corresponds to the composition of the Shatapatha Brahmana
Shatapatha Brahmana
The Shatapatha Brahmana is one of the prose texts describing the Vedic ritual, associated with the Shukla Yajurveda. It survives in two recensions, Madhyandina and Kanva , with the former having the eponymous 100 adhyayas,7624 kandikas in 14 books, and the latter 104 adhyayas,6806 kandikas in 17...

, which states that the victims of a Purushamedha are supposed to be released, and the composition of the Chandogya Upanishad
Chandogya Upanishad
The Chandogya Upanishad is one of the "primary" Upanishads. Together with the Jaiminiya Upanishad Brahmana and the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad it ranks among the oldest Upanishads, dating to the Vedic Brahmana period....

, which lists non-violence as a virtue.

The Mimamsa Movement

According to Jan Houben, the Sramanic period was followed by another period where Vedic ritualists tried to defend their actions against Buddhist and Jain criticism. This period corresponds to the rise of the Mimamsa school of philosophy, which claimed that the Vedas were the sole authority regarding matters of dharma. This movement culminated in the 7th century CE with the writings of Kumarila Bhatta and Prabhakara.

The Medieval Period

By the 10th century, the Purushamedha was included in lists of Kali-varjyas, or actions which were prohibited for the Kali Yuga
Kali Yuga
Kali Yuga is the last of the four stages that the world goes through as part of the cycle of yugas described in the Indian scriptures. The other ages are Satya Yuga, Treta Yuga and Dvapara Yuga...

. This indicates that human sacrifice had become obsolete by the time the texts were composed. However, it also indicates that the Purushamedha was a real sacrifice, since there would have been no reason to include it in the list of Kali-varjyas if it were a purely symbolic ceremony.

Performance in Hindu Epics

The Aitareya Brahmana tells the story of a sacrifice carried out by King Harischandra. The childless king asked Varuna
Varuna
In Vedic religion, Varuna is a god of the sky, of water and of the celestial ocean, as well as a god of law and of the underworld...

 to provide him with a son, and in return, Varuna asks him to sacrifice the child to him. Harischandra delays the performance of the sacrifice and allows his son, named Rohita, to grow older. Eventually, Rohita wanders into the forest to find a substitute for himself. He comes across a poor Brahmin named Ajigarta, who sells his son Sunahsepa to him. Sunahsepa is bound to the stake, but he frees himself by reciting some mantras that were taught to him by Vishvamitra. This story is reproduced in the Bhagavata Purana.

In Vedanta And The Puranas

Human sacrifice and cannibalism are explicitly condemned in the Bhagavata Purana
Bhagavata purana
The Bhāgavata Purāṇa is one of the "Maha" Puranic texts of Hindu literature, with its primary focus on bhakti to the incarnations of Vishnu, particularly Krishna...

 (5.26.31). The Chandogya Upanishad (3.16) states that the Purushamedha is actually a metaphor for life itself, and it compares the various stages of life to the oblations that are offered.
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