sume that the strong opinion expressed in Caland and
Henri's _Agnishloma_ p. 484 that the sacrifice is merely a _do ut des_
operation refers only to the earliest Vedic period and not to the time
of the Brahmanas.]

[Footnote 159: Thus both the Vedas and the Tantras devote considerable
space to rites which have for object the formation of a new body for the
sacrificer. Compare for instance the Aitareya Brahmana (I. 18-21: II.
35-38: III. 2 and VI. 27-31) with Avalon's account of Nyasa, in his
introduction to the Mahanirvana Tantra pages cvii-cxi.]

[Footnote 160: There is considerable doubt as to what was the plant
originally known as Soma. That described in the Vedas and Brahmanas is
said to grow on the mountains and to have a yellow juice of a strong
smell, fiery taste and intoxicating properties. The plants used as Haom
(Hum) by the modern Parsis of Yezd and Kerman are said to be members of
the family Asclepiadaceae (perhaps of the genus Sarcostemma) with fleshy
stalks and milky juice, and the Soma tested by Dr Haug at Poona was
probably made from another species of the same or an allied genus. He
found it extremely nasty, though it had some intoxicating effect. (See
his _Aitareya Brdh-mana_ n. p. 489.)]

[Footnote 161: An ordinary sacrifice was offered for a private person
who had to be initiated and the priests were merely officiants acting on
his behalf. In a Sattra the priests were regarded as the sacrificers and
were initiated. It had some analogy to Buddhist and Christian monastic
foundations for reading sutras and saying masses.]

[Footnote 162: The political importance of the Asvamedha lay in the fact
that the victim had to be let loose to roam freely for a year, so that
only a king whose territories were sufficiently extensive to allow of
its being followed and guarded during its wanderings could hope to
sacrifice it at the end.]

[Footnote 163: R.V. x. 136 and x. 190.]

[Footnote 164: Even the Upanishads (_e.g._ Chand. III. 17, Mahanar. 64)
admit that a good life which includes _tapas_ is the equivalent of
sacrifice. But this of course is teaching for the elect only. The
Brih.-Aran. Up. (V. ii) contains the remarkable doctrine that sickness
and pain, if regarded by the sufferer as _tapas_, bring the same
reward.]

[Footnote 165: So too in the Taittiriya Upanishad _tapas_ is described
as the means of attaining the knowledge of Brahman (III. 1-5).]

[Footnote 166: Any ritual without knowledge may be w