a-sutras; but it is
just by the speculative discussions of the Brahmanas--the mystic
significance and symbolical colouring with which they invest single
rites--that we gain a real insight into the nature and gradual
development of this truly stupendous system of ritual worship.

The sacrificial ritual recognizes two kinds of _srauta_ sacrifices, viz.
_haviryajnas_ (meat-offerings), consisting of oblations (_ishti_) of
milk, butter, cereals or flesh, and _somayagas_ or oblations of the
juice of the soma plant. The setting up, by a householder, of a set of
three sacrificial fires of his own constitutes the first ceremony of the
former class, the _Agny-adhana_ (or (?) _Agny-adheya_). The first of the
three fires laid down is the _garhapatya_, or householder's fire, so
called because, though not taken from his ordinary house-fire, but as a
rule specially produced by friction, it serves for cooking the
sacrificial food, and thus, as it were, represents the domestic fire.
From it the other two fires, the _anavaniya_, or offering fire, and the
_dakshinagni_, or southern fire, used for certain special purposes, are
taken. The principal other ceremonies of this class are the new and full
moon offerings, the oblations made at the commencement of the three
seasons, the offering of first-fruits, the animal sacrifice, and the
_Agnihotra_, or daily morning and evening oblation of milk, which,
however, is also included amongst the _grihya_, or domestic rites, as
having to be performed daily on the domestic fire by the householder who
keeps no regular set of sacrificial fires.

Of a far more complicated nature than these offerings are the
Soma-sacrifices, which, besides the simpler ceremonies of this class,
such as the _Agnishtoma_ or "Praise of Agni," also include great state
functions, such as the _Rajasuya_ or consecration of a king, and the
_Asvamedha_ or horse-sacrifice, which, in addition to the sacrificial
rites, have a considerable amount of extraneous, often highly
interesting, ceremonial connected with them, which makes them seem to
partake largely of the nature of public festivals. Whilst the oblations
of Soma-juice, made thrice on each offering-day, amidst chants and
recitations, constitute the central rites of those services, their
ritual also requires numerous single oblations of the _ishti_ kind,
including at least three animal offerings, and in some cases the
immolation of many hecatombs of victims. Moreover, a necessa