horse sacrifice (aśvamedha)
The immolation of the horse, whose formulary is VS 22-25: the horse addressed by every one of its names and consecrated "for the sacrifice" (VS 22.19), told to prepare its own body (VS 23.15), and finally apportioned part by part (VS 25.1, VS 25.41). The compound itself occurs once, at VS 18.22, where elision of the initial a- spells it `'śvamedhaś ca me` and is why an earlier pass recorded it as absent.
The shape of the rite
Each row is one relationship class the graph stores for this rite. An empty row states which layer is missing.
Performed by
Offerings made
Substances used
Objects used
Undertaken for
Stated order
What the Samhita text numbers in its own words. Three such steps exist in the whole corpus, all on the soma pressing.
Procedure the sutras print
A different claim from the order above, and a different source. Each work below numbers its own sequence independently, so these are located steps rather than one procedure — they do not run together.
Scope note
3 source work(s) each record their own sequence for this rite, numbered from 1 independently, so the groups do not compose into one procedure. 11 of the 11 steps listed state a position without printing the run it falls in. The evidence is Srautasutra and Grhyasutra, never a Samhita passage, and it is a different claim from `steps` -- which is why it is a different field. The cited works have no node in this graph.
SankhSS
- SankhSS 16.1.1
prajāpatir akāmayata / sarvān kāmān āpnuyāṃ sarvā vyaṣṭīr vyaśnuvīyeti / sa etaṃ trirātraṃ yajñakratum apaśyad aśvamedham / tam āharat / tenāyajata teneṣṭvā sarvān kāmān āpnot sarvā vyaṣṭīr vyaśnuta / tatho evaitad yajamāno yad aśvamedhena yajate sarvān kāmān āpnoti sarvā vyaṣṭīr vyaśnute
The source states where this step falls without printing the run it falls in.
- SankhSS 16.2.34
sarvaṃ vā aśvamedhaḥ
The source states where this step falls without printing the run it falls in.
- SankhSS 16.8.3
sarvam aśvamedhaḥ
The source states where this step falls without printing the run it falls in.
- SankhSS 16.8.14
sarvam aśvamedhaḥ
The source states where this step falls without printing the run it falls in.
- SankhSS 16.8.23
sarvam aśvamedhaḥ
The source states where this step falls without printing the run it falls in.
- SankhSS 16.9.7
pārikṣitā yajamānā aśvamedhaiḥ parovaram / ajahuḥ pāpakaṃ karma puṇyāḥ punyena karmaṇā // iti
The source states where this step falls without printing the run it falls in.
- SankhSS 16.18.10
aśvamedha ṛtvijo raśanā dhārayanto 'śvaṃ hradayoḥ saṃsyandinoḥ snāpayanti
The source states where this step falls without printing the run it falls in.
KatySS
- KatySS 20.8.18
aśvamedhapūtākhyās te
The source states where this step falls without printing the run it falls in.
- KatySS 21.1.14
sapuruṣam aśvamedhavad dakṣiṇā
The source states where this step falls without printing the run it falls in.
VaitS
- VaitS 8.3.6
aśvamedhasya vācam aṣṭāpadīm ahaṃ svādor itthā viṣūvata iti
The source states where this step falls without printing the run it falls in.
- VaitS 8.5.41
aśvamedhapuruṣamedhau sarvakāmasya
The source states where this step falls without printing the run it falls in.
Described in
12 passages carry a describes edge for this rite, against 1 that name it. Naming is weaker than describing.
What this ritual model covers
AN INVENTORY OF 103 RITES, NOT A TAXONOMY. The Ritual class holds 103 nodes against a corpus that names considerably more, so a rank in this list is a rank within 103 and says nothing about Vedic ritual as a whole. Two step layers exist and they are not interchangeable. The Samhita layer holds 3 numbered steps in the entire graph, all on the soma pressing, whose morning, midday and third libations the text itself numbers. The procedural layer holds 3,121 steps over 103 rites, read out of Srautasutras and Grhyasutras rather than Samhita passages, and 94% of them state a position without printing the run it falls in -- so a procedure list is not a complete procedure. All 80 apparatus edges are TIER_D curation, and a rite's 'purpose' is what a curator says it is for, not a purpose clause quoted from a passage.
How this rite was modelled4
AN INVENTORY OF 103 RITES, NOT A TAXONOMY. The Ritual class holds 103 nodes against a corpus that names considerably more, so a rank in this list is a rank within 103 and says nothing about Vedic ritual as a whole. Two step layers exist and they are not interchangeable. The Samhita layer holds 3 numbered steps in the entire graph, all on the soma pressing, whose morning, midday and third libations the text itself numbers. The procedural layer holds 3,121 steps over 103 rites, read out of Srautasutras and Grhyasutras rather than Samhita passages, and 94% of them state a position without printing the run it falls in -- so a procedure list is not a complete procedure. All 80 apparatus edges are TIER_D curation, and a rite's 'purpose' is what a curator says it is for, not a purpose clause quoted from a passage.
measuredComplete, and the size of the result is the finding: 3 steps, on 1 of the 8 rites. order_basis = 'SOURCE_STATED_ORDINAL' because the soma pressings are named morning, midday and third in the text itself; no other rite in this corpus states an order, and none was invented for it. Elaborate procedure is Brahmana and Sutra material, so a query about ritual dependency structure is answerable here only in this one instance, and question 39 is otherwise not answerable from the Samhitas.
ritual_step_sequenceComplete: all 8 rites and all 71 edges. Every edge is TIER_D -- the project's judgement that a passage describes a rite, not a statement the passage makes about itself -- and the volume is the honest measure of how much procedure the Samhitas carry: 71 passages out of 22,537. `examples` is capped at 6 per row and `passages` gives the true total beside it. The Yajurvedic majority in several rows is real: the YV is the liturgical collection.
rituals_described_in_passagesThe Anukramani names a 'devata' for every hymn, and 57 of the 214 are not gods: 22 human patrons and seers (Vasistha, Visvamitra, Brbu the carpenter), 7 danastuti labels naming the gift rather than a recipient ('praise of the gift of Sudas son of Pijavana'), and 28 abstractions ruled not to name an addressee, each with its reason recorded. This response excludes all 57 and KEEPS the 5 labels ruled UNDECIDED (Atma, Annam, Brahma, Rati, Saci), because an undecided label removed is a decision made by default. Ask with population=all_ascriptions to see the Anukramani's slot as it stands, with each row's ruling stated.
deity_population_contract