Bra ̄hman.a style texts, mythology explains (details of) and refers to ritual activ-
ity in mythological narratives. A deep connection was felt by the composers of
the texts (K. Hoffmann 1975/6: 516–22, 422–38, Sieg 1902, Schmidt 1968a,
Falk 1984, Heesterman 1985, Jamison 1991, Witzel 1986b, 1992, 1998).
Indeed, most of the R.gvedic hymns relate to early Vedic ritual. Though the RV
does not contain any direct description, various allusions and mentioning of its
features in this highly poetical text can be used to establish a fairly consistent
description (for its interpretation, see below). However, relatively little system-
atic work had been done on assembling the details of R.gvedic praxis (but, now
Proferes 1999, Schmidt 1973, Witzel 1981/2). Except for a brief discussion of
the RV Soma ritual (Geldner 1951), scholars had taken the clear descriptions of
the S ́rauta ritual as their starting points (van Buitenen 1968: Pravargya; Gonda
1980b: Sautra ̄man.ı ̄; Hillebrandt 1897: 11–17, Keith 1925: 252–6). However,
Schmidt (1973) shows that the sacrificial animal was tied to the offering pole
and decapitated, while in the “classical” ritual the animal was still tied to the
pole but then suffocated outside the sacrificial ground. Similar developments,
also in the assembly of the texts to be recited, are shown by Proferes (1999).
The most important RV ritual is that of the preparation, offering, and con-
sumption of the sacred drink, Soma, dealt with at length in RV 9. It was pre-
pared from an unknown plant (probably Ephedra) growing in the high
mountains of the Pamirs (Mt. Muzh, Mu ̄javant), eastern Iran, and the western
Himalayas. This plant was soon substituted as the R.gvedic civilization expanded
eastwards into the Indus and Gangetic plains. Soma seems to be a substitute for
the earlier Indo-European sacred drink, made from fermented honey (mead). It
most probably was taken over, by both the Indo-Aryans and the Iranians, from
the local population of the Bactria/Margiana area who seem to have called it by
the non-Indo-Iranian word am ̆
.
ss ́u. Its antiquity is indeed underlined by the
Zoroastrian tradition, where it appears as the important haomaritual.
Other important rituals include the kindling and worship of fire which must
be present in all rituals. It is identified with the fire in the sun, as can be seen
most clearly in the post-R.gvedic Agnihotra ritual and also in the oldest Zoroas-
trian ritual (Yasna HaptaNha ̄iti). Many such features, including some of the
names of various (usually seven) priests, such as that of the Hotar (ZaraJusˇtra
himself was a Zaotar), go back to the Indo-Iranian period. Other rituals, such as
the Indo-European horse sacrifice (Puhvel 1987) or some equally old domestic
rites of passage (death and marriage), are only sparsely attested in the RV.
Several of the R.gvedic rituals, just as some of its S ́rauta successors, are con-
cerned with the liminal periods in the yearly progression of time (daily, fort-
nightly, seasonal, and yearly); they are the “rites of passage” of the year. Kuiper
stresses that “the oldest nucleus of the R.gveda was a textbook for the new year
ritual” (1960: 222); Schmidt (1968a) connects the morning pressing of the
Soma ritual with the Vala myth and with the New Year/spring season and sug-
gests a connection of the midday pressing with the Vr.tra myth and the rainy
reason; H. Falk additionally underlines the spring time “coming of the waters”
in an Arachosian context (1997).
74 michael witzel