Kanda 3
Soma Pressing & Offering
The Soma pressing rituals, morning, midday, and evening pressings, and the offering formulas for the primary Soma sacrifice.
Prapathakas in Kanda 3
Prapathaka 1
Darśa–Pūrṇamāsa (New- and Full-Moon sacrifices) within the Śrauta iṣṭi-cycle; opening of the third kāṇḍa with preparatory and consecratory (dīkṣā/saṃskāra) elements leading into the monthly iṣṭis and their core offerings.
Kṛṣṇa Yajurveda (Taittirīya Saṃhitā) 3.1 functions as a programmatic entry into the monthly iṣṭi complex, especially the Darśa–Pūrṇamāsa cycle, by supplying the adhvaryu with tightly sequenced yajus-formulae that operationalize altar-side actions: taking and placing implements, delimiting ritual space, preparing oblations, and aligning the sacrificer with the rite’s cosmic correspondences. The chapter’s logic is characteristically Brāhmaṇa-like in its embedded exegesis: actions are not merely procedural but are construed as re-enactments of creation and social order—Agni as mouth of the gods, offerings as breath/food, and the sacrificer as a node where domestic economy is transmuted into cosmic reciprocity. The mantras emphasize correctness of measure, directionality, and purity, thereby stabilizing the transition from ordinary time to ritual time. In doing so, 3.1 establishes the semantic and performative grammar that later prapāṭhakas elaborate into specific offerings and expiations.
Prapathaka 2
Agnyādheya / Agnicayana preliminaries within the Śrauta new-fire establishment cycle (selection, preparation, and consecratory handling of the three sacred fires and their immediate ritual supports).
Kṛṣṇa Yajurveda (Taittirīya) Kāṇḍa 3, Prapāṭhaka 2 continues the Śrauta program of establishing and stabilizing the sacrificial fires, treating fire not merely as a physical combustion-site but as a ritually generated deity whose “birth” requires controlled transitions: from ordinary fuel to consecrated kindling, from domestic space to altar-space, and from human agency to divine agency. The chapter’s mantric texture repeatedly frames Agni as mediator (hotṛ/adhvaryu’s instrument), household guardian, and cosmic axis, thereby aligning micro-ritual actions—taking embers, laying kindling, anointing/encircling, and protective formulas—with macrocosmic order (ṛta). The prapāṭhaka also encodes priestly coordination: the Adhvaryu’s procedural acts are synchronized with recitations that sacralize implements, directions, and boundaries, minimizing ritual “leakage” (doṣa) and ensuring continuity of the fires. In exegetical tradition, these passages are read as establishing eligibility, purity, and permanence (dhruvatā) of the fires, anticipating later Soma and iṣṭi performances.
Prapathaka 3
Somayāga (Soma-sacrifice) — specifically the Pravargya/Upasad–preparatory complex and its integrations with the Agniṣṭoma framework (heating/handling of gharma, invocations to Aśvins/Indra, and consecratory-protective formulas that precede the main Soma pressing days).
Kṛṣṇa Yajurveda 3.3 belongs to the Soma-sacrificial continuum and is best read as a liturgical-technical unit that consolidates preparatory and protective operations leading into the pressing-day ritual. The chapter’s mantric texture foregrounds the liminal status of the sacrificer and the rite: it repeatedly negotiates purity, heat, and controlled potency—hallmarks of Pravargya/Upasad materials—while simultaneously aligning these with the broader Agniṣṭoma economy of offerings, priestly roles, and cosmic correspondences. The mantras function not merely as invocations but as performative “bindings” that stabilize the rite against error, impurity, and hostile forces, and that authorize the transition from ordinary time to sacrificial time. The chapter’s theology is characteristically Brāhmaṇa-like: deities are mapped onto ritual implements and sequences, and success is framed as the correct orchestration of speech (mantra), heat (tapas/gharma), and offering (havis) to secure vitality, cattle, and sovereignty.
Prapathaka 4
Darśa–Pūrṇamāsa (New- and Full-Moon sacrifices) within the Śrauta Agnihotra–Iṣṭi cycle; specifically the Iṣṭi-mantra and procedural layer around the principal oblations (ājyabhāgas, prayāja/anuyāja, and the main havis) and their deity-addressing formulae.
Prapāṭhaka 3.4 of the Kṛṣṇa Yajurveda (Taittirīya Saṃhitā) belongs to the Darśa–Pūrṇamāsa iṣṭi complex and articulates the liturgical grammar by which offerings are made efficacious: the sequencing of preliminary ghee-portions, the framing of the main havis with prayāja and anuyāja oblations, and the precise deity-addressing and svāhā-formulae that “bind” the rite to its cosmological referents. The chapter’s concern is not narrative but operational: it stabilizes the yajña as a reproducible procedure by specifying who is invoked, when, and with what verbal markers. In doing so it encodes a theology of mediation—Agni as carrier, Soma/Viṣṇu/Indra and allied deities as recipients, and the sacrificer as the ritual subject constituted through correct recitation. The prapāṭhaka thus exemplifies the Saṃhitā’s characteristic fusion of mantra, brāhmaṇa-style rationale, and ritual micro-technology.
Prapathaka 5
Agniṣṭoma/Soma-yāga (Śrauta Soma-sacrifice) — continuation of the Dīkṣā–Upasad–Soma preparation complex, focusing on consecratory and preparatory acts (pravargya/gharma-related and upasad-style offerings) that secure the sacrificer’s fitness and the rite’s ritual “heat” (tapas) before pressing.
Kṛṣṇa Yajurveda 3.5 belongs to the Soma-sacrifice liturgy and functions as a preparatory prapāṭhaka that consolidates the sacrificer’s consecration and the rite’s internal economy of heat, purity, and entitlement. The chapter’s mantric texture repeatedly aligns the yajamāna with Agni and Sūrya, and frames the forthcoming Soma-pressing as a controlled transformation: raw potency is ritually “cooked” into an offering fit for the gods. The sequence emphasizes boundary-making (inside/outside the vedi), the stabilization of speech and breath (vāc–prāṇa), and the ritual management of danger inherent in generating tapas (notably in pravargya/gharma idioms). The prapāṭhaka also exhibits the characteristic Kṛṣṇa Yajurveda interleaving of mantra with procedural cues, where short formulae serve as performative switches between acts. Theologically, it advances a reciprocity model: by establishing Agni’s seat and the sacrificer’s disciplined state, the gods are compelled to accept Soma and return prosperity, cattle, and longevity.