Kanda 5
Sautramani & Supplementary Rites
Supplementary sacrificial rites including the Sautramani, Varunapraghasa, and other seasonal offerings.
Prapathakas in Kanda 5
Prapathaka 1
Agnicayana (Śrauta) — the Soma-sacrifice expansion into the construction and consecration of the fire-altar (citi), especially the preliminary consecratory and ordering acts that establish the ritual space, fires, and the sacrificer’s sacral status for the altar-building sequence.
Kṛṣṇa Yajurveda, Kāṇḍa 5 Prapāṭhaka 1 inaugurates the Agnicayana complex by shifting from general Soma-sacrificial procedure to the specialized technology of altar-construction (citi) and its sacral prerequisites. The chapter frames the altar not as masonry alone but as a ritually generated body of Agni and a cosmogram in which meters, seasons, directions, and social/ritual roles are coordinated. Its mantras and prose formulae articulate (i) the establishment of controlled ritual space, (ii) the stabilization of fires and officiants, and (iii) the symbolic mapping of cosmic strata onto the forthcoming layers of the altar. The text’s characteristic Black-Yajurvedic style—interleaving yajus with brāhmaṇa-like explanations—emphasizes efficacy through correct sequencing, substitutions, and identifications (bandhu). Prapāṭhaka 5.1 thus functions as a programmatic threshold: it authorizes the transition into citi-operations by ritually ‘making ready’ Agni, the sacrificer, and the arena in which the altar will be generated as a microcosmic replication of the world-order.
Prapathaka 4
Agnicayana (construction and consecration of the fire-altar) within the Śrauta Soma-sacrifice complex—especially the preparatory and altar-related rites (selection/handling of materials, establishment of fires, and mantra-accompanied placements) that integrate the altar as the sacrificial body of Prajāpati.
Kṛṣṇa Yajurveda 5.4 belongs to the Śrauta stratum that systematizes Agnicayana as a ritual technology for producing a perfected sacrificial body. The chapter’s mantric prose and formulae coordinate physical operations—measuring, placing, and consecrating altar constituents—with a dense network of identifications: altar = Prajāpati, bricks = limbs, fire = breath, and the sacrificer’s prosperity = the altar’s integrity. The text exemplifies the Yajurvedic style in which action and utterance are coextensive: each placement is stabilized by a verbal ‘bandhu’ that transfers cosmic order (ṛta) into the constructed space. The chapter also reflects the pragmatic concerns of Śrauta performance—purity, correct sequence, and protection from ritual fault—while simultaneously advancing a speculative theology of regeneration: by rebuilding Agni, the sacrificer reconstitutes the world and secures continuity of lineage, cattle, and fame. Thus 5.4 functions as both manual and metaphysical charter for altar-making.