Altar of Fire

Published on Apr 9, 2016

This film records a 12 day ritual performed by Mambudiri Brahmins in Kerala, southwest India, in April 1975. This event was possibly the last performance of the Agnicayana, a Vedic ritual of sacrifice dating back 3,000 years and probably the oldest surviving human ritual. Long considered extinct and never witnessed by outsiders, the ceremonies require the participation of seventeen priests, involve libations of Soma juice and oblations of other substances, all preceded by several months of preparation and rehearsals. They include the construction, from a thousand bricks, of a fire altar in the shape of a bird. Around 1500 B.C., nomads who spoke an Indo-European language entered India and evolved a complex ritual involving the cults of fire and Soma, a hallucinogenic plant that grew in the Western Himalayas. Their Vedic language developed into Sanskrit, the classical language of Indian civilization.

The Agnicayana Ritual in India 1975-1976

Wikipedia:

 "The Atiratra Agnicayana is the piling of the altar of Agni. It is a Śrauta ritual of the Vedic religion and is considered to be the greatest ritual as per the Vedic ritual hierarchy. It has been claimed as the world's oldest surviving ritual.


The practice of this ritual was generally discontinued among Brahmins by the late Vedic period, during the rise of Jainism and Buddhism in India. Nevertheless, a continuous, unbroken 3,000 year tradition has been claimed to exist among a few Nambudiri Brahmin families in Kerala, South India."

 

 In 1975 Indologist Frits Staal documented in great detail the performance of an Agnicayana performed by Nambudiri Brahmins according to Samaveda tradition[5] at Panjal, Kerala.[6][7] The last performance before that had been in 1956, and the Nambudiris were concerned that the ritual was threatened by extinction. It had never before been observed by outsiders. The scholars contributed towards the cost of the ritual, and the Nambudiris agreed that it should be filmed and recorded. The ritual was performed from 12 to 24 April 1975. An effigy was used to symbolize the goat sacrifice, due to overwhelming opposition by animal protection groups

The Agnicayana Ritual in India 1975-1976

Wikipedia:

 "The Atiratra Agnicayana is the piling of the altar of Agni. It is a Śrauta ritual of the Vedic religion and is considered to be the greatest ritual as per the Vedic ritual hierarchy. It has been claimed as the world's oldest surviving ritual.


The practice of this ritual was generally discontinued among Brahmins by the late Vedic period, during the rise of Jainism and Buddhism in India. Nevertheless, a continuous, unbroken 3,000 year tradition has been claimed to exist among a few Nambudiri Brahmin families in Kerala, South India."

 

 In 1975 Indologist Frits Staal documented in great detail the performance of an Agnicayana performed by Nambudiri Brahmins according to Samaveda tradition[5] at Panjal, Kerala.[6][7] The last performance before that had been in 1956, and the Nambudiris were concerned that the ritual was threatened by extinction. It had never before been observed by outsiders. The scholars contributed towards the cost of the ritual, and the Nambudiris agreed that it should be filmed and recorded. The ritual was performed from 12 to 24 April 1975. An effigy was used to symbolize the goat sacrifice, due to overwhelming opposition by animal protection groups