Excerpt from The Sacred Book of the East, Vol. 41: Translated by Various Oriental Scholars The first of the three Kand'as contained in the present volume continues the dogmatic discussion of the different forms of Soma-sacrifice, in connection with which two important ceremonies, the Vagapeya and Ragasfiya, are considered. From a ritualistic point of View, there is a radical difference between these two ceremonies. The Ragasuya, or 'inauguration of a king, ' strictly Speaking, is not a Soma-sacrifice, but rather a complex religious cere mony which includes, amongst other rites, the performance of a number of Soma-sacrifices of different kinds. The Vagapeya, or drink of strength' (or, perhaps, 'the race on the other hand, is recognised as one of the different forms (samstha) which a single Soma-sacrifice may take. As a matter of fact, however, this form hardly ever occurs, as most of the others constantly do, in connection with, and as a constituent element of, other ceremonies, but is almost exclusively performed as an independent sacrifice. The reason why this sacrifice has received a special treatment in the Brahmana, between the Agni shtoma and the Regasfiya, doubtless is that, unlike the other forms of Soma-sacrifice, it has some striking features of its own which stamp it, like the Ragasfiya, as a political ceremony. According to certain ritualistic authorities 1, indeed, the performance of the Vagapeya Should be arranged in much the same way as that of the Ragasuya; that is, just as the central ceremony of the Ragasuya, Viz. The Abhishekaniya or consecration, is preceded and followed by certain other Soma-days, so the Vagapeya should be preceded and followed by exactly corresponding cere monies. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.