what things required to do ashvamedha yajna?
Answers
The Ashvamedha could only be conducted by a powerful victorious king . Its object was the acquisition of power and glory, the sovereignty over neighbouring provinces, seeking progeny and general prosperity of the kingdom
It is a one-year long Yajna! One year! For this whole year, the Yajamaana and his wife (note that without a wife, the Yajna is not allowed to happen, and unmarried people are not allowed to perform any Yajna) must stay in Mauna for the whole year, and a group of 500 Ritviks must gather to perform it. the Praagvamsha (main stage of the Yajna, thus named because it is made up of bamboo and the tips of the bamboo slats on the roof point east) must be built in grand scale, and Shyenachit (a specific type of Vedi, platform, shaped like a flying eagle) is specifically required. The number of bricks to be used can also be found in the Ashvamedha portion of the Yajurveda as well as the Shatapatha-Braahmana. These bricks are laid in a special social ceremony where the 500 Ritviks wear deerskin slippers and treat the bricks as the sacred forms of Agni and lay them into the Shyanachit. 21 Yupastambhas (pillars to which numerous animals are tied and released at the end of the Yajna) are built as well. Yupastambhas are divided into three segments:- the base third is a square, the next third is an octagonal center, and the final third is a circular segment. This was adorned with bronze and gold-leaf rings as well as fine cloth and flowers. 21 of these would surround the Vedi and were very attractive to the eye.
The Yajna starts with the releasing of the Ashva, the horse. The horse is a very great symbol in the Vedas. All the gods are called Ashva (‘Indro vaa esha ashvah’, ‘Somo vaa Ashvah’, ‘Ashvinau hi ashvau’, ‘Varuno vaa esha ashvah’, etc.). The reason for this is that the horse was the fastest moving animal at the time and arguably the fastest thing in the vicinity of man (yes, deer and tigers were there, but this was domesticated). This served as the symbol of time. Time, Kaala, is always running forward without stopping like a proud stallion galloping off to the horizon. The symbolism of the Ashva as Kaala and the Universe itself appears in the Upanishads as well. Surya and Soma are its eyes, the sky is its skin, the seas its blood, the trees its hairs, Ahas (day), Raatri (night), and the two Sandhyaas are its four feet, the DishaH (directions) are its ears, the Maruts and Vaayu are its nostrils, and the mountains its ribs, etc. etc. Therefore, the horse is a Vedic metaphor which appears again and again in the symbolism of time. This also the reason why Surya, Aaditya is featured as a horse, as is Agni, who relentlessly sends all beings into oblivion and stands as Kaala.
This great symbol, the Ashva, is the base for the Ashvamedha, which by itself, is a grand oblation to Time, which is the ultimate truth of this world. Never ending and never having begun, for measuring those itself is Kaala, Kaala is the cause and the end of everything that is born and will die. That is the great Tattva behind the Ashvamedha.
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