Agnihotri.[25]—A class of Brâhmans who are specially devoted to the maintenance of the sacred fire. The number of such Brâhmans now-a-days is very limited, as the ceremonies involve heavy expenditure and the rules which regulate them are very elaborate and difficult. They are seldom found among the Pancha Gaur Brâhmans, who are not devoted to the deep study of the Vedas; they are most numerous among the Pancha Drâvira or Dakshini Brâhmans. In one sense, of course, the offering of part of the food to fire at the time of eating is one of the five daily duties of a Brâhman; but the regular fire sacrifice is the special duty of the Agnihotri. In order to secure the requisite purity he is bound by certain obligations not to travel or remain away from home for any lengthened period; to sell nothing which is produced by himself or his family; not to give much attention to worldly affairs; to speak the truth; to bathe and worship the deities in the afternoon as well as in the morning; to offer pindas to his deceased ancestors on the 15th of every month before he takes food; not to eat food at night; not to eat alkaline salt (khâri nimak), honey, meat, and inferior grain, such as urad pulse or the kodo millet; not to sleep on a bed, but on the ground; to keep awake most of the night and study the Shâstras; to have no connection with, or unholy thoughts regarding, any woman except his wife; or to commit any other act involving personal impurity.
2. In the plains there are three kinds of Agnihotris: first, hereditary Agnihotris; second, those who commence maintaining the sacred fire from the time they are invested with the Brâhmanical cord; and third, those who commence to do so later on in life. The proper time to begin is the time of investiture. If any one commence it at a later age, he has to undergo certain purificatory rites, and if subsequently the maintenance of the fire is interrupted, the ceremony of purification has to be undergone again. The ceremony of purification is of the kind known as Prajâpatya vrata, which is equal to three times the krichchhra, which latter lasts for four days, and consists in eating the most simple food once in the 24 hours; to eat once at night on the second day; not to ask for food, but to take what is placed before him; to eat nothing on the fourth day. This course, carried out for twelve days, constitutes [[31]]the Prajâpatya vrata. In default of this the worshipper has to give as many cows to Brâhmans as years have passed since his investiture. In default of this he must tell the gâyatri mantra ten thousand times for every year that has passed since he was invested. Or finally, if he can do none of these, he may place in the sacrificial pit (kunda) as many thousand offerings (âhuti) of sesamum (tila) as years have passed.
3. Agnihotri Brâhmans keep in their houses a separate room, in which is the pit at which the fire sacrifice is performed, and a second pit out of which is taken fire to burn the Agnihotri himself or any of his family when they die; besides these, a third pit is maintained from which fire is taken when it is required for ordinary household work. The first is known as the havaniya kunda, the second dagdha kunda, and the third, grâhya patya. The pit is one cubit in cubic measurement. All three are of the same dimensions. Around it is a platform (vedi), twelve finger breadths in width, and made of masonry or clay. One-third of it is coloured black, and is known as tama, “darkness” or “passion”; one-third, coloured red, is rajas, or “impurity,” and one-third, white, signifying sat, or “virtue.” Sometimes the pit is made in the form of the leaf of a pîpal tree and has the mouth in the shape of the yoni. In the morning the Agnihotri should place in the pit an oblation (âhuti) of ghi: this should be the product of the cow; if this be not procurable, it may be replaced with buffalo ghi, or that of the goat, sesamum oil, curds, milk, or, in the last resort, pottage (lapsi). On certain occasions an offering of rice-milk (khîr) is allowed. Some also offer incense.
4. The sacrifice is made in this way: First of all the pit should be swept with a bundle of kusa grass, and the ashes and refuse thrown into a pure place in the house facing the north-east; next the pit is plastered with cow-dung; then three lines are drawn in the middle with a stalk of kusa grass; from these lines three pinches of dust are collected and thrown towards the north-east. The pit and altar are then sprinkled with water from a branch of kusa grass. Fire is then kindled with the arani, or sacred drill, and lighted with wood of the sandal tree, or palâsa, which are also used for replenishing the fire. After this is performed the nândi srâddha, or commemorative offering to the manes preliminary to any joyous occasion, such as initiation, marriage, etc., when nine balls (pinda) are offered in threes—three to the deceased father, his father, and [[32]]grandfather; three to the maternal grandfather, great-grandfather, and great-great-grandfather; three to the mother, paternal grandmother, and great-grandmother. Water is then filled into the sacrificial vessel (pranîta), and twenty blades of kusa grass are arranged round the altar, so that the heads of all be facing the east. All the sacrificial vessels (pâtra) are arranged north of the pit and the altar. First of all the pranîta is so placed; then three blades of kusa grass; then another sacrificial vessel called the prokshani pâtra; then the âjya or ajyasthalipâtra, which holds the offering of ghi; after these the samârjana, or brush, the sruva, or sacrificial ladle, and the pûrna pâtra, another vessel. The vessels are purified with aspersion from a bunch of kusa grass dipped in water, after which the ghi is poured on the fire out of a bell-metal cup, and, with a prayer to Prajâpati, the fire is replenished with pieces of wood soaked in ghi.
5. Certain ceremonies (sanskâra) are incumbent on Agnihotris. On the fifteenth of every Hindu month they must perform the srâddha for their deceased ancestors: on the last day of every month they must do the srâddha and fire sacrifice (homa) every day during the four months of the rainy season. They must do the homa on a large scale: they must do the srâddha on the eighth day of both the fortnights in Sâwan and Chait: they must do a great fire sacrifice in Aghan and feed Brâhmans. Whenever a man begins to perform the fire sacrifice he always starts on the Amâvas, or fifteenth day of the month. There is a special elaborate ritual when an offering of rice-milk is made, in which sacred mortars and pestles and sacred winnowing fans are used with special mantras in extracting the rice from the husk.
The Agnihotris of the Hills. 6. Of these, Pandit Janardan Datta Joshi writes:—“They originally came from Gujarât, and are worshippers of the Sâma Veda. An Agnihotri commences fire worship from the date of his marriage. The sacred fire of the marriage altar is carried in a copper vessel to his fire-pit. This fire is preserved by a continual supply of fuel, and when the Agnihotri dies this fire alone must be used for his funeral pyre. He takes food once a day only and bathes three times. He must not eat meat, masûr pulse, the baingan, or egg-plant, or other impure articles of food. He never wears shoes: he performs the fire sacrifice (homa) daily with ghi, rice, etc., and recites the mantra of the Sâma Veda. The fire-pit which I have seen was forty feet long and fifteen broad, and is known as Agni Kunda. [[33]]He has to feed one Brâhman daily before he can take his food, and he eats always in the afternoon. Generally, the eldest son alone is eligible for this office, but other sons may practise it if they choose.
7. “The method of producing fire by the arani is as follows:—The base is formed of sami wood one cubit long, one span broad and eight finger breadths deep. In the block a small hole is made four finger breadths deep, emblematical of the female principle (sakti yoni). The middle arani is a shaft eighteen inches long and four finger breadths in diameter. An iron nail, one finger breadth long, is fixed to its end as an axis or pivot. The top arani, which is a flat piece of wood, is pressed on this nail, and two priests continue to press the bottom arani and maintain them in position. The point in the drill where the rope is applied to cause it to revolve, is called deva yoni. Before working the rope the gâyatri must be repeated, and a hymn from the Sâma Veda in honour of the fire god Agni. After repeating this hymn the fire produced by the friction is placed in a copper vessel, and powdered cowdung is sprinkled over it. When it is well alight it is covered with another copper vessel, and drops of water are sprinkled over it while the gâyatri is recited three times. The sprinkling is done with kusa grass. Again a Sâma Veda hymn in honour of Agni is recited. It is then formally consigned to the fire-pit. If the Agnihotri chance to let his fire go out he must get it from the pit of another Agnihotri, or produce it by means of the arani.”
Agrahari: Agrehri.—A sub-caste of Banyas found in considerable numbers in the Allahâbâd, Benares, Gorakhpur, Lucknow, and Faizâbâd divisions. They claim partly a Vaisya and partly a Brâhmanical descent, and wear the sacred cord. Their name has been connected with the cities of Agra and Agroha. Mr. Nesfield derives it from the agara or aloe wood, which is one of the many things which they sell. There is no doubt that they are closely connected with the Agarwâlas, and Mr. Nesfield suggests that the two groups must have been “sections of one and the same caste which quarrelled on some trifling question connected with cooking or eating, and have remained separate ever since.” Mr. Sherring remarks that they, unlike the Agarwâlas, allow polygamy, and Mr. Risley[26] suggests that if this be true it may [[34]]supply an explanation of the divergence of the Agraharis from the Agarwâlas. In Mirzapur they do allow polygamy, but with this restriction, that a man cannot marry a second wife in the lifetime of the first without her consent.
Internal organisation. 2. They have a large number of exogamous groups (gotra), the names of which are known only to a few of their more learned Bhâts. In Mirzapur they name seven—Sonwân; Payagwâr or Prayâgwâl; Lakhmi; Chauhatt; Gangwâni; Sethrâê; and Ajudhyabâsi. There are also the Purbiya or Purabiya, “those of the East;” Pachhiwâha, “those of the West,” and Nariyarha. To these Mr. Sherring adds, from Benares, Uttarâha, “Northern;” Tanchara; Dâlamau from the town of Dalmau, in the Râê Bareli District; Mâhuli from the Pargana of Mâhul, in Azamgarh; Ajudhyabâsi, from Ajudhya, and Chhiânawê, from a Pargana of the name in Mirzapur. In Mirzapur they regard the town of Kantit, near Bindhâchal, as their head-quarters. The levirate is recognised, but is not compulsory on the widow.
Religion. 3. Some of them are initiated in the Sri Vaishnava sect and some are Nânakpanthis. To the east of the Province their clan deities are the Pânchonpîr and Mahâbîr, and, as a rule, the difference of worship is a bar to intermarriage. Their family priests are Sarwariya Brâhmans. The use of meat and spirits is prohibited; but a few are not abstainers, and these do not intermarry with the more orthodox families.