Agnihotra
अग्निहोत्र
Daily fire-rituals enjoined upon every Vedic householder regardless of season or aim — performance is itself the dharma.
Category
Nitya (daily obligation)
Duration
daily (twice — sunrise and sunset)
Priests required
1 ritvik
Purpose
The simplest and most fundamental nitya yajna — a twice-daily offering into the household fire performed at the precise junctions of sunrise and sunset. It is enjoined upon every Vedic householder as the elemental act of householder dharma, sustaining the link between the domestic hearth and the cosmic order.
Deities invoked
- • Agni
- • Surya
- • Prajapati
Mantra source
Shukla Yajurveda 3.1–3.10, Shatapatha Brahmana 2.3.1, Taittiriya Brahmana 2.1
Material offerings
- • Cow milk
- • Ghee
- • Rice grains
- • A few drops of curd
- • A small piece of dry cow-dung as fuel
Items listed are those prescribed in the Shrauta texts. This page does not provide procedural instruction.
Modern status
Actively performed in living tradition
Practiced today by Smarta and Shrauta lineages — particularly in the Kanchi, Sringeri, and Nambudiri traditions — and adopted by several modern revival movements as a daily home discipline.
Historical significance
Agnihotra is the oldest continuously performed Vedic ritual, attested in the Rigveda and codified in the Shukla and Krishna Yajurveda Samhitas; it formed the daily structural backbone of brahmanical householder life from the late Vedic period onward.