Soma Yajna (Agnishtoma)
सोमयज्ञ / अग्निष्टोम
Occasional rites tied to a calendrical occasion (new moon, full moon, season-change) — required when the occasion arises, not at will.
Category
Naimittika (occasional, calendar-bound)
Duration
5 (one-day pressing within a multi-day consecration)
Priests required
16 ritviks
Purpose
The model (prakriti) of all soma sacrifices — a multi-day rite culminating in the pressing of the soma stalks and the offering of soma juice into the fire along with chanted recitations from the Rigveda, Samaveda, and Yajurveda. It is the principal performance for which the elaborate Shrauta priesthood (16 ritviks) is required.
Deities invoked
- • Soma
- • Indra
- • Agni
- • Vayu
- • Mitra-Varuna
- • Ashvins
- • Brihaspati
Mantra source
Rigveda Mandala 9 (the entire Soma mandala), Samaveda Purvarchika, Krishna Yajurveda Taittiriya Samhita 6, Aitareya Brahmana 1–5
Material offerings
- • Pressed soma juice
- • Ghee
- • Rice cakes (purodasha)
- • Milk
- • Curds
- • Parched barley grains
- • A goat for the savaniya pashu (in the historical form)
Items listed are those prescribed in the Shrauta texts. This page does not provide procedural instruction.
Modern status
Rare in living tradition
Performed extremely rarely today — chiefly within the Athirathram tradition of the Kerala Nambudiri brahmins (most famously at Panjal in 1975, documented by Frits Staal) and at occasional revivalist multi-day gatherings in Maharashtra, Karnataka, and Andhra. These are by far the rarest and most resource-intensive Vedic performances still occurring in living tradition.
Historical significance
The soma yajna and its expansions (Agnishtoma, Atyagnishtoma, Ukthya, Shodashin, Vajapeya, Atiratra, Aptoryama) constitute the structural heart of the entire Shrauta corpus. The Rigveda's ninth mandala is devoted to soma; mastery of the soma sequence was, in the Vedic period, the highest brahmanical accomplishment.