Agnikaryam () or Agnikarya is the act of offering oblations to the sacrificial fire of a

yajna Yajna ( sa, यज्ञ, yajña, translit-std=IAST, sacrifice, devotion, worship, offering) refers in Hinduism to any ritual done in front of a sacred fire, often with mantras.SG Nigal (1986), Axiological Approach to the Vedas, Northern Book ...

(ritual-fire ceremony) performed by brahmacharis (celibate bachelors).

Description

The agnikaryam is dedicated to and named after the god of fire,

Agni Agni (English: , sa, अग्नि, translit=Agni) is a Sanskrit word meaning fire and connotes the Vedic fire deity of Hinduism. He is also the guardian deity of the southeast direction and is typically found in southeast corners of Hindu ...

. The fire of the agnikaryam is conceptualised as a cosmic element during the performance of the rite. It is featured in the text Sarasvati Suktam. The agnikaryam is performed with the help of ''samits'' or small wooden sticks or twigs usually of ''arali'' ('' Ficus religiosa'') tree. This homa is performed daily twice: once in the morning and again in the evening. These two are respectively called the ''pratah agnikaryam'' and the ''sayam agnikaryam''. The agnikaryam is also known as ''samidadhanam''. The method and

mantra A mantra ( Pali: ''manta'') or mantram (मन्त्रम्) is a sacred utterance, a numinous sound, a syllable, word or phonemes, or group of words in Sanskrit, Pali and other languages believed by practitioners to have religious, ...

s of performing the agnikaryam are different for the

Rigveda The ''Rigveda'' or ''Rig Veda'' ( ', from ' "praise" and ' "knowledge") is an ancient Indian collection of Vedic Sanskrit hymns (''sūktas''). It is one of the four sacred canonical Hindu texts ('' śruti'') known as the Vedas. Only one ...

and the

Yajurveda The ''Yajurveda'' ( sa, यजुर्वेद, ', from ' meaning "worship", and ''veda'' meaning "knowledge") is the Veda primarily of prose mantras for worship rituals.Michael Witzel (2003), "Vedas and Upaniṣads", in ''The Blackwell C ...

References

{{Worship in Hinduism Yajna Hindu rituals Fire in Hindu worship