Adhyāyas 11–18 · Chapter Overview
From The Shukla Yajurveda — The Vājasaneyi Saṃhitā, taught by Acharya T Krishnatrey. This lesson is free to read.
<pre data-block="statement"> These eight adhyāyas carry the AGNICAYANA — the piling of the great fire-altar, the most ambitious rite in the Veda. A bird-shaped altar of more than a thousand bricks is built over many months, and every brick is laid with its own mantra. Adhyāya 11 prepares the ground and the ukhā, the clay fire-pan — and opens with the yoking of the MIND. Adhyāyas 12–15 lay the bricks, course by course. Adhyāya 17 completes the altar and climbs it. Adhyāya 18 closes with the great VĀJA litany, the Śukla counterpart of the Chamakam, asking that everything from lifespan to speech to the sacrifice itself be "made whole by the sacrifice." Twelve of their mantras follow. The sixteenth adhyāya also belongs to this stretch — but it is the Śatarudriya, and it is great enough to have the chapter that comes next all to itself. </pre>