Devalok
Legend · 2 tellings · Pan-India

Rudra is left out of the sacrifice

Who is in it

  • Rudra the god left behind
  • Agni the name under which his share is offered
  • Brihaspati eats the dangerous portion safely

Texts: Shatapatha Brahmana

The story, beat by beat

  1. The gods rise to heaven by the sacrifice and leave the lord of cattle behind.
  2. He follows with his weapon raised.
  3. They promise him an offering and he does not strike.
  4. A last portion is cut for him: the Svishtakrit.
  5. In another telling he pierces the sacrifice.
  6. The pierced morsel breaks Pushan's teeth; Brihaspati eats it safely.

sacrifice exclusion share outsider

How it is told, place by place

Base telling · Primary text (translation)

Shatapatha Brahmana 1.7.3

Pan-India All traditions

Left on the sacrificial ground, the god who rules the cattle goes up after the others and stands on the north with his weapon raised. They beg him not to throw it and promise him a share; he lowers it and hurts no one. The dishes are refilled and one more portion offered, which is why the Svishtakrit follows the main offerings. His names are Sharva, Bhava, lord of beasts, Rudra and Agni.

The Satapatha-Brahmana, tr. Julius Eggeling (Sacred Books of the East 12, 41) § 1.7.3

Primary text (translation)

Taittiriya Samhita 2.6.8, with Kaushitaki 6.13-14

Pan-India All traditions

The gods shut Rudra out and he pierces the sacrifice. A barleycorn-sized piece from the wound is given to Pushan, whose teeth it breaks; Brihaspati takes it safely with formulas. Other Brahmanas add that it burnt out Bhaga's eyes and cut Savitri's hands.

What is different here:

Rudra strikes the sacrifice itself; the injuries come from the pierced portion, not from his hand.

The Veda of the Black Yajus School (Taittiriya Sanhita), tr. A. B. Keith (1914) § 2.6.8; Rigveda Brahmanas: the Aitareya and Kausitaki Brahmanas, tr. A. B. Keith (1920) § kaushitaki.6.13-14; The Satapatha-Brahmana, tr. Julius Eggeling (Sacred Books of the East 12, 41) § 1.7.4

Sources: The Satapatha-Brahmana, tr. Julius Eggeling (Sacred Books of the East 12, 41); The Veda of the Black Yajus School (Taittiriya Sanhita), tr. A. B. Keith (1914); Rigveda Brahmanas: the Aitareya and Kausitaki Brahmanas, tr. A. B. Keith (1920)

More stories with the same people

How a tradition frames it

Who made whom: the Shiva Purana's creation frame

Shiva creates Vishnu from the left of his body and Brahma from the right (through the lotus from Vishnu's navel), assigns creation, preservation and destruction, and stands beyond all three.
How a tradition frames it

Who made whom: the Bhagavata's creation frame

Brahma, himself born from Vishnu's navel lotus, grows angry when his mind-born sons refuse to procreate; from between his brows a crying child is born and named Rudra, given eleven places, names and consorts, and told to stop creating and practise austerity.
Origin

Rudra, the howling archer of the Rigveda

The Rigveda addresses Rudra in three whole hymns and mentions him about seventy-five times.
How a tradition frames it

How scholars explain Shiva's rise

Scholars treat the Shiva of today as a figure merged from several older gods rather than one continuous cult.
Origin

Rudra becomes the one Lord

A late Upanishad of the Black Yajurveda, in six chapters, takes up Rudra.
Origin

Diti's vow and the birth of the Maruts

Diti's sons are killed by the gods.
Legend

How Savitr came by his golden hands

The Rigveda simply calls Savitr golden-handed. The Kaushitaki Brahmana explains it by the dangerous Brahman's portion; the Mahabharata by Rudra's bow.
Legend

Pushan the pathfinder, his goats and his gruel

The Rigveda's herdsman god who finds the lost and eats gruel, and the later explanations of the gruel by his lost teeth.