The manner of offering the _Hóma_ is as follows: the sacrificer having performed his ablution and made the _tilek_, or “inaugural mark,” on the forehead with ashes from the fire receptacle, then celebrates the Hóma; the rites must be performed by a Brahman, as it is of no avail when performed by any other. If the officiating Brahman be a _Vaishnavah_, “worshipper of Vishnu,” he performs the _Yajna_, or “sacrifice,” in the same manner, excepting that, instead of a goat, he employs the figure of a goat formed of flour, over which he goes through the established ceremonies. When one goat is sacrificed, it is called _Agnishtóma_, or “sacrifice to Agni;”[119] where two are offered, _Yúnyíkam_;[120] the sacrifice of three is called _Wajpéya_;[121] the sacrifice of four is called _Jyotishtóma_;[122] and the sacrifice of five is named _Panjáham_.[123] When they sacrifice a cow after this manner, it is called the _Gomédha_; the sacrifice of a horse, _Aswamédha_; that of a man, _Narmédha_.
The _Yajna_, or “sacrifice” is to be offered in the months of _Mágha_, “January,” _Váisháka_, “April,” or _Márga-sirsha_,[124] “August.” Every person performs the Yajna once; but he sacrifices a goat every year; or, if in indigent circumstances, the figure of a goat formed of flour; and if he be a follower of Vishnu, the goat is to be a figure formed of the same materials, as among that sect cruelty towards the animal creation is reckoned as impiety. In their Smriti, or “sacred writing,” it is thus laid down: “Let that person put animals to death who has the power of reanimating them, as the victim thus sacrificed must be restored to life.” Moreover, their pious doctors have said that, by the sacrifice of a sheep, is meant the removal of ignorance; by that of a cow, the abandoning low pursuits; by that of the horse, the curbing of the mind; as according to the Hindus, Manah, or “the heart,” from which proceed all phantasies and internal sense, is a fiery and unbroken steed; finally, shedding man’s blood in sacrifice, implies the eradication of all reprehensible human qualities. It is also to be highly commended in a Brahman not to devote himself to lucrative pursuits, but to repair to the abode of his co-religionists, and being satisfied and grateful for the portion of grain he receives from them, to give up the rest of his time to devotion; nor is he to collect so much food as to have any remaining for the next day. Vessels of gold are esteemed more pure than those of any other metal. Whenever a Brahman sees an idol-temple, a cow, or a holy personage, he is to walk reverentially round each. He is not to perform the offices of nature in running water, nor in a cow-shed, nor in ashes; before a Brahman, or a cow, or in sight of the great luminary; when he retires to any place for this purpose, he is not in that state of nudity to look towards the stars; neither is he to go out naked in rain, nor sleep with his head to the west; he is not to cast saliva, blood, nor semen into water, nor extend his feet towards the fire for the purpose of warming them; he is not to leap on fire, nor drink water with both hands. It is also wrong to awake, unless in case of necessity, one who is in a profound sleep; nor is it allowed to sit on the same couch with a sick person. It is not right to enter upon any undertaking to which a suspicion of evil consequences is attached. Great care must also be taken to remove to a distance from the smoke of a dead body on the funeral pile. No one is to return to his home, whether in a city or village, except by the public gate. A Brahman must not receive a gift from a mean and sordid monarch, or from an avaricious person of degrading pursuits, as in the future investigation, punishment certainly awaits such conduct: in short, he never accepts any thing from the impure or base. He is not to look at his wife when sneezing, yawning, or gaping; when she is seated in privacy at her ease; or when applying collyrium to her eyes, or anointing her hair.[125] He ought not to sleep naked in his bed-room, nor in an empty house without a companion; he ought not to throw water about in play, with the palm of his hand or with his foot, nor to blow out fire with his breath, without using any instrument.