Wikipedia Trail: Ashvamedha to Hayagriva
During my reading of Part A of the Ramayana, the horse sacrifice ritual really caught my attention and I thought it would be really helpful to learn more about the Ashvamedha if I end up writing about it for the storytelling assignment this week. I started on the Ashvamedha page and learned that the ritual was used to bring progeny and general prosperity by kings in India until the eighteenth century.
From there I clicked on an article about horse sacrifice in general. I learned that horse sacrifice was not unique to India but also was practiced in a number of places throughout Asia and Europe including the Roman and Norse Empires.
Horse, in some cultures were seen as divine so I clicked on an article about horse worship to learn more about the history of the horse as a sacred animal. Horse worship appears to go back as far as the bronze age and still continues in parts of South Asia today.
In India, horses are often revered in the form of Hayagriva. Hayagriva is a horse-headed avatar of Vishnu. He is worshiped as a God of knowledge and wisdom and is referenced in several places throughout the Mahabharata.
From there I clicked on an article about horse sacrifice in general. I learned that horse sacrifice was not unique to India but also was practiced in a number of places throughout Asia and Europe including the Roman and Norse Empires.
Horse, in some cultures were seen as divine so I clicked on an article about horse worship to learn more about the history of the horse as a sacred animal. Horse worship appears to go back as far as the bronze age and still continues in parts of South Asia today.
In India, horses are often revered in the form of Hayagriva. Hayagriva is a horse-headed avatar of Vishnu. He is worshiped as a God of knowledge and wisdom and is referenced in several places throughout the Mahabharata.
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