Bhakti List Archives

Re: [sv-rituals] On a Vedic quest

From the Bhakti List Archives

Gokulchandra Das • Sat Sep 14 2002 - 03:59:53 PDT 


 Hare Krsna dear rabhu, i read your article about dr
dhirgangi on the bhakti listand am interested in
communicating with him so would you be kind enough to
give me his e-mail id. i would be greatly indebted to
you for that.
please accept my humble obeisances.
May Lord Krsna be Ever Merciful to you.
your insignificant servant- Gokulchandra das.














--- Shreyas Sarangan  wrote: 






http://www.hinduonnet.com/thehindu/fr/stories/2002091301040600.htm">http://www.hinduonnet.com/thehindu/fr/stories/2002091301040600.htm>



Dirghangi and his wife performing Agnihotram at
his

home in the U.S. 



"I AM doing Agnihotram not for name or fame
but

because I love it. It is considered the mother of
all

Yagas. I believe in Srouta Yaga. I want to know
how

Agnihotram is performed in different parts of the

country." Indeed it is the quest of a sincere

Nityagnihotri. But he is neither a traditional
scholar

nor an academic researcher in Vedic rituals. This

Agnihotri, Dr. Jayanta Kumar Dirghangi, is a
certified

medical practitioner of the American Board of

Obstetrics and Gynaecology with many professional

affiliations to his credit, practising at Memphis,

Tennessee. 



It needs tenacity of a different kind to juggle a

demanding career and a religious rite like
Agnihotram

with its stringent regulations performed twice
daily,

day after day. It has become an all-consuming
passion

with this doctor ever since he set out on this
journey

to discover his roots over eight years ago. He
returns

to his motherland unfailingly every year to quench
his

thirst for knowledge of the age-old Vedic tradition.




Dr. Dirghangi developed an interest in Sanskrit,
Vedic

chanting and Srouta Karma at an early age and the
late

Prof. Gourinath Sastri encouraged him to study

further. Amidst his hectic professional life in
the

U.S. he pursued these disciplines relentlessly till
he

was initiated into Agnihotram on May 1, 2000,

according to Apastambha Srouta Sutra, Krishna
Yajur

Veda. A person, who wishes to perform Agnihotram
and

other Srouta rites must first acquire the
sacrificial

fire. 



The rituals starting from Agnihotram should be

performed with oblations to the three distinct
altars

having different fires namely, the Garhapatya,

Aahavaniya and the Dakshina. The acquisition of
these

fires and instituting them in one's house are done

through a ritual called Adhana (Agnyadhana,

Agnyadheya), during initiation. 



Dr. Dirghangi received guidance from the 45th
Azhagiya

Singar of Ahobila Math and instruction from

Sengalipuram Adhvarapathy Dikshitar and
Therezhundur

Anantanarayana Dikshitar. When a close friend

introduced him to the veteran traditional scholar,

Agnihotram Ramanuja Thathachariar, it opened up

further vistas in his avocation and he mastered
the

intricacies of performing the ritual and learnt
the

meaning of the Mantras from him. He has travelled
to

remote villages seeking the help of masters of
this

practice, observing them perform, clarifying
doubts

and documenting the subtle differences among the

different Srouta sutras like Apastambha,
Asvalayana,

Vaikhanasa, Manaba and so on. 



He is learning the procedure according to the Rig,

Sama and Atharvana Vedas though he follows the
Yajur

Veda. Back at home in Memphis he has an improvised

smokeless Yagasala, where the sacrificial fire has
to

be maintained. The furnace had to be improvised to

conform to the laws of the US where smoke in any
form

triggers an alarm. He felt the need for a handbook
on

Agnihotram explaining its performance, meaning and

variations. So he has undertaken the task of
compiling

one himself. His trips to India are well planned.
Dr.

Dirghangi shared his experience during this trip
with

this writer. "This time I visited Kerala to meet
the

Namboodiris. Through one of my patients I was

introduced to an Agnihotrin at Thiruvananthapuram.
The

Namboodiris performed the Agni (Athirtha) Yaga,
which

is a little longer than the Somayaga, in 1975, and
in

1995 at Panjal near Thrissur and Guruvayur, and he

learnt about their history. As many as 64
Namboodiri

families migrated from Gujarat long ago and of them
32

settled in the Tulu speaking region of Karnataka
and

the rest in Kerala. Some of these families continue
to

practise this rite. Each family becomes the high

priest (Yajamana) of a particular Yaga. From

Thiruvananthapuram I went to Thrissur as these

Namboodiri families live around this place. I met

Neelakantan Namboodiri, who is an authority on the
Rig

Veda, at Vattakulam. I spent a day with him and

performed Agnihotram with him. From there I
proceeded

to Kouprra to meet Sankara Narayan Somayajipad who

performs the Somayaga. Finally at Chembra, I had
the

opportunity of interacting with Ravi Akkithiripad
who

is the only one allowed to perform the Athiratha
Yaga

by hereditary right in Kerala, while in Tamil Nadu
and

Andhra Pradesh others are permitted to." 



"I spend the best part of my visit every time
with

Thathachariar Swami who has been extremely generous
in

sharing his knowledge on the subject. I continue
to

learn the meaning of the Mantras from him as they
have

both a literary and a subtler meaning. I must
share

another experience with you. The earlier feature
in

this paper generated a lot of interest both in the
US

and in West Bengal. I keep getting calls from
people

evincing interest in Agnihotram. It gives me
immense

joy that I should be instrumental in reviving
interest

in the Vedic sacrifices. I have been invited to

present a paper at the Asiatic Society and a

lecture-demonstration on Agnihotram before the

intelligentsia of Calcutta in this trip." Before
you

wonder where he will be venturing into next, he
signs

off saying, "My dream is to become a Somayaji

ultimately." 



SUDHAKSHINA RANGASWAMY 







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