alled Pra_s_ita).

3. The Deva-sacrifice, _i.e._ the offering of oblations to
the gods (sometimes called Huta).

4. The Bhuta-sacrifice, _i.e._ the giving of food to living
creatures (sometimes called Prahuta).

5. The Manushya-sacrifice, _i.e._ the receiving of guests
with hospitality (sometimes called Brahmya huta).[294]

The performance of this daily Pit_ri_ya_gn_a, seems to have been
extremely simple. The householder had to put his sacred cord on the
right shoulder, to say "Svadha to the Fathers," and to throw the
remains of certain offerings toward the south.[295]

The human impulse to this sacrifice, if sacrifice it can be called, is
clear enough. The five "great sacrifices" comprehended in early times
the whole duty of man from day to day. They were connected with his
daily meal.[296] When this meal was preparing, and before he could
touch it himself, he was to offer something to the gods, a
Vai_s_vadeva offering,[297] in which the chief deities were Agni,
fire, Soma the Vi_s_ve Devas, Dhanvantari, the kind of AEsculapius,
Kuhu and Anumati (phases of the moon), Pra_g_apati, lord of creatures,
Dyava-p_ri_thivi, Heaven and Earth, and Svish_t_ak_ri_t, the fire on
the hearth.[298]

After having thus satisfied the gods in the four quarters, the
householder had to throw some oblations into the open air, which were
intended for animals, and in some cases for invisible beings, ghosts
and such like. Then he was to remember the Departed, the Pit_ri_s,
with some offerings; but even after having done this he was not yet to
begin his own repast, unless he had also given something to strangers
(atithis).

When all this had been fulfilled, and when, besides, the householder,
as we should say, had said his daily prayers, or repeated what he had
learned of the Veda, then and then only was he in harmony with the
world that surrounded him, the five Great Sacrifices had been
performed by him, and he was free from all the sins arising from a
thoughtless and selfish life.

This Pit_ri_ya_gn_a, as one of the five daily sacrifices, is described
in the Brahma_n_as, the G_ri_hya and Samaya_k_arika Sutras, and, of
course, in the legal Sa_m_hitas. Rajendralal Mitra[299] informs us
that "orthodox Brahmans to this day profess to observe all these five
ceremonies, but that in reality only the offerings to the gods and
manes are strictly observed, while the reading is completed by the
repetition of the G