अश्वमेध

{ aśvamedha }

Puranic Encyclopaedia

AŚVAMEDHA   Son of King Sahasrānīka (Refer under Sahasrānīka).
AŚVAMEDHA I   A country of ancient India which was ruled by a King named Rocamān. Bhīmasena conquered him during the world-wide conquering campaign. [Śloka 8, Chapter 29, Sabhā Parva] .
AŚVAMEDHA II   A yāga. Kings used to conduct this in order to get absolved of all sins. Fixing a victory card on the head of a horse it is allowed to roam about freely. If anybody stops the horse and ties it, the King should go and defeat him in battle and bring back the horse. If you do a hundred such yāgas you can become Indra.

Note: *) Aśvamedha or horse sacrifice was performed by autocrats to establish their supreme sovereignty. For this the horse let out to roam about should go into all countries. Those who opposed the sovereignty of the King could stop the horse and tie it. Then the King had to defeat him before conducting the yāga. The vedas enjoin that the sacrificial horse should be followed by a hundred young men ready to fight those who opposed the King. Indra had conducted a hundred such yāgas.]

हिन्दी (hindi) WN

See : अश्वमेध यज्ञ

प्राचीन चरित्रकोश

अश्वमेध n.  त्र्यरुणकृत दानस्तुती में का एक राजा [ऋ. ५.२७.४-६] ।
अश्वमेध (भारत) n.  सूक्तद्रष्टा [ऋ.५.२७] ।

Aryabhushan School Dictionary

 m  The sacrifice of a horse-ceremony.

A Sanskrit English Dictionary

अश्व—मेध  m.  a m. the horse-sacrifice (a celebrated ceremony, the antiquity of which reaches back to the Vedic period; the hymns, [RV. i, 162 and 163] [= [VS. xxii seqq.]], referring to it, are however of comparatively late origin; in later times its efficacy was so exaggerated, that a hundred such sacrifices entitled the sacrificer to displace इन्द्र from the dominion of स्वर्ग; kings who engaged in it spent enormous sums in gifts to the Brāhmans; it is said that the horse was sometimes not immolated, but kept bound during the ceremony), [VS. xviii, 22]; [TS.]; [Ragh.] &c., ( cf. अर्का-श्वमेध॑)

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अश्व मेध

अश्व—मेध  m.  b ( अ॑श्व-) m. N. of a descendant of भरत, [RV. v, 27, 4-6.]

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अश्व मेध

Shabda-Sagara

अश्वमेध  m.  ( -धः) The actual or emblematic sacrifice of a horse.
E. अश्व and मेध sacrifice; this sacrifice is one of the highest order, and performed a hundred times, entitles the sacrificer to the dominion of Swarga or paradise: it appears to bave been originally typical; the horse, and other animals being simply bound during the performance of certain ceremonies; the actual sacrifice is an introduction of a later period. See As. R. Vol. viii. p. 442, COLEBROOKE on the Vedas.

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अश्व मेध