Sacrificial rite
found in the Vedas, the oldest and most authoritative Hindu religious texts.
The most notable feature of the sarvasvara is that it
involved the suicide of the sacrificer, who concluded the rite by entering the
sacrificial fire.
The sarvasvara is an extreme example of the class of ritual
actions known as kamya karma, which consists of action performed solely because
of the performer’s desire (kama) to obtain cer tain benefits.
This element of desire makes kamya karma different from the
other two classes of ritual action, nitya karma and naimittika karma, which
were each in some way obligatory.
The sarvasvara could be undertaken to obtain any outcome,
such as birth in heaven as a god, or rebirth in a royal family.
The sacrificer declares the benefit in the part of the rite
called the samkalpa.
Although the sarvasvara had extreme elements, it was
completely voluntary.
