The Atiratra Agnicayana or piling of the altar of Agni is an ancient ritual of Vedic religion. The entire ritual takes twelve days to perform, in the course of which a great bird-shaped altar is built out of more than a thousand bricks. Picture of an altar from the Meyer Encyclopaedia An altar, (Hebrew mizbeah, from a word meaning to slay) is any structure on which sacrifices known as the korbanot as well as incense offerings are offered for religious purposes. ... The word Agni can have these meanings:- A fire-god in three religions: described below. ... The religion of the Vedic civilization is the predecessor of classical Hinduism, usually included in the term. ...
In 1975 Indologist Frits Staal documented in great detail the performance of an Agnicayana performed by Nambudiri Brahmins in Kerala. The last performance before that had been in 1956, and the Nambudiris were concerned that the ritual was threatened by extinction. It had never before been observerd by outsiders. In exchange for a financial participation of the scholars towards the cost of the ritual, the Nambudiris agreed that it should be filmed and recorded. The ritual was performed from 12 to 14 April, 1975. 1975 was a common year starting on Wednesday (the link is to a full 1975 calendar). ... Frits Staal (born 1930 in the Netherlands) is Emeritus Professor of Philosophy and South & Southeast Asian Studies at the University of California, Berkeley. ... A Brahmin (less often Brahman) is a member of the Hindu priestly caste. ... ... 1956 was a leap year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ...
After the 1975 Agnicayana, there have been three Nambudiri shrauta rituals, the 1984Agnistoma at Trivandrum, the 1990 Agnicayana at Kundoor, and the 2003 Agnistoma at Trichur, all from native resources. 1984 is a leap year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Indian Coffee House Thiruvananthapuram or Thiruvanathapuram (formerly known as Trivandrum) is the capital (population - 889,191 (2001)) of the state of Kerala, India. ... 1990 is a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar. ... 2003 is a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Thrissur is a city (located at 10. ...
References
Frits Staal, Agni, the Vedic ritual of the fire altar (1983).
Itti Ravi Mamunne, Agni and the Foreign Savants EJVS 10 (2003) [1]
Actually, the 1975agnicayana was either the one after the last of a series generated from within Kerala or the first of a new series generated by intercultural circumstances.
In restoring agnicayana, considerations of how best to document the Vedic ritual—not the social or media event, certainly not the political controversy raging over the goats— were always first in the minds of Staal and Gardner.
Insofar as the agnicayana is liminoid it serves interests far beyond and different than those the old-fashioned agnicayana served when it belonged solely to Kerala.
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