Word

Ashvalayana

Sanskrit

आश्वलायन

IAST

āśvalāyana

In General

Ashvalaya was a Vedic Rishi and a disciple of Shaunaka Maharishi. Ashvalayana Shakha is a recession of R.V. known by his name. The Srautasutra and Grihya Sutra of Ashvalayana is available. In Kaivalyopanishad, Lord Paramesti (Brahman) teaches esoteric lesson to Asvalayana.

Veda

Ashwalayana Srautasutra consisting of 12 chapters is found closely follow the Aitaraya Brahmana. Each chapter is divided into many khandas. The total number of khands is 164. The work mainly deals with duties of ‘hotr’, the R.V. priest chanting the Vedic mantras for sacrificial purpose. The sacrifices and rites dealt with the work are: Darsapurnamasa, Agrayani, Somayaga, Sautramani, Caturmasya, Pindapitryajna, etc. Asvalyana Grihasutra consists of four chapters and is further divided into 48 kandikas or subsections. It discusses the 16 Samskaras and rules for recitation of the Vedas. His other two works on Kalpasutra are not available.

The Anusasana Parva of Mahabharata mention of one Aswalayana as belonging to lineage of Sage Visvamitra. There is not much known about this Rishi. The Asvalayana sakha of R.V. has got only very few followers and is limited to the southern region of river Godavari and is almost identical with Sakala Sakha.