Why is the queen required to sleep next to the dead horse at the end of Aśvamedha Yajña?

Question

From the Wikipedia article on Aśvamedha Yajña:

After this, the horse, a hornless he-goat, and a wild ox (go-mrga, Bos gaurus) are bound to sacrificial stakes near the fire, and seventeen other animals are attached to the horse. A significant number of animals, both tame and wild, are tied to other stakes, according to a commentator, 609 in total.

The chief queen ritually calls on the king's fellow wives for pity. The queens walk around the dead horse reciting mantras. The chief queen then spends a night with the dead horse.

Why is the queen required to spend a night with the dead horse? Is it to test her courage or is it symbolic of something else?

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UPDATE

I found some verses from The Harivaṃśa that support Wikipedia's claims:

rAjApi hAstinapuraM jagAma svajanAvR^itaH |
anvashAsachcha muditastadA pramuditAH prajAH || 3-5-10

The king (Janamejaya) also returned to the city of elephants, surrounded by his people and happily protected his subjects, who lived happily.

kasyachittvatha kAlasya sa rAjA janamejayaH |
dIkShito vAjimedhena vidhivadbhUridakShiNaH || 3-5-11

After some time, king Janamejaya, who offers plenty of tributes (in sacrifices) observed the horse sacrifice as ordained.

saMj~naptamashvaM tatrAsya devI kAshyA vapuShTamA |
saMviveshopagamyAtha vidhidR^iShTena karmaNA || 3-5-12

Devi vapuShTamA, the daughter of the king of Kashi, went and slept with the slain horse, according to the ritual as prescribed.

Answer 1

That translation on wikipedia is of Griffith and other colonial British translators and is completely wrong. Basically there is one verse from Shatapatha Brahmana and four verses from Yajur Veda which has been completely mis translated and all the vulgar translations on any website or book is from these 5 verses only.

I will present the original translation to all these verses with citations from 7 different scholars in English and Hindi below.

1) "अश्वस्य शिश्न महिष्युपस्थे निधते " (Satapatha Brahmana-13/5/2/2)- Prayer by Sage Yagyavalkya.

Meanings: 1) अश्वस्य- King who is performing the yajña (" क्षत्र वा अश्व: क्षत्र राजन्य: | " Shataptha Brahmana-13/4/1/12); 2) शिश्न- One with opulence (" शिश्नमिन्द्र "- Shataptha Brahmana-12/9/2/2 अर्थात इंद्र शिश्न है |); 3) महिषी- Speech (" महिषी वा वाक् "-शतपथ 6/5/3/4, For speech is a mahishi); 4) उपस्थये- Lap; निधते- kept or made seated;

Translation: May the King's might and brilliance be expressed in his speech. (May the voice of the King roar like a lion to maintain law and order in the state and to protect his citizens and all others who approach him for shelter. For it is the duty of the King to prevent any adharmik activity from happening in the kingdom.)

2) "प्रा॒णाय॒ स्वाहा॑पा॒नाय॒ स्वाहा॑ व्या॒नाय॒ स्वाहा॑। अम्बे॒ऽअम्बि॒केऽम्बा॑लिके॒ न मा॑ नयति॒ कश्च॒न। सस॑स्त्यश्व॒कः सुभ॑द्रिकां काम्पीलवा॒सिनी॑म्॥१८॥" ~ Yajur Veda-23.18

Translation - We should accept the words of knowledge, the exponent of Prana, Apana and Vyana (Vital life airs in our body). On receiving these knowledge, no temptation of the world can defeat us. A person who engages in actions in this (material) world according to the right knowledge of Vedic Scriptures(Gyana Cakshu) lives comfortably attaining the welfare(blessings) of Lakshmi.

3) "ग॒णानां॑ त्वा ग॒णप॑तिꣳहवामहे प्रि॒याणां॑ त्वा प्रि॒यप॑तिꣳहवामहे निधी॒नां त्वा॑ निधि॒पति॑ꣳ हवामहे वसो मम। आहम॑जानि गर्भ॒धमा त्वम॑जासि गर्भ॒धम्॥१९॥" ~ Yajur Veda-23.19

Translation - Worshiper of The Supreme Lord(Gana Pati) master of all the ganas, 33 Million Demigods. Let me know you as my ultimate shelter. Let me walk towards you who conceives the whole world. You are the one who activates and controls the material nature(prakriti) which gives birth to (manifests) this material universe. Please give me the ultimate destination which is the shelter at your Lotus Feet.

4) "ताऽउ॒भौ च॒तुरः॑ प॒दः स॒म्प्रसा॑रयाव स्व॒र्गे लो॒के प्रोर्णु॑वाथां॒ वृषा॑ वा॒जी रे॑तो॒धा रेतो॑ दधातु॥२०॥" ~Yajur Veda-23.20

Translation - The King and his subjects in unison, magnify the four stages of Dharma, Artha, Kama, Moksha where with they reside happily in their country. The King, the chastiser of the wicked, full of knowledge, the possessor of strength and prowess, lends valour to his subjects.

5) "उत्स॑क्थ्या॒ऽअव॑ गु॒दं धे॑हि॒ सम॒ञ्जिं चा॑रया वृषन्। य स्त्री॒णां जी॑व॒भोज॑नः॥२१॥" ~Vajur Veda-23.21

Translation - To stop adultery and crime against women in the nation, the King should hang the wrongdoer man(aggressor) upside down and let the knowledge of the disadvantages of adultery and the benefits of abstinence to be propagated in the nation, so that the hearts of the people can be transformed.

For word by word meaning of the above verses you can checkout- https://www.scribd.com/doc/147822000/Yajur-Veda-Chapter-23

For more English and Hindi translations to these verses you can checkout-

1. https://vedicscriptures.in/yajurveda/23/19
2. https://vedicheritage.gov.in/flipbook/Shukla_Yajurveda_madhyandina_Subodh_Bhasya/#book/398
3. https://www.google.co.in/books/edition/Yajurveda/drT4K1GXbnsC?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=yajur+veda&printsec=frontcover

Basically what happens is that- The queens circumambulate the dead horse(after it is slained) reciting mantras and make three symbolic marks on the body of the horse using a golden needle. Then the chief queen along with other royal ladies and their maidservants sits near the slained horse at a distance(i.e near the yagya kund of Vishnu where the horse will be sacrificed), offering ahuti to the fire(yajña) as it can be seen from ~Yajur veda-23.18 and praying for the welfare and prosperity of the King who is performing this yajña and his kingdom(including the whole world and people in general). After this the horse is finally sacrificed to Vishnu and simultaneously given a heavenly body. As it can been seen in the Mahabharata and Ramayana. https://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/m14/m14089.htm

One more thing to notice is that where ever the description of Ashwamedha Yagya is given in the scriptures the sanskrit word used is either "sits or resided near the dead horse" but it has been mis translated into "sleeping with the dead horse".

If you liked it you can share these correct translations with anyone who needs it.

Answer 2

Why is the queen required to sleep next to the dead horse at the end of Aśvamedha Yajña?

Because it is a fertility rite that rejuvenates the kingdom and makes it prosper. There are material and spiritual rewards from doing those things as part of the yajna.

From the Taittiriya Brahmana:

[The Mahishi (chief queen of the king performing the Ashwamedha) lies down beside the horse]

He (the Adhvaryu addressing the Mahishi) says, "Oh fair one, clad in Kampila garment". He thereby brings her ardor (in heat).

He (the Adhvaryu) says: "Do both of you (horse and queen) envelop yourselves in the heavenly world." He thus makes her go to the heavenly world.

[The Mahishi then puts the penis of the horse on her lap]

She then recites the mantra, "I will urge that which produces the embryo; urge you that which produces the embryo." The embryo, surely, means offspring and cattle. It is offspring and cattle she (in consequence of the uttering of that formula) bestows on herself.

So as you can see, it is a fertility rite in which the sexual themes and acts are symbolic of things in the kingdom.

Answer 3

In The Origins and Development of Classical Hinduism, A. L. Basham talks about the symbolism behind this practice.

Ch. 2. Early Speculations and the Later Sacrificial Cults

...

A feature of the aśvamedha which has aroused considerable comment is the sexual character of one of the concluding ceremonies. The chief queen lay down beside the body of the sacrificed horse and simulated copulation with him, to the accompaniment of obscene remarks by the priests and nobles standing by. This shows that the aśvamedha had some of its roots in very ancient fertility ceremonies, and its purpose was partly to ensure the productivity of the land, represented by the queen.

Nevertheless the main emphasis of the aśvamedha was on political power. The political system envisaged by those who developed this sacrifice was what has elsewhere been called quasi-feudal, wherein a powerful overlord received homage and tribute from a circle of less powerful subordinates. If in the course of the horse's wanderings any king had tried to block his passage and had been defeated in the ensuing battle, there was no question of such a king being dethroned or of the annexation of his lands by the conqueror. The defeated king was merely expected to appear at the final ceremony and to accept the overlordship of the victor. Thus the tradition of the aśvamedha did not encourage the building of solid centralized empires; rather, it visualized a loose federation of kingdoms under a single overlord, all virtually independent in respect of their internal affairs.

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(p. 33-34)

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Due to the offensive nature of certain verses in the Kṛṣṇa Yajurveda that describe the aśvamedha-yajña, Arthur Berriedale Keith, whose translation is available at sacred-texts.com has excluded them from his work.

vii. 4.19.

a O Amba! O Ambali! O Ambika!
b No one leadest me.
The wicked horse is sleeping.
c O fair one, clad in fair raiment in the world of heaven be ye two covered....
{...several verses omitted from original translation...}
1 When the deer eateth grain,
He deemeth not his flock fat.
When the Çadra woman is the loved of the Aryan,
She seeketh not wealth for prosperity....
{...several verses omitted from original translation...}
q Dadhikravan have I sung,
The swift strong horse.
May he make our mouths fragrant;
May he lengthen our days.
r Ye waters are healing;
Further us to strength,
To see great joy.
s The most auspicious flavour that is yours
Accord to us here
Like eager mothers.
t To him may we come with satisfaction,
To whose dwelling ye quicken us,
O waters, and propagate us.

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For those contesting the authenticity of these verses or their translation, this is what Swami Vivekananda says:

And in the Vedic Ashvamedha sacrifice worse things would be done.... All the Brāhmanas mention them, and all the commentators admit them to be true. How can you deny them?

What I mean by mentioning all this is that there were many good things in the ancient times, but there were bad things too. The good things are to be retained, but the India that is to be, the future India, must be much greater than ancient India.

( Home/ Complete-Works/ Volume 6/ Epistles – Second Series/ LXXI Rakhal )

Answer 4

This is just nonsense ashwa medha doesn't include either of that whatever Swami Vivekananda said he said that after being friends with Max Muller! These verses are wrongly translated- The only Original Ramayana and Ramcharitmanas we have doesn't mention about this also in Mahabharata the translations by Griffith says that at the end a mangoose appeared and the grains were distributed as suggested by the mangoose please leave Zakir Naik University or internet University.
You must read the brihadaranyka upanishad (important vedic scripture) and avadhuta Upanishad (important vedic scripture). Both of these Upanishads explicitly talks about performing internal ashvamedha (which involves no sacrifices) instead of external ashvamedha (this external ashvamedha talks about symbolic rituals). Hindu texts also mention pitr-yagna and atithi-yagna. Will these so-called scholars translate them to mean “ritual of the father” and “ritual of the guest” where the father and the guests were sacrificed at the altar respectively? No they ain't did that they explained them in the original way but whenever it was possible for them to edit they did it. Hindus didn't become pure vegetarians after Dayanand Saraswati Ji correcting Vedas hindus were vegetarians before colonials ruled us!

Rigveda

“One who partakes of human flesh, the flesh of a horse or of another animal, and deprives others of milk by slaughtering cows, O King, if such a fiend does not desist by other means, then you should not hesitate to cut off his head.”
Rig-veda (10.87.16)

Manu-Samhita:

“Meat can never be obtained without injury to living creatures, and injury to sentient beings is detrimental to the attainment of heavenly bliss; let him therefore shun the use of meat. Having well considered the disgusting origin of flesh and the cruelty of fettering and slaying corporeal beings, let him entirely abstain from eating flesh.” (Manu-samhita 5.48-49)
“He who permits the slaughter of an animal, he who cuts it up, he who kills it, he who buys or sells meat, he who cooks it, he who serves it up, and he who eats it, must all be considered as the slayers of the animal. There is no greater sinner than that man who though not worshiping the gods or the ancestors, seeks to increase the bulk of his own flesh by the flesh of other beings.” (Manu-samhita 5.51-52)
“If he has a strong desire (for meat) he may make an animal of clarified butter or one of flour (and eat that); but let him never seek to destroy an animal without a (lawful) reason. As many hairs as the slain beast has, so often indeed will he who killed it without a (lawful) reason suffer a violent death in future births.” (Manu-samhita 5.37-38)

Answer 5

These verses are not to be interpreted literally because rama in ramayana performed ashvamedha without a wife.

As per "literal" interpretation ram should have had not one but multiple wives to be eligible to perform this yagya but even his sole wife sita was not present during ashwamedha.

That part of yajna was (can be) done symbolically with sita's (wife's) idol.

Answer 6

There is a whole chapter of Ashvamedha Parva in the Mahabhartha and there is no such claims whatsoever in it.

https://archive.org/details/mahabharataofkri0004unse/page/152/mode/2up?q=horse

I have read the whole chapter and Draupadi is there in the Yagna but nothing of the sort mentioned in Wikipedia article.