Balaji's Weblog

Yajna is a vedic ritual performed in front of controlled fire. It was performed by the affluent, such as kings to increase prosperity and regional soverignity through ritual sacrifice and oblations. It still is done to the present day with the same intent.

I was watching a youtube video and I (mis)heard the narrator hinting that Yajna was an act performed to clear the forest for cultivation during the bronze age (4000 years ago). That made sense to me. I thought it was a very clever mythologization of how the early nomads became farmers.

But it wasn't the case. This ritual, at best, was performed after clearing the forest.