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Agnihotra
A Combustion Scientist's View
(originally published in the souvenir of
Maharshi Dayananda Gurukula, New York, Sep 2003)

Dr Harish Chandra
B. Tech. (IIT Kanpur), Ph. D. (Princeton, USA)
Agnihotra
A Combustion
Scientist's View
Lifted from: http://www.harekrsna.com/sun/features/07-
07/features720.htm
DR. HARISH CHANDRA
(originally published in the souvenir of Maharshi
Dr Harish Chandra, BTech (IIT Kanpur),
Dayananda Gurukula, New York, Sep 2003)
PhD (Princeton), of Padmarao Nagar,
Hyderabad, can be reached at

A
gnihotra is one of the five great duties
(pancamahayajna) of every householder. Even
of dishes after cooking them on fire. Thus, the ability to
in the student life, a brahmacari is expected to
generate fire at our will must have been the foremost
perform the same in his/her gurukula. It has been an
invention of the Vedic seers long ago in the faculty of
integral part of the Indian tradition that every marriage
the material sciences. Indeed, the very first word of the
ceremony includes agnihotra. So much so that the
Rigveda, the very first book in the library of the mankind
young man and woman, as the bridegroom and the
is agni, meaning fire, in addition to many other things.
bride, conduct the same as their very first act together
soon after taking the vows to live together. It is also But the most remarkable thing for the Vedic seers to
called by the names of devayajna, havana and homa. invent is the ritual of agnihotra. It demonstrates their
The last word homa is interesting that it sounds similar understanding of the fire to the extent that they made
to the word home in the English language. Could it be it mandatory for everyone, twice a day. Prima facie, it
that a house is worthy to be called home only if homa is sounds senseless to put the useful and valuable
conducted therein everyday! substances into the fire. This is what will be discussed
briefly, and at the end we would be left with an
Vedic seers invented the fire for the benefit of the
appreciation for the great ingenuity of the ancient
mankind. While life without fire is unthinkable in the
Vedic seers.
present times when almost all the technical gadgets
perform with the help of the fire only - directly or The Rsis in ancient India understood the mechanism of
indirectly. Of course, the sun is the primary source of fire, its ability to break up the substances into vapor
energy for all the inhabitants on the earth, and the sun phase, and the related buoyancy and other
is nothing but a huge fireball in itself. The man-made aerodynamic effects that it can be used as a mechanism
transportation systems on land, air, sea, undersea and to cleanse the air both indoor and outdoor. They knew
space function with the help of myriad of engines that the principle of Conservation of Mass, what is stated in
utilize the thermal energy of one fuel or another the modern terminology as 'No mass is created or
through a fire in its combustion chamber. destroyed.' They knew that the oblations of different
substances that are put into the fire may appear to
Thermal power plants generate electricity through a
vanish, but they don't vanish in the truest sense. They
fire only. And, most importantly, we eat so many kinds
 Agnihotra : A Combustion Scientist's View

merely become difficult to be seen by the naked eye insentient, 2) an assembly of noble souls, and 3) in the
because they have been transformed into vapor phase. nature of sacrifice.
It's as simple as evaporation of water that becomes Agnihotra can truly be characterized as a Yajna because
invisible but it continues to exist in the form of the first, it is for cleansing of air, a devata of insentient
water vapor. Indeed this is what causes rainmaking nature. Furthermore, it enhances the characteristics of
clouds. the herbal substances (that are also devatas in nature)
Vedic seers made the ritual of agnihotra, a multi- multifold, as we will see later. Two, it is a group activity
dimensionally useful affair. It became a spiritually when a number of people assemble together with a
enlightening experience because the selected verses positive frame of mind and intellect. Three, it amounts
from the Vedas and other allied Vedic literature were to making a sacrifice from a personal point of view

recited during the course of agnihotra. It became a though the benefits of the same would be obtained by
family/community affair strengthening the bond of all beings in general. The oblations of many valuable
love among one another because it is performed in a substances are offered into the fire, which amounts to
group. Of course, it cleanses the air both within the sacrifice. The Verses are chanted with the endings of
room and outside too. Thus, it is the most ancient 'idam na mama', i.e. this is not mine. This reinforces in
science to fight air pollution even in those days when mind that all the material possessions of ours in the
man was polluting the air and water to minimum world are actually not quite proprietary in nature; it is
extent, certainly several thousands times less that what merely for the purposes of transfer and diffusion to
he is doing today. Agnihotra can elevate us in all the others in keeping into the spirit that all the wealth is
domains of body, prana, mind, intellect, and the actually that of the creator - He is the true Creator and
innermost spirit too. It encompasses all the meanings Owner. What follows is a brief description of agnihotra
that are conveyed by the word Yajna. The word is from the combustion sciences point of view. It is
derived from the root yaj that stands for devapuja assumed that the readers are familiar with the ritual of
sangatikarana danesu. That is, Yajna is a karma that agnihotra as such.
should be 1) in due honor of devas, both sentient and
 Agnihotra : A Combustion Scientist's View

Unburned fuel and carbon monoxide are considered

Understanding the Essentials of Combustion
undesirable pollutants for the atmosphere. Also, if
Combustion is said to occur if a fuel is oxidized the combustion gives rise to high temperatures in the
(generally by the atmospheric oxygen) giving rise to range of 2000 degree Celsius or above then the
thermal energy. Typically, mere presence of the fuel atmospheric nitrogen and oxygen may react with
and oxygen does not lead to combustion. For each other, forming the oxides of nitrogen - another
example, there is fuel and oxygen present in the family of undesirable pollutants. Thus, we can see
automotive fuel tank but no combustion takes place that while combustion of a fuel gives rise to thermal
therein. It must be initiated by a source of ignition - energy, it produces some undesirable pollutants such
what a spark plug does in a gasoline engine or a as unburned fuel, carbon monoxide and the oxides of
lighted matchstick may do in the fuel tank. nitrogen. Nowadays, when man is using energy in
greatly unchecked manner even carbon dioxide is
Once the combustion takes place, thermal heat is
considered as undesirable because of it being one of
produced that was inherent in the particular fuel.
the so-called greenhouse gases.
This gives rise to increase in temperature. Some fuels
release much more energy than some other fuels. For Combustion in Agnihotra
example, typical hydrocarbons fuels such as methane,
propane, gasoline, diesel, etc. have their thermal Agnihotra consists of a base fire generated in a
energy in the range of 10,000 calories per gram of specially designed vessel built/fixed on the surface of
fuel, called Calorific Value of the fuel. Upon the level ground. Burning firewood of certain
combustion (that is, oxidation by atmospheric specified characteristics forms the base fire. Firewood
oxygen) the final temperatures may be as high as being a cellulose material has much lower calorific
2500 degree Celsius, called the adiabatic flame value. The base fire has much lower temperatures
temperature of the particular fuel. There are fuels than in the typical engines. To this base fire, certain
that have smaller calorific values such as cellulose substances are added periodically in the form of
materials, wood being one of them. Typical firewood oblations. Purified butter (ghrtam) and several herbal
may have calorific value around 3000 calories per substances are added into the base fire. Maharsi
gram of fuel - about one-third of the hydrocarbon Dayananda Sarasvati (1824-'83) has stated in
fuel. This is easy to understand because hydrocarbon Satyartha-Prakasa that the herbal substances to be
fuels have only carbon and hydrogen atoms in their added into agnihotra should be 1) wholesome, i.e.
molecular structure while cellulose materials have health givers, 2) anti-bacterial, 3) aroma-builders, i.e.
oxygen atoms too in addition to the carbon and deodorants, and 4) sweeteners.
hydrogen atoms. That means that the molecular
It should be emphasized that the purpose of agnihotra
structure of cellulose materials has embedded oxygen
is not to burn the substances that are added in the form
atoms. In other words, they are partly oxidized within
of oblations, rather it is to vaporize them, i.e. to heat
their molecular structure and upon combustion they
them just to the extent that they are transformed
can be further oxidized by the atmospheric oxygen to
into vapor phase. Thereby they diffuse into the
the remaining lesser extent only. Hence their calorific
surrounding air and transform the air quality.
value is much lower. Upon combustion, they are
Coupled with the buoyancy and aerodynamic effects
likely to cause maximum temperatures in the range
due to the thermal energy released by the base fire,
of 800 - 1200 degree Celsius only.
the vaporized substances traverse to all nooks and
Upon complete combustion, we expect formation of corners of the enclosed room. In other words, the
carbon dioxide and water vapor as the products. Due base fire is utilized to convert ghrtam and the herbal
to the deficiency in the availability of oxygen, or substances into gaseous phase (i.e. their fumigation),
other possible reasons some fuel remains unburned, and furthermore, to aerodynamically transport the
or gets only partially oxidized to carbon monoxide. same to the entire surroundings in a most effective
 Agnihotra : A Combustion Scientist's View

manner. The buoyancy forces enhance the transport greenery. In the presence of sunlight the vegetation
processes. converts the carbon dioxide into oxygen.

It must happen that a fraction of the substances In the modern times, our life style gives rise to
added as oblations do go through combustion formation of carbon dioxide in very large
process, especially so must be true with ghrtam. proportions. In the olden days, carbon dioxide was
Their effects upon combustion is not expected to be not an undesirable combustion product. Though its
harmful to the atmosphere because they are carefully control is required now, by any means agnihotra
chosen to bear one or more of the above four should not be criticized for the same. We should
characteristics. Details of the related chemistry have concentrate on other sources of carbon dioxide
been sufficiently dealt with by Satya Prakash in because agnihotra has many advantages in the
'Chemistry of Agnihotra' published by Jan Gyan context of air pollution. We are not aware of any
Prakashan, New Delhi, and by Ram Prakash in 'Yajna other method to purify the air once that has been
Vijnana Vimarsh' published by Aneeta Arsha polluted by us. This requirement is of enormous
Prakashan, Panipat, India - both the authors were proportion for the indoor air because that is what we
chemists. breathe in most of the time. This is becoming
increasingly important because the modern man is
Overall result of the agnihotra is that the desirable increasingly spending more time indoor, and his life
substances can be inhaled through the nostrils by style is doing more and more harm to the
one and all. This mechanism of intake as opposed to environment. In the given circumstances, agnihotra
the direct means through the mouth (in the liquid has become much more desirable. The air fresheners
and solid phase) is more efficient by a factor of that are commercially available cannot purify the
several hundreds. Also, it seems to be the only way indoor air. Their purpose can be very limited to
to cleanse the indoor air. As opposed to a typical air reduce the undesirable foul odor, and even for that
freshener, which simply attempts to neutralize the purpose their side effects have to be fully
stale air, agnihotra drives the indoor air out thereby understood.
causing outdoor fresh air to move in. In addition to
this, it effectively neutralizes the stale indoor air as The ancient Rsis had truly understood that Agni is a
explained by the characteristics of the herbal devata of insentient type because of its ability to
substances utilized. return the substances to us in a form that magnifies
the positive effects thereof by many hundred times.
Let us now discuss the production of pollutants by According to Yaska, a devata or a deva is one who
the base fire, if any. As we have said, the base fire is gives us useful things, light or knowledge. In that
generated by burning firewood, which has lower sense agnihotra is a ritual to perform devapuja, and
calorific value than the typical hydrocarbon fuels. This hence it is called devayajna too.
ensures lower temperatures when oxides of nitrogen
cannot be formed. The design of the vessel ensures Summary
plenty of oxygen and the amount of firewood burned
Agnihotra consists of a base fire wherein some
is to the minimum extent so that carbon monoxide is
desirable herbal substances are added. Since the
minimal, as well as the unburned hydrocarbons.
calorific value of firewood used to generate the base
Carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas is definitely
fire is much less, the base fire breaks up the
formed, and therefore, it is suggested that the
molecule-to-molecule bond of the substances
agnihotra ought to be performed during and after
causing them to vaporize, and does not cause their
sunrise, and well before sunset in an area with
independent combustion process the chemical
sufficient green cover. Such local surroundings ensure
process is called fumigation. It is a well-known fact
that the carbon dioxide is well utilized by the green
that the substances when taken in their vapor form
cover in the vicinity to give rise to oxygen and
through the nostrils have much greater efficacy -
 Agnihotra : A Combustion Scientist's View

many hundred times more. And, the same quantity 1 Understanding of the related chemistry and
of substance can benefit a much larger population. It aerodynamic processes,
is a common experience that if an individual eats a
2 Desire to undo the harm that human beings
green chilly then that person alone would be
did to the environment even with simplest and
sneezing under its influence. But if the same chilly is
wisest life style that they had,
put in the fire then the resultant air can cause many
hundreds of people to sneeze. Thus, Agnihotra 3 Desire to improve the environment not just for
magnifies the advantages of the desirable herbal the personal good but also for the good of the
substances. Further to this, the thermal and entire society, i.e. to be guided by a spirit of
associated aerodynamic effects of the base fire cause universal good,
the vaporized substances to traverse and diffuse into
4 Bold initiative to do a seemingly bizarre act of
every part of the enclosed surroundings where
putting the useful substances into the fire,
agnihotra may be conducted.
which demonstrates their deep understanding
The overall temperatures in the combustion of of the properties of the matter and associated
firewood are lower to the extent that production of laws of conservation of mass, that of phase
the oxides of nitrogen can be safely ruled out. Supply transformation at lower temperatures versus
of more than adequate oxygen cannot give rise to burning at higher temperatures, and
production of unburned hydrocarbon or carbon
5 Identification of the properties of the purified
monoxide in any significant measure. Minimum
butter (ghrtam) and other herbal substances
quantity of firewood is burned in the agnihotra.
and their utilization in the process of
Burning of firewood is not the purpose of the
agnihotra.
agnihotra it's the means. The same is burned in
minimum quantity so that the base fire remains Their contribution lies in identifying fire as the agent
available to vaporize the incoming oblations. Carbon to multiply the benefits of the herbal substances
dioxide, a greenhouse gas does get formed. With this through agnihotra in a ritual that otherwise may look
in mind, the ancient Vedic seers always performed to a layman as a senseless act of throwing away the
agnihotra in green surroundings and in the presence useful substances. Furthermore, they packaged the
of sunlight so that the greenery utilizes the carbon ritual in such a manner that it became a wonderful
dioxide so generated. In the modern times, when art of our overall development in all our domains, viz.
agnihotra is performed in cramped households care physical, pranic, mental, intellectual and spiritual.
should be taken to keep some plants in the vicinity.

The process of agnihotra was in vogue in classical

times. It is worth admiring the ancient scholars'
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