The Horse Head Motif

The Horse Head Motif

Shamans and priests all over the world have used animal masks in rituals that have some totem significance.
In Indian lore, there are a number of instances in which humans or otherwise human-looking deities are said to have horse heads. The Asvin Twins, Dadhyanc and Hayagriva are the most prominent of these.
The following verses from the Satapatha Brahmana tells the story of Dadhyanc who had his own head cut off and replaced with the head of the sacrificed horse. Devices like these are not uncommon in explaining the use of masks in different cultures.

"18. Now Dadhyank Atharvana knew this pure essence, this Sacrifice -- how this head of the Sacrifice is put on again, how this Sacrifice becomes complete.
19. He then was spoken to by Indra saying, 'If thou teachest this (sacrificial mystery) to any one else, I shall cut off thy head.'
20. Now this was heard by the Asvins, --'Verily, Dadhyank Atharvana knows this pure essence, this Sacrifice, -- how this head of the Sacrifice is put on again, how this Sacrifice becomes complete.'
21. They went up to him and said, 'We two will become thy pupils.' --'What are ye wishing to learn?' he asked.--'This pure essence, this Sacrifice,--how this head of the Sacrifice is put on again, how this Sacrifice becomes complete.' they replied.
22. He said, 'I was spoken to by Indra saying, 'If thou teachest this to any one else, I shall cut off thy head;' therefore I am afraid lest he should indeed cut off my head: I cannot take you as my pupils.'
23. They said, 'We two shall protect thee from him,' -- 'How will ye protect me?' he replied. -- They said, 'When thou wilt have received us as thy pupils, we shall cut off thy head and put it aside elsewhere; then we shall fetch the head of a horse, and put it on thee: therewith thou wilt teach us; and when thou wilt have taught us, then Indra will cut off that head of thine; and we shall fetch thine own head, and put it on thee again."
(Satapatha Brahmana XIV 1.1.28, from Max Muller's translation)

Here the putting on of the head of the sacrifice obviously refers to a type of horse mask. Indra cuts off Dadhyank's fake horse's head thinking it was his real head with a horse mask.

Image Gallery

Return to A new look at Vedic India

This work may be distributed broadly as long as proper attribution is included. However, permission of author is required if you wish to mirror this article on another website. Please contact me at .