In the Hymns on Horse Sacrifice, horse is identified with the sun and fire. The animal is also identified with several other gods, as well as with the earthly racehorse. The horse is considered the symbol of supreme victory. The hymns which are dedicated to the horse praise the creature, kill it and at the same time lament its death. The hymns say that the horse had an awesome birth and he was born as a Swift Runner.
The hymns on the Sacrificial Horse sing that it was Lord Yama who brought the horse to the universe and Trita had harnessed him. Indra was the first to mount him, and the Gandharva had grasped his reins. It is believed that the horse was fashioned from the sun. The hymn also believes that the horse is Yama, Aditya, Trita and Soma in disguised form. The horse has three bonds in the sky and he is as Swift as Lord Varuna.
According to the Rig Vedic hymns the chariot follows the horse just in the way a young man follows his lover. It is believed that the mane of the horse is golden; his feet are bronze and he is swift even faster than Indra. The Gods it is believed has entrusted the horse with virile power.
The hymns say that the gods are very eager to worship the one who had mounted the horse for the first time. It has been said that the body of the horse flies, his mane is spread in many directions and he flickers and jumps about in the forests.
It is believed by the composers of the hymn that through the holy sacrifice the horse will be able to reach his Father and Mother that is the Almighty and all his desires will be fulfilled once he reaches his heavenly abode.
The next part of he hymn deals with the sacrifice of the horse. The very beginning of the process involves sacrificing a goat who it is believed reaches Pusan through the process of sacrifice. The ritual involving the sacrifice of the horse is that the men circle three times, leading the horse that is to be the oblation on the path to the gods.
It is believed that the sacrifice will not bring about any harm to the horse. The horse does not experience a real death through this but on the other hand he goes to the gods on paths which are pleasant to go on.
The hymns sing that the sacrifice of the horse brings to mankind good cattle and good horses, children and all-nourishing wealth. It also makes mankind free from all sins and empowers mankind with a sovereign power.
The last part of the hymn dedicated to the sacrificial horse is a funerary farewell to a beloved horse. The hymns may refer to a particular ritual, possibly even to the immolation of a sacred horse. At some places the hymns say that the after the horse is sacrificed he puts on a new body, and dwell happily there afterwards, just as the dead man does.
Some parts of the hymns obliquely allude the horses of heaven. It is believed that they have more powers than the forefathers and are given special mental power by the gods before taking on their heavenly bodies. The last hymn also says that that all living creatures are somehow bound to or are encompassed by the powers of these celestial equines, who gallop around a racecourse made of the space between sky and earth. The hymn also describes the transition of the horse to heaven where he is given a new body, gathering into it the qualities that it had on earth. It is believed that the horse changes into this body as the sun changes its form.
It may, however, be the spirit who leads the horse to the world of the dead, the third light; in general, the term often refers to Agni, Soma, or the forefathers. Finally the hymn ends speaking of the body in more general terms, contrasting the body put on in heaven with the body left on earth in the form of offspring.
