Yajna (yajña)

A yajna is a sacrifice, an offering made into consecrated fire with recited formulas, and the central public act of Vedic religion. In the Mahabharata the great royal sacrifices are political as much as religious: the Rajasuya makes Yudhishthira an emperor and the Ashvamedha atones for his war, while Janamejaya's snake sacrifice is an act of dynastic revenge. The Bhagavad Gita then reinterprets the whole institution, arguing that any action offered without attachment is itself a sacrifice.