Beneficial Effects of Agnihotra on Environment and Agriculture

Abstract

Agnihotra is a type of sacrifice, which consists of making four offerings per day, two at sunrise and two at sunset of brown rice mixed with cow ghee to the fire, accompanied by chanting of mantras. Though Agnihotra is a Vedic ritual, it has scientific background and therefore we studied the effects of Agnihotra and its ash on the environment and plant growth. Experiments were performed to study the effects of Agnihotra fumes on microbial load, SOx and NOx levels in ambient air and plant growth. Experiments were also conducted to check the effects of Agnihotra ash on seed germination, plant growth, plant genotoxicity and water purification. From the study it was observed that Agnihotra resulted in reduction in microbial load and SOx levels but slight increase in NOx levels in surrounding air. There was significant increase in seed germination and plant growth as well as genotoxicity was neutralized due to Agnihotra ash. Our results suggest that Agnihotra ash can be used to purify waste water. It can be seen that Agnihotra is beneficial for environment and agriculture.