Türk ve Hint Kültüründe At Kurban Törenleri

Abstract

Sacrificial ceremonies accompanied by a number of rituals to gain the believed creator's satisfaction, to carry out a vow, to kick off evil spirits and to gain abundance and fertility have been carried out from the prehistoric ages.In these rituals existing in many religions, the sacrifices offered to the creator are basically divided into two categories such as bloody and bloodless. Whereas the bloodless sacrifices especially are consisted of goods, foods and beverages in bloody sacrifices, human and animals are used as altar. The species of animals in the bloody sacrifices vary according to cultures. The horse known as “the wing of the Turks” among these animals is also one of the altars in these sacrificial ceremonies.The horse having much importance in Turkish culture also maintains its importance in Indian culture and especially offers to God with great ceremonies called as “Ashvamedha”. In this works, it will be revealed horse-sacrificial ceremonies in Turkish and Indian cultures, and it will be presented how and in which ways these rituals are carried out and also the ceremonies applied by two different cultures.