Yudhishthira's Ashwamedham 12 - The Yaaga Concludes Poem by Unnikrishnan Sivasankara Menon

Note on Ashwamedham Part 5. On the twenty-sixth day, the king was ritually purified, and the horse was yoked to a gilded chariot, together with three other horses, and Rigveda was recited. The horse was then driven into water and bathed. After this, it was anointed with ghee by the chief queen and two other royal consorts. The sacrificer offered the horse the remains of the night's oblation of grain. The horse was then suffocated to death. On the next morning, the priests dismember the horse and other animal victims with an oblation of their blood. On the third day an Atirātra was performed. Afterwards an Avabhṛtha takes place. Afterwards twenty-one sterile cows are sacrificed, and the dakshina was distributed to the priests. The rituals end here. The Laws of Manu refer to the Ashvamedha: 'The man who offers a horse-sacrifice for a hundred years reaps the fruit of good deeds.'