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===ఇతిహాసాలలో నిర్వహణ===
[[బొమ్మ:Asvamedha ramayana.JPG|thumb|right|300px|illustration of the Ramayana by Sahib Din, 1652. Kausalya is depicted slaying the horse (left) and lying beside it (right)]]
Performances of the Ashvamedha feature in the [[Sanskrit Epics|epics]] [[Ramayana]] (1.10–15) and [[Mahabharata]].
In the Mahabharata, the sacrifice is performed by [[Yudhishtira]] (Book 14), his brothers guarding the horse as it roamed into neighbouring kingdoms. [[Arjuna]] defeats all challengers. The Mahabharata says that the Ashvamedha as performed by Yudhishtira adhered to the letter of the Vedic prescriptions. After the horse was cut into parts, [[Draupadi]] lies beside the slain animal (14.89). {{Fact|date=February 2007}}
In the Ramayana, [[Rama]]'s father [[Dasharatha]] performs the Ashvamedha, which is described in the ''bala kanda'' (book 1) of the poem. The Ramayana provides far more detail than the Mahabharata. Again it is stated that the ritual was performed in strict compliance with Vedic prescriptions (1.14.10). Dasaratha's chief wife [[Kausalya]] circumambulates the horse and ritually pierces its flesh (1.14.33). Then "Queen Kausalya desiring the results of ritual disconcertedly resided one night with that horse that flew away like a bird." [1-14-34].<ref>[http://www.valmikiramayan.net/bala/sarga14/bala_14_frame.htm Translation by Desiraju Hanumanta Rao & K. M. K. Murthy]</ref> At the conclusion of the ritual Dasharatha symbolically offers his other wives to the presiding priests, who return them in exchange for expensive gifts (1.14.35).<ref>[http://www.valmikiramayan.net/bala/sarga14/bala_14_frame.htm Online version of the Ramayana in Sanskrit and English]</ref>
The ritual is performed again towards the end of the poem, but in very different circumstances. It figures centrally in the ''uttara kanda'' (book 7) where it leads to the final major story in the poem. In this narrative, Rama was married to a single wife, [[Sita]], who at the time was not with him, having been excluded from Rama's capital of [[Ayodhya]]. She was therefore represented by a statue for the queen's ceremony (7.x{{Fact|date=February 2007}}). Sita was living in [[Valmiki]]'s forest ashram with her twin children by Rama, [[Lava (Ramayana)|Lava]] and [[Kusha]], whose birth was unknown to Rama. In its wanderings, the horse, accompanied by an army and the monkey-king [[Hanuman]], enters the forest and encounters Lava, who ignores the warning written on the horse's headplate not to hinder its progress. He tethers the horse, and with Kusha challenges the army, which is unable to defeat the brothers. Recognising Rama's sons, Hanuman sends them to Ayodhya where they are reconciled with their father, who also accepts Sita back at court. Sita, however, no longer wishes to live, and is absorbed by the earth. It is never stated whether the sacrifice was completed, but after Sita's death Rama is said to have repeatedly performed the Ashvamedha using the golden statue as a substitute for his wife.{{Fact|date=February 2007}} <!-- citation of book, verse needed -->
Some historians believe that the bala kanda and uttara kanda were latter interpolations to the authentic form of the Ramayana, due to references to Greek, Parthians and Sakas, dating to no earlier than the 2nd century BCE<ref>The cultural Heritage of India, Vol. IV, The Religions, The Ramakrishna Mission, Institute of Culture</ref>
===యూరోపియను ఆచారాలతో పోలిక===
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