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One of the main process of yajna is to prepare food to be offered to a particular deity which is known as havi. I have read somewhere that in order to maintain balance as being immortals the Gods can not make their food.

That brings humans into picture as they offer food in yajna, and since this is a reciprocal relatinship, Gods in turn give humans the riches of cattle, food and sons.

The reciprocal relationship stems from the following verse of Rigveda which states Indra (also Indra has an epithet 'yajñávr̥ddha') :

aháṃ dāṃ gr̥ṇaté pū́rvyaṃ vásu, ahám bráhma kr̥ṇavam máhyaṃ várdhanam (X, 49, 1) 'I shall give to the singer the ancient boon, I shall make prayer the means of growth for me'.

Also, the food depends on the deity to be pleased. For example Pusan loves porridge since Rudra broke his teeth in one of their altercation hence barley porridge is offered to him in yajna.

My question is that since rigveda tells about this reciprocal relationship does later texts provide any account why Gods can not make their own food?

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From where you got the idea that god can not cook their own food ? Read RV. 6.17 (11 )Vishnu and Pusha cooked buffaloes and prepared three pots of somaras for Maruts and Indra before Indra killed Vritra. Another hymn RV.5.29 (7) gives the numbers of buffaloes to be three hundred for this occasion. Later on when people started worshipping them as gods, they offered food of the choice gods prefered in their real life in the past.

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  • Cite Vedic hymns properly with translation. Visit Guidelines and don't advertise your blog here.
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    "Later on when people started worshipping them as gods". This is the conclusion one will get if they translated Vedas as their wish..
    – The Destroyer ♦
    Oct 23, 2017 at 7:42
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  • You do know that Vedic hyms also say that cows and buffalos are made up of soma drops? And that soma comes from yajna? Do you know poetic fancy?
    – Anubhav Jha
    Mar 27, 2018 at 15:51

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