The Inner Conflict of Tradition: Essays in Indian Ritual, Kingship, and Society c10.31

c10.31

The need for food forces man to enter into violent contact with the sacred and to expose himself to the ominous consequences of his transgression. He can only neutralize these risks by giving up again what he has gained by his transgression—as King Hariścandra had to give up his son obtained from the deity—or, at least, by abandoning a token part of the food by pouring it in the fire. Otherwise he will, as in Bhṛgu's vision of the underworld,³⁷ be killed in his turn by the killed. In this way, we can understand why the agnihotra is viewed as an expiation for the evil committed in the house and that all food is seen as the remainder left from the fire offering.³⁸ In the same line, we also understand why the agnihotra is said to make the sacrificer overcome death and to lead him to immortality.³⁹ Without the fire offering he would himself fall prey to death because of the violation and killing he had to perpetrate to obtain his food.