The Inner Conflict of Tradition: Essays in Indian Ritual, Kingship, and Society c10.37

c10.37

The agnihotra illustrates how the elimination of conflict and catastrophe resulted in the internal contradiction of Vedic ritualism. This has already come out in the remarkable fact that the kṣatriya—the king and warrior who as the upholder of the dharma is the ideal sacrificer—is, according to the rules, excluded from the agnihotra. He cannot perform the agnihotra himself, and the brahmin is forbidden to perform it for him. The kṣatriya, so we are told, perpetrates many impure acts, eats impure food, he kills and plunders.⁴⁴ The ritualists have, of course, tried to remove this contradiction, but the result is a further deepening of the problem. Since the kṣatriya cannot perform the agnihotra or have it performed for him, he must instead feed brahmins. In this way, he still makes the required offerings, not in the fire, but in the brahmin.