The Inner Conflict of Tradition: Essays in Indian Ritual, Kingship, and Society c10.43

c10.43

The starting point for the prāṇāgnihotra may again be found with the dīkṣita. As we saw, the dīkṣita is not yet qualified to act as a sacrificer and patron. He must still win the goods to be spent in sacrifice and gifts. In the meantime, he should, by virtue of his vow (*vrata*), nourish himself only with boiled milk—a restriction that is apparently so characteristic that the dīkṣita's milk diet is simply known as vrata. The interesting point is that this vrata is expressly mentioned as the replacement of the agnihotra, which he is not yet entitled to perform as a sacrificer.⁵⁰ The dīkṣita is a prāṇāgnihotra sacrificer *avant la lettre*. As the dīkṣita sets out from the community, so the prāṇāgnihotra emancipates himself from society. The difference is that the dīkṣita hopes to return to society, and the prāṇāgnihotra perpetuates the distance from society. In the daily prāṇāgnihotra, the practitioner performs the food sacrifice without any outside help or reciprocity. In this way, it allows him to stay in society while maintaining his independence from it.