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The Inner Conflict of Tradition: Essays in Indian Ritual, Kingship, and Society c12.s1: 10

The Inner Conflict of Tradition: Essays in Indian Ritual, Kingship, and Society c12.s1

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English

10

c12.s1.1

But the pattern does not only involve cycles encompassed by other cycles such as those we have just observed. It also repeats itself in an unending sequence, and this means that the enthronization should again be followed by another abhiṣeka, another departure, and so forth. This indeed appears to have been the case. Thus Baudhāyana’s version of the vājapeya offers, as we saw, the sequence unction, chariot race, enthronization, but Āpastamba's version starts with the race, which, as expected, is followed by the enthronization and finally the unction, which is administered on the throne.⁷³ Baudhāyana and Āpastamba have, one might say, cut the cyclical concatenation in different places, but it is still the same cycle. This is not all. Although the vājapeya—like all śrauta sacrifices—is given as a single limited stretch of rites bounded by the standard beginning and end of the normal Soma sacrifice, the texts cannot completely disregard its cyclical follow-up. Therefore the vājapeya must again be followed by another consecratory Soma sacrifice, the *bṛhaspatisava*.⁷⁴ Now it is not made clear what exactly the ritual of the bṛhaspatisava is, but it is at least remarkable that the vājapeya itself is called a bṛhaspatisava.⁷⁵ No less interesting is what appears to be the occupation of the sacrificer during the interval between vājapeya and bṛhaspatisava: he leads the life of a warrior, for, as one text puts it, having performed the bṛhaspatisava, he should abandon the "warrior's way of life".⁷⁶ This is corroborated by another text, which enjoins that the vājapeya sacrificer should lead a warrior's life, and the same text says about the purpose of the bṛhaspatisava: "Whom they put at their head should henceforth lead a friendly life amongst them," that is, give up his warrior habits.⁷⁷ We have come to expect that the warrior phase of going abroad is followed by an enthronization after the triumphant return. Indeed, though the ritual specifics of the bṛhaspatisava that follows the vājapeya and the warrior phase are not clarified, there is at least one text that gives an elaborate description in which throne and enthronization figure prominently.⁷⁸

c12.s1.2

In connection with the bṛhaspatisava sequel to the vājapeya, a further particular may be mentioned. This sequel is also called *pratyavarohaṇīya*, "alighting," the point being that the vājapeya sacrificer should not get down, alight, in honor of anybody until he has performed the "alighting" ritual. The injunction not to get down obviously belongs to his proud warrior status. He must accept battle—and, if necessary, die—as is also demanded of him during the interval between the unction and haircutting festivities in the rājasūya, but on no account should he get down and thereby show himself to be the lesser man. The curious point is, however, that the punctilio implied here is not so much the king's affair as that of the warrior. Only when the vājapeya sacrificer has freed himself from the rigid warrior etiquette through the "alighting" ceremony, can he settle down again, mount the throne, and "henceforth lead a friendly disposed life." The "alighting," then, seems to refer primarily to alighting from the chariot, signifying the return to the settled community from the warrior's life in the outside world. Or, as one text puts it, "He who performs the vājapeya goes away from this world: they run a race, he climbs the sacrificial pole. If he would not perform the 'alighting,' he would ascend to yonder world, but he would waste himself. . . . By performing the 'alighting' he gains a firm base in this world, does not come to harm and obtains his full span of life. By means of these offerings he comes back from that world which he has conquered through the vājapeya."⁷⁹

c12.s1.3

In the meantime, it will have become clear that the difference between the rājasūya of the *Yajurveda* and the abhiṣeka in the *Aitareya Brāhmaṇa* is not a result of confusion but of the way in which the cycle was cut. The *Aitareya Brāhmaṇa* begins with the enthronization, which is followed by the unction. But there the matter does not end, for, as we have seen, after the unction the king goes abroad on a war or raiding expedition. This is also clearly indicated in the *Aitareya Brāhmaṇa*. After the punarabhiṣeka, the king not only makes three steps to the north—which is a symbol of departure and conquest—but the text follows this up with instructions and explanations regarding battle rites.⁸⁰ Still clearer is the case of the *aindramahābhiṣeka* in the same text, where a list is given of kings who performed this ceremony, went out on conquest, and on their return performed another consecratory sacrifice, namely, the horse sacrifice.⁸¹

Linked texts (3)