The Inner Conflict of Tradition: Essays in Indian Ritual, Kingship, and Society c12.s1.2

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