The Inner Conflict of Tradition: Essays in Indian Ritual, Kingship, and Society c13.s1.18

c13.s1.18

Although this sacrifice, which incidentally forms part, together with the other seasonal sacrifices, of the royal ritual (*rājasūya*), is not presented in the ritual texts as a collective festival—like other śrauta sacrifices it is described as strictly a single-sacrificer affair—it is not difficult to read between the lines its origin in a collective ceremony, as is the case with the śrauta sacrifice in general.²² In other words, behind Kauṭilya's auditing process lies a festive tribal gathering.