The Inner Conflict of Tradition: Essays in Indian Ritual, Kingship, and Society c13.s1.26

c13.s1.26

In this conflict between the two parties in the sacrifice, the sacrificer's wife plays a central part. She is first, when she is led up by the pratiprasthātṛ, associated with the Maruts, for while leading her up, he invokes the Maruts and makes her recite the same mantra.³⁶ It would seem that the Maruts and the southern fire represent her own relatives, whose connubial link with the sacrificer’s party she embodies. The resolution of the conflict therefore centers on her as well as her husband. Having been led up and made to confess, she and the sacrificer together make the offering of the karambhapātrāṇi in the southern fire. While the sacrificer alone recites the invitatory stanza invoking Indra and the Maruts, the two together recite the offering verse: ‘‘What sin (*enas*) we have committed in the community or in the jungle, in the gathering (*sabhā*) or in ourselves (*indriye*) against the śūdra or the ārya, whatever sin we have committed against anybody’s right, of that sin you are the expiation, *svāhā*.’’³⁷ Thus not only the wife has been in the wrong, for both sacrificer and wife must atone together, but it is only through her cooperation that the conflict can be resolved and harmony restored.³⁸ Marital union, pairing (*mithuna*), is said to be essential for release from Varuṇa’s bonds.³⁹