The Inner Conflict of Tradition: Essays in Indian Ritual, Kingship, and Society c14.s1.32

c14.s1.32

There are, of course, priestly functions in the sacrifice, but originally these did not require a professional priesthood. This is illustrated by the *sattra*, the sacrificial session (lasting twelve days or longer) in which a number of sacrificers join together and divide among themselves the various priestly functions without there being any question of the participants having to belong to a priestly class. Rather, it would seem that the sacrifice was primarily a concern of warriors competing for the goods of life—material as well as spiritual—in all manner of contests, not in the last place the verbal contest. As we saw, the decisive point in the contest is the inspired "vision" of the cosmic enigma expressed in the victorious riddle formulation. But this vision does not seem to be the monopoly of a priestly class.