The Inner Conflict of Tradition: Essays in Indian Ritual, Kingship, and Society c14.s1.6

c14.s1.6

If we now look at the mixed group of ratnins, the kinship character can be discerned. First, there are the two or three consorts of the king who represent in a direct way his affinal links with the people, whose "husband" he is sometimes said to be. A similar relationship obtained in the case of brahmin (or the *purohita*, the royal "chaplain") and king. Notwithstanding the later strictures against the brahmin's bonds with the king, the brahmin could not be left out from the circle of the ratnins. As we already saw in the *Bṛhad-Āraṇyaka* passage, the brahmin represents in the rājasūya the "womb" or origin of kingship, which explains his presence among the ratnins. His part, like that of the royal wives, falls in line with affinal relations. In the same way, the relation between the king and his purohita is represented as a marriage-like bond. It may also be recalled that this relationship has its counterpart in the king's acting as bride-giver to the officiating brahmins at the horse sacrifice—this being, in my opinion, the original meaning of the prescript that the king should give his wives to the chief officiants. More generally, the Soma sacrificer can by way of dakṣiṇā give his daughter in marriage to one of the officiants. Next come the *senānī*, or army leader, and the *rājanya* or *rājan*. The senānī seems to represent the cognate kin, to wit, the king's brother.⁹ Possibly the rājanya or rājan is also a cognate.¹⁰ He seems to correspond to the *bhrātṛvya*, the paternal cousin and rival, who at first sight, somewhat surprisingly, is one of the four anointers—a point to which we shall have to return.