The Inner Conflict of Tradition: Essays in Indian Ritual, Kingship, and Society c19.s10.40

c19.s10.40

²³ This idea is also expressed in another way. The adhvaryu makes an image of a ram from barley groats, the pratiprasthātṛ, an image of a ewe. After being baked in the fire, the ewe is placed in the Varuṇa milk dish on the northern vedi, the ram in the Marut milk dish on the southern vedi. Then the positions are reversed, the ewe being placed in the Marut dish, the ram in the Varuṇa dish. Here again the explanation given refers to marital union through which the creatures are released from Varuṇa's bonds (*ŚB* 2. 5. 2. 17, 36). It is to be noted that these are not real animals; they are, as *MS* 1. 10. 12 and *KS* 36. 6 say, *anṛta*-