The Inner Conflict of Tradition: Essays in Indian Ritual, Kingship, and Society c19.s4.47

c19.s4.47

The White Yajurveda knows a similar start-with-five, end-with-one rule, but it cannot serve the same purpose as in the Black Yajurveda. The White Yajurveda has opted for the complete system and nothing but the system. The head cannot be taken outside the sacrifice; nor is there any sense in substituting an animal for the human victim, since one would still have to obtain the human head from outside. The solution attempted is to sever and keep the five heads within the sacrifice but to throw four of the bodies into the water from which the clay for the construction of the altar is to be taken. In itself, this practice may be old; moreover, it neatly expresses the idea of cyclical disintegration and reintegration: disintegrated bodies are reconstructed in the form of the altar and joined again with the heads. In terms of the system, however, the rule seems to have a somewhat different meaning. As the *Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa* puts it, by completing the sacrifice with all five victims, one "would reach the end of the fire altar," but one would not be able to collect the clay for building it (*ŚB* 6. 2. 1. 7, 13). That is, the sacrifice would be final and complete in itself (as it should be), but one would not be able to build the altar. Or, in other words, the sphere outside the sacrifice cannot be ignored. Whereas the Black Yajurveda acknowledges this fact by giving the outside sphere its due, the White Yajurveda has to integrate it. Throwing the bodies into the water, from where the clay is later taken, it extends the sacrificial sphere so as to include the outside world.