The Inner Conflict of Tradition: Essays in Indian Ritual, Kingship, and Society c19.s6.14

c19.s6.14

14. This self-assertion in lieu of solution recurs also in other places of the aśvamedha brahmodya. The officiants take turns questioning each other. Thus, at the question of the brahman officiant concerning the three places (*padá*), the udgātṛ answers, “I am in those three places” (VS 23. 50); next the two partners change roles, and the udgātṛ questions the brahman, who ends his answer with “you are not superior to me in *māyā́*” (VS 52); this seems to be final, as now two other debaters take over. Next again brahman-udgātṛ and vice versa; when it is the brahman's turn to answer, he simply states, “I know the navel of the world,” without any further explanation (VS 60). Finally, in a last round, the sacrificer challenges the brahman (“I ask you . . . ”), who then concludes, as we saw, with the triumphant answer (“I am the highest extension of speech . . . ”).