The Inner Conflict of Tradition: Essays in Indian Ritual, Kingship, and Society c6.s1.5

c6.s1.5

However, underneath the classical system, a different, older pattern can be discerned. Here in this older, preclassical pattern, purity and impurity are complementary to each other. The *yajamāna*, who has undergone the *dīkṣā*, is not pure, but on the contrary is charged with the evil of death to which he has to submit in order to be reborn. According to the texts of the Black Yajurveda, one should not eat his food, one should not put on his clothes, nor should one pronounce his name. The reason is the *dīkṣita*'s evil, the impurity of death.⁶ Being tainted by death, the *dīkṣita* has to divest himself of his impure self. In this way we understand that, for instance, the twelve-day ritual (*dvādaśāha*) is described as a gradual purification of the *yajamāna*.⁷ By means of the various offerings and the gifts (*dakṣiṇā*) which represent the parts of his body, he disposes of his impure self.⁸ Thus he is reborn pure, “out of the sacrifice.”