The Inner Conflict of Tradition: Essays in Indian Ritual, Kingship, and Society c6.s2.3

c6.s2.3

Since it is in the last resort oneself that one offers—the offerings and dakṣiṇās, as has been mentioned, represent the yajamāna—it is easy to see that the procedure involved a heavy risk. In addition, the reciprocal obligation not only to give but also to accept the evil, the death of the others, must have added to the strain of the relations between the parties. The continuity of life depended on the others, but this dependence was permeated with the idea of death. It is perhaps against this background that we should see the concept of "recurrent death" (*punarmṛtyu*).³⁹