The Inner Conflict of Tradition: Essays in Indian Ritual, Kingship, and Society c6.s5.6

c6.s5.6

In the same way, the cycle of the modes of life alternating between the community and the forest—which was no other than the cycle of the reciprocal prestations—has been cut in two. Consequently, the renouncer cannot return anymore to his previous state as the *viśvajit* sacrificer did. Where there was cyclical alternation, brahminical theory has substituted a rectilineal succession. The transition can be illustrated by what the ritual texts teach about a sacrifice similar to the *viśvajit* and abhijit, the *sarvamedha*. At this ceremony, the sacrificer should give in dakṣiṇās all he has conquered, and having resumed the fires in himself, he should betake himself to the forest.⁸⁴ After the sarvamedha, however, the sacrificer does not return anymore.