The Inner Conflict of Tradition: Essays in Indian Ritual, Kingship, and Society c7.15

c7.15

Our brief and necessarily sketchy survey of these myths, broken down under the headings of the role of the head, agonistic festival, and host-guest relations, points to an ultimately coherent dualistic pattern. In this pattern, the two complementary opposites are the devas and the asuras, bound together in a permanent contest for a third, intermediary element, the “head of the sacrifice.''³² The ''head'' attached to one party creates a gap on the other side.³³ The gap must be filled by violently severing and reconquering the ''head.'' Equilibrium can only reside in a permanently renewed contest in which the two sides exchange the head. There is no final victor, since the conqueror will again need the other party to rid himself of the death and destruction he caused. When Indra severs the head of Namuci, it rolls after him, loudly accusing him, as *Taittirīya Brāhmaṇa* 1. 7. 1. 7 has it. The contest has to be followed by a revanche in unending cyclical repetition.