The Inner Conflict of Tradition: Essays in Indian Ritual, Kingship, and Society c7.7

c7.7

Thus we find that standard elements and acts of the ritual are referred to as the head of the sacrifice, their installation or performance signifying the severing or restoration of the head. The sacrificial cake is called the head, the potsherds on which it is baked representing the skull bones.⁴ Similarly treated are the offering fire (*āhavanīya*);⁵ the second *āghāra* libation preceding the main offerings;⁶ the guest offering for Soma;⁷ the *havirdhāna* hut where the Soma beverage is prepared and stored;⁸ the ukthya Soma sacrifice, which has three more stotra-śastra rounds than the basic Soma sacrifice;⁹ the *āśvina* Soma cup, the Aśvins’ reward for restoring the sacrifice’s head;¹⁰ the *vaśā* cow, representing the essence flowing away when the head of the sacrifice is cut off, so that the *vaśā* sacrifice after the Soma sacrifice signifies the restoration of the head;¹¹ the *vaṣaṭ* call cutting off the head of the gāyatrī meter, the outflowing essence becoming sacrificial animals;¹² the *gharma* or *mahāvīra* milkpot, central element in the pravargya ceremony, which is explained as the joining of the head to the sacrifice.¹³