The Inner Conflict of Tradition: Essays in Indian Ritual, Kingship, and Society c7.s1.9

c7.s1.9

We are now in a position to reconstruct the picture by simply putting together the two disjoined elements: the vaiśya guarding the treasure and the vaiśya fallen in battle whose head is taken. It may be recalled that elsewhere vaiśya and rival are also put on a par. At the vājapeya, the sacrificer has to contend—though in a strongly ritualized, that is, in a harmless, way—in a chariot race with vaiśyas.⁵⁹ *Jaiminīya Brāhmaṇa* 1. 183 equally puts vaiśya and enemy (*bhrātṛvya*) on a par. This passage is particularly interesting in that it deals with the sacrificer who has offered up all his possessions and then must recuperate. This he does by going to the enemy, that is, as we may surmise, to the enemy's festival.