The Inner Conflict of Tradition: Essays in Indian Ritual, Kingship, and Society c8.s2.1

c8.s2.1

The clearest ritual manifestation of the footprint is not in the Iḍā ceremony, but in the rite of the "seventh step" of the Soma cow, that is, the cow that will function as the barter price at the purchase of the Soma stalks.²² After a piece of gold—representative of the fire—has been put on the step, ghee is poured on it. Then the sand of the footprint is taken up and divided in three parts; two parts are thrown on the hearths of the gārhapatya and āhavanīya fires and the third is given to the sacrificer's wife. The mantras that accompany this rite call the Soma cow Iḍā and refer to her seventh step as "the head of the earth," "the sacrificial spot of the earth," and "Iḍā's footprint filled with ghee." Interestingly, the Soma cow is also called dakṣiṇā.²³ As I have argued elsewhere, the Soma cow and the dakṣiṇā are related to each other as the two poles of the cyclical regeneration process of the goods of life, which starts with the Soma cow and its seventh step and reaches its acme at the distribution of food and gifts.²⁴