The Inner Conflict of Tradition: Essays in Indian Ritual, Kingship, and Society c9.24

c9.24

The adversary role of the vivaktṛ's pointing out of errors is clearly related to other contest-like episodes which also belong to the last day of the ten-day period. On that day Prajāpati, the mythical personification of sacrifice, is to be ceremonially reviled. Though this abuse, which consists either in verses mentioning the bad things he created or relating the well-known tale of Prajāpati's primordial incest, is not given as a dialogue, it follows immediatley on, or is even a part of, the brahmodya at the end of the tenth day.²⁹ The mystery of origins, resulting in both good and evil, and especially when these origins are cast in the controversial mold of the primordial incest, would seem to be a fitting theme of the brahmodya.³⁰