[Advaita-l] Purushamedha postings (fwd)

[Jaldhar H. Vyas]

On Thu, 8 Oct 2009, Sunil Bhattacharjya wrote:

> Dear Jaldharji,
>
> Nice post. I have one doubt. Do we have any details as to whether  the  
> victim had to have some merit (or is it demerit?) to be given the 
> benefit (or is it punishment of confinement?) of being offered / 
> sacrificed only to be released later? Was this ceremony, in reality, an 
> ancient way of correcting some people (ie. the Victim)?
>

No I do not think we can infer this.  The victims (there were 160+) 
represented all types of humanity.  The sacrificer through this rite gains 
their "power" by identifying himself in them.  That's why I see it as a 
natural precursor to the idea of sannyasa.

-- 
Jaldhar H. Vyas <jaldhar at braincells.com>