CIRCUMAMBULATION OF THE EARTH IN THE MAHĀBHĀRATA—CONQUEST OF THE DIRECTIONS OR GUIDED TOUR OF TĪRTHAS?
RENATE SÖHNEN-THIEME
SOAS, London rs2@soas.ac.uk
It is obvious that a tour around India (alias a “circumambulation” of the known earth = the Indian subcontinent) can be taken up for various purposes; it is especially known for being combined with a visit of all possible holy places (identified as “tīrthas”) on the way. But an older form of it is presumably the digvijaya, the “conquest of the directions (of the earth = India)”, originally required of a prospective cakravartin ‘emperor’ before performing an aśvamedha, which is probably the most renowned sacrifice from the Brāhmaṇa-period (AiBr) onward. It is also believed to destroy all sins, even brahmahatyā ‘murder of a brahmin’ (e.g., in the TaiBr, where it is recommended to Indra because he had become guilty of this sin by killing Vṛtra, who had meanwhile achieved the status of a brahmin). Because of this “sin-destroying” quality/function it is taken up also towards the end of the MBh, to relieve Yudhiṣṭhira from the worry that under his leadership so many heroes had been killed during the battle. There is in this case no digvijaya necessary (since he was the victor at the end of the battle), but Arjuna, on guarding the horse roaming freely around the sub-continent, takes up another tour around India (after his vanavāsa in the Ādiparvan) in the Āśvamedhika–parvan. Apart from this, the merit of pious or otherwise recommendable deeds is also measured by the “currency” of the merit of ‘horse sacrifices’ (as will be mentioned in discussions about the tīrthayātrā before the Pāṇḍavas set out for it in the Āraṇyaka–parvan).