Ashvamedha (aśvamedha)

The Ashvamedha is the horse sacrifice, in which a consecrated stallion is released to wander for a year while an army follows it, fighting any king who dares to stop it, before it is brought back and offered. Yudhishthira performs one after the war as expiation for the killing of kinsmen, with Arjuna as the horse's guardian, and the journey supplies the Ashvamedhika Parva with its battles, including Arjuna's defeat at the hands of his own son. The rite is the highest claim a king can make and, in this epic, also the most desperate.