The Inner Conflict of Tradition: Essays in Indian Ritual, Kingship, and Society c10.23

c10.23

Clearly a bifurcation has taken place. The intellectualized and systematized Vedic ritual, which has reduced sacrifice to the point where its very name is a source of misunderstanding, has been set apart in lonely eminence as the *śruti*, the revealed injunction. As such, it has no common ground with the world, with its concerns and sacrifices. But for the same reason, one keeps referring back to it, as we noticed, in language and terminology, in the same way that the dharma has to invoke the ultimate authority of the śruti with which it has no real connection anymore. The connection between the peasant *jajmān* and the Vedic *yajamāna* is at best a flimsy one. Nor can the Vedic ritual provide the jajmān with a model for the management of his affairs or even for his sacrifice. But the intention to relate life to ritual somehow is all the more serious, for otherwise there is no source of ultimate authority and legitimation.