The Inner Conflict of Tradition: Essays in Indian Ritual, Kingship, and Society c14.6

c14.6

The absolute distinction between power and authority or between their representatives, king and brahmin, involves a fundamental contradiction, which should not be explained away but made central to the argument. The well-known tales of the struggle between king and brahmin—for example, when the earth has to be returned to the care of the kṣatriyas after they have been completely defeated by that curious combination of warrior and brahmin, Paraśurāma—do not relate historical events; they give expression to the contradictory relationship. It is on this contradiction that I want to focus the discussion of power and authority.