The Inner Conflict of Tradition: Essays in Indian Ritual, Kingship, and Society c17.20

c17.20

So the unresolved tension within the worldly order of caste bears down in full force on the dual agency of king and brahmin. On the one hand, we find the collectivistic world of the jātis tenuously held together, or rather constantly rearranged, by the king; on the other hand, there is the brahmin whose individualistic varṇa concept is aimed at decomposing this world. In the open space circumscribed by these two opposite and incompatible principles, the arrangements for handling their tension have to be worked out time and again. The tension is insoluble and the arrangements for handling it therefore remain open to recall and replacement. In other words, the very insolubility of the tension provides a dynamic that opens up the world, invites new ways of handling it, and favors pluralism.