The Inner Conflict of Tradition: Essays in Indian Ritual, Kingship, and Society c19.s13.32

c19.s13.32

32. Das, *Structure and Cognition*, 22–26. It is interesting that later on the Caturvedis lose their status and resort to a śūdra life, apparently through lack of faith in their divine calling, when their relationship with a heterodox king forces them to an ordeal (ibid., 26–31). The Trivedi brahmins—that is, those who are less perfectly in possession of the Vedas, having only three out of the total four—go through with the ordeal and win. Though the text does not connect the two episodes, the lesson seems to be that this world does not tolerate perfection. The less perfect Trivedis, closing their eyes to the incompatibility of power and purity, accept King Rāma's largesse and manage to come through, while the perfect Caturvedis try the humanly impossible and fail.