The Inner Conflict of Tradition: Essays in Indian Ritual, Kingship, and Society c19.s3.87

c19.s3.87

88\. There can be difference of opinion on doctrines and practices, and these differences have often taken the form of remarkably acrimonious disputes and rivalries. But these conflicts differ from "worldly" conflicts. They turn ostensibly on doctrine. Conflict in society concerns one's place, rights, and duties in the community, but it presupposes one's belonging to it. Doctrinal conflict, on the other hand, makes one's belonging dependent on allegiance to the right doctrine. It brings the individual and his choice into sharp focus. Thus the sharply profiled contrast or conflict between the householder-sacrificer and the renouncer is not identical with the divide between the social world and world renunciation. Even if the householder-sacrificer can be made out to stand for society, his opposition to the renouncer proper is primarily one of doctrine. Both partake of the individualized sphere characterized by renunciatory values. Their conflict is fought on the other, nonworldly side of the barrier.