[Pramāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/) › [Studies](https://indike.org/pramana/ins) › [Polity, law and society](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity) › [The Inner Conflict of Tradition: Essays in Indian Ritual, Kingship, and Society](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.heesterman-1985) › c19.s6.33 # The Inner Conflict of Tradition: Essays in Indian Ritual, Kingship, and Society c19.s6.33 The Inner Conflict of Tradition: Essays in Indian Ritual, Kingship, and Society c19.s6.33 - **Language:** English ### [c19.s6.33](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.heesterman-1985.c19.s6.33) ⁵ According to the Taittirīyakas and the \*Jaiminīya Brāhmaṇa\*, the praising and reviling are done by the two champions who fight for the hide (cf. \*TS\* 7. 5. 9. 2; \*TB\* 1. 2. 6. 7; \*JB\* 2. 405). The abhigara and the apagara are further mentioned in the list of officiating participants at the serpent sattra (\*PB\* 25. 15. 3). That these two particular officiants are not just an incidental feature is suggested by the fact that at least one of them, the abhigara, has found a place in Baudhāyana's list of officiants in the standard Soma sacrifice, though no specific function is assigned to him. He occurs there together with the \*dhruvagopa\* (the guardian of the Soma beverage, not mentioned otherwise) and the \*saṃsrāva\* as an acolyte of the equally elusive \*sadasya\* (apparently the representative of the guests) (\*BaudhŚS\* 2. 3.: 37. 1). Obviously, a praising and reviling contest cannot be part of the explicitly nonagonistic classical ritual, and it is hardly surprising that the abhigara's counterpart, the "reviler," has been suppressed. It is to be noted that his fellow acolyte, the \*dhruvagopa\*, who guards the permanent Soma draught—against whom?—and who is a \*rājapūtra\*, also seems to be a contestant (on the side of the host and sacrificer). This suggests that the contest between "praiser" and "reviler" with the others. At least this is implied in Rāma's statements that partaking of the food from another varṇa brings about a change of varṇa among the partaker's progeny in the second or third generation. It might be interesting to compare on this point Held's theory on the origin of the classical varṇa from tribal clan organization (G. J. Held, \*The Mahābhārata: An Ethnological Study\* \[Leiden, 1936\], chap. 1). - [Previous: c19.s6.32](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.heesterman-1985.c19.s6.32) - [Next: c19.s6.34](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.heesterman-1985.c19.s6.34) - [Up: c19.s6](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.heesterman-1985.c19.s6) --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.heesterman-1985.c19.s6.33](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.heesterman-1985.c19.s6.33) · Pramāṇa