The Inner Conflict of Tradition: Essays in Indian Ritual, Kingship, and Society c19.s6.50
The Inner Conflict of Tradition: Essays in Indian Ritual, Kingship, and Society c19.s6.50
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c19.s6.50
41. Cf. H. P. Schmidt, *Bṛhaspati and Indra* (Wiesbaden, 1968), 237f. Schmidt specifically refers to Indra's priestly characteristics, also indicated by epithets sometimes given to Indra, for example, *ṛṣi*, *kavi*, *vipra*. What is of interest to us here is Indra's apparently shifting nature. Schmidt wants to harmonize these shifting traits into a single consistent image of a king-priest. My approach is different in that it emphasizes as essential Indra's ambiguity and alternation between the two roles, corresponding to the alternation and exchange between sacrificial patron and brahman.