The Inner Conflict of Tradition: Essays in Indian Ritual, Kingship, and Society c19.s8.2

c19.s8.2

Caution is equally needed with regard to the view that assigns the exploitation and “recycling” of the common body of ideas to kṣatriya circles, which then come to be seen as the first “carriers” of the new doctrinal systems—whether Upaniṣadic or “heterodox”—as against the obtusely ritualistic brahmins. Much will eventually depend on the view of Vedic ritualism and of what it may tell us about the development of the varṇa concept and the emergence of the brahmin.