[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.s8 # The Inner Conflict of Tradition: Essays in Indian Ritual, Kingship, and Society c19.s8: Chapter Seven The Inner Conflict of Tradition: Essays in Indian Ritual, Kingship, and Society c19.s8 - **Language:** English ### Chapter Seven ### [c19.s8.1](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.heesterman-1985.c19.s8.1) 1. The relationship between the Upaniṣads and early Buddhism is a much debated but still unresolved question. The conclusion so far is that they represent two parallel but separate developments that do not show unequivocal evidence of mutual contact or influence (see P. Horsch, “Buddhismus und Upaniṣaden,” in \*Pratidānam: Studies Presented to F. B. J. Kuiper\* \[The Hague, 1968\], 462–77). They seem to have their homelands in different though adjoining areas. Buddhism arose in the periphery of the brahmanized regions of present-day Bihar, while the Upaniṣads have their home in the ancient “Middle Country” to the west. Even though the eastern homeland of Buddhism was already “profondément brahmanisé,” its brahmanism “n'est pas le Brahmanisme des Brāhmaṇas et des Upanishads” (L. de la Vallée Poussin, \*Indo-européens et Indo-iraniens\*, revised ed., \[Paris 1936\], 312). The same author’s wise but inconclusive summary still holds: “á l’époque des Unpanishads et du Bouddhisme, comme plus tard, les écoles exploitaient, chacune á leur manière, un certain fond commun, très riche, et que nous ne connaissons pas parfaitement” (ibid., 314). ### [c19.s8.2](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.heesterman-1985.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. ### [c19.s8.3](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.heesterman-1985.c19.s8.3) 2. See H. Bechert, “Einige Fragen der Religionssoziologie und Struktur des südasiatischen Buddhismus,”\*Internationales Jahrbuch für Religionssoziolgie\* 4 (1968): 251–95, esp. 260f. The starting point of formal relations between the temporal power and the sangha was the momentous purge of the internally divided sangha by the Maurya king Aśoka (see H. Bechert, “Aśoka’s Schismenedikt und der Begriff \*sanghabheda\*,” \*Weiner Zeitschrift für die Kunde Süd- und Ostasians\* 5 \[1961\]: 18–52. ### [c19.s8.4](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.heesterman-1985.c19.s8.4) 3. See J. C. Heesterman, \*The Ancient Indian Royal Consecration\* (The Hague, 1957), 226. ### [c19.s8.5](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.heesterman-1985.c19.s8.5) 4. L. Renou, “Le Destin du Veda dans l'Inde,” \*Études védiques et paninéennes\* 6 (1960): 2. ### [c19.s8.6](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.heesterman-1985.c19.s8.6) 5. See J. C. Heesterman, “Veda and Dharma,” in \*The Concept of Duty in South Asia\*, ed. W. D. O'Flaherty and J. D. M. Derrett (New Delhi and London, 1978), 80–95; also above, chapter 6, section 2. ### [c19.s8.7](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.heesterman-1985.c19.s8.7) 6. On the terms \*śruti\* and \*smṛti\*, see A. Ludwig, \*Der Rigveda\* (Prag, 1878), 3: 21–24. ### [c19.s8.8](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.heesterman-1985.c19.s8.8) 7. \*ĀpŚS\* 24. 1. 31. ### [c19.s8.9](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.heesterman-1985.c19.s8.9) 8. K. Jaspers, \*Vom Ursprung und Ziel der Geschichte\* (Zürich, 1949), 24. ### [c19.s8.10](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.heesterman-1985.c19.s8.10) 9. H. Oldenberg, \*Die Weltanschauung der Brāhmaṇa-Texte\* (Göttingen, 1919), 1. Cf. also S. Lévi, \*La Doctrine du sacrifice dans les Brāhmaṇas\*, 2d ed., (Paris, 1966), 3f., where the systematic, “scientific” nature of the texts is given equal attention. ### [c19.s8.11](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.heesterman-1985.c19.s8.11) 10. Thus Max Weber stresses priestly magic as “das absolut beherrschende Element” (\*Gesamonelte Aufsätze zur Religionssoziologie\* \[Tübingen, 1920\], 2: 136). ### [c19.s8.12](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.heesterman-1985.c19.s8.12) 11. \*RV\* 1. 164. 50 ab; 10. 90. 16 ab. ### [c19.s8.13](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.heesterman-1985.c19.s8.13) 12. Thus, for instance, the interesting attempt to study “le tronc commun de l'hindouisme . . . antour de la notion de sacrifice” (Madeline Biardeau and Charles Malamoud, \*Le Sacrifice dans l'Inde ancienne\*, \[Paris, 1976\], 13). See above, chapter 6, section 2. ### [c19.s8.14](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.heesterman-1985.c19.s8.14) 13. \*ĀpŚS\* 24. 1. 33; cf. S. N. Dasgupta, \*A History of Indian Philosophy\*, reprint ed. (Cambridge, 1969), 1: 405. ### [c19.s8.15](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.heesterman-1985.c19.s8.15) 14. Cf. \*AB\* 6. 34. 4. ### [c19.s8.16](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.heesterman-1985.c19.s8.16) 15. Cf. \*AB\* 7. 27. ### [c19.s8.17](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.heesterman-1985.c19.s8.17) 16. \*Mbh\* 12. 8. 34–37. ### [c19.s8.18](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.heesterman-1985.c19.s8.18) 17. \*ŚB\* 6. 8. 1. 1. See J. C. Heesterman, “Opferwildnis und Ritualordnung,” in \*Epiphanie des Heils\*, ed. Gerhard Oberhammer (Vienna, 1978), 13–25, esp. 14f. ### [c19.s8.19](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.heesterman-1985.c19.s8.19) 18. \*JB\* 2. 299 (Auswahl no. 156); see above, chapter 6, section 3. ### [c19.s8.20](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.heesterman-1985.c19.s8.20) 19. Hesiod, \*Works and Days\*, 161–65; see P. Walcot, “Cattle Raiding, Heroic Tradition, and Ritual,” \*History of Religions\* 18 (1979): 326–51, esp. 327. ### [c19.s8.21](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.heesterman-1985.c19.s8.21) 20. \*JB\* 2. 68–69 (Auswahl no. 128); see above, chapter 2, section 6. ### [c19.s8.22](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.heesterman-1985.c19.s8.22) 21. See L. Renou and L. Silburn, “Sur la notion de \*bráhman\*,” \*Journal Asiatique\*, 1949, 7–46 (reprinted in Renou, \*L'Inde fondamentale: Études d'indianisme réunies et présentées par Charle Malamoud\* \[Paris, 1978\], 83—116). ### [c19.s8.23](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.heesterman-1985.c19.s8.23) 22. See above, chapter 6, sections 3 and 4. ### [c19.s8.24](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.heesterman-1985.c19.s8.24) 23. Renou, “La Notion de \*bráhman\*.” ### [c19.s8.25](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.heesterman-1985.c19.s8.25) 24. See J. C. Heesterman, “Vrātya and Sacrifice,” \*Indo-Iranian Journal\* 6 (1962): 1–37, esp. 23f. Also above, chapter 6, sections 7–8. ### [c19.s8.26](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.heesterman-1985.c19.s8.26) 25. In a performance of the \*agnicayana\* ritual by Nambudiri brahmins of Kerala in 1975 (recorded on film and tape by J. F. Staal and R. Gardner), the whole of the ritual emplacement was even burned. The spectacle distinctly brought to mind the \*pralaya\* conflagration at the end of a world period. ### [c19.s8.27](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.heesterman-1985.c19.s8.27) 26. See Weber, \*Religionsozialogie\*, 1: 465; Wolfgang Schluchter, \*Rationalismus der Weltbeherrschung\* (Frankfort/Main, 1980), 16. ### [c19.s8.28](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.heesterman-1985.c19.s8.28) 27. \*Mbh\* 12. 225. 30–36. ### [c19.s8.29](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.heesterman-1985.c19.s8.29) 28. See Max Weber, \*Wirtschaft und Gesellschaft\* (Studienausgabe hrsg. von J. Winckelmann) (Cologne and Berlin, 1964), 396. ### [c19.s8.30](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.heesterman-1985.c19.s8.30) 30. Interestingly where \*tyāga\* occurs in the \*Ṛgveda\*, it is the giving up of his life by the warrior in (sacrificial) battle (4. 24. 3). 31. On the chief meritorious act of each of the four \*yugas\*, see \*Manu\* 1. 85–86; also Robert Lingat, “Time and the Dharma,” \*Contributions to Indian Sociology\* 6 (1962): 7–16. 32. \*Manu\* 3. 64, 153; 4. 84–85, 218. See above, chapter 2, section 9. 33. See above, chapter 6, section 8. 34. \*ŚB\* 6. 8. 1. 4. 35. Jaspers, \*Vom Ursprungund Zeil\*, 33. 36. \*ŚB\* 1. 4. 1. 10–17. 37. \*TB\* 1. 8. 4. 1–2; \*ŚB\* 5. 5. 2. 5. See W. Rau, \*Staat und Gesellschaft im alten Indien\* (Wiesbaden, 1957), 15. On the \*vrātya\* expeditions of the “sons of the Kurubrahmans,” \*Staat und Gesellschaft\*, see also \*BaudhŚS\* 18. 26: 374. 8. 38. Rau, \*Staat und Gesellschaft\*, 51–54. 39. On \*yoga\* (yoking) and \*kṣemya\*, see H. Oertel, \*The Syntax of Cases\* (heidelberg, 1926), 223–27 (Excursus on . . . \*yogakṣema\*); also J. C. Heesterman, “Householder and Wanderer,” in \*Way of Life; Essays in Honour of Louis Dumont\*, ed. T. N. Madan (New Delhi, 1982), 251–71. 40. \*AB\* 2. 37. 1; \*KB\* 7. 7. 41. On the geographical and historical context of Zarathustra and on his reform of sacrifice, see K. Rudolph, “Zarathustra: Prieter und Prophet,” \*Numen\* 8 (1961): 81–116 (reprinted in \*Zarathustra\*, ed. B. Schlerath \[Darmstadt, 1970\], 270–313). 42. Jaspers, \*Vom Ursprung und Zeil\*, 43. ## Linked texts (10) - [Aitareyabrāhmaṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/in.veda.brahmana.aitreya.6.34) — Mahidāsa Aitareya, Sanskrit - [Āpastambaśrautasūtra](https://indike.org/pramana/in.vedanga.kalpa.srauta.apastamba.24.1.31) — Āpastamba, Sanskrit - [Mahābhārata](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.mahabharata.vyasa.12.8.34) — Vyāsa, Sanskrit - [Ṛgvedasaṃhitā](https://indike.org/pramana/in.veda.samhita.rg.1.164.50) — Sanskrit - [Śatapathabrāhmaṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/in.veda.brahmana.satapatha.6.8.1.1) — Yājñavalkya & Śāṇḍilya (Vedic teacher), Sanskrit - [Baudhāyanaśrautasūtra](https://indike.org/pramana/in.vedanga.kalpa.srauta.baudhayana.18.26) — Baudhāyana, Sanskrit - [Kauṣītakibrāhmaṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/in.veda.brahmana.kausitaki.7.7) — Kauṣītaki, Sanskrit - [Mānava Dharmaśāstra](https://indike.org/pramana/in.niti.dharma.manu.1.85) — Manu & Bhṛgu, Sanskrit - [Taittirīyabrāhmaṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/in.veda.brahmana.taittiriya.1.8.4.1) — Sanskrit - [Jaiminīyabrāhmaṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/in.veda.brahmana.jaiminiya) — Sanskrit --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.heesterman-1985.c19.s8](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.heesterman-1985.c19.s8) · Pramāṇa