[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.s9.34 # The Inner Conflict of Tradition: Essays in Indian Ritual, Kingship, and Society c19.s9.34 The Inner Conflict of Tradition: Essays in Indian Ritual, Kingship, and Society c19.s9.34 - **Language:** English ### [c19.s9.34](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.heesterman-1985.c19.s9.34) 32. See also below, chapter 10, section 9. I am indebted for this view to the works of Louis Dumont (see in particular “World Renunciation in Indian Religions,” \*Contributions to Indian Sociology\* 4 \[1964\]: 33–62). I differ, however, with respect to the brahmin, whom Dumont views as the opposite of the renouncer, while my reading of the texts puts him on a par with the renouncer (cf. above, chapter 1, esp. n. 8, and "Priesthood and the Brahmin.") 33. \*Mbh\* 12. 69. 79ff.; 70. 6–25; 92. 6; 139. 10; \*Manu\* 9. 301f. 34. See Hesterman, \*Consecration\*, 143–46, 151–56. 35. \*Ibid.\*, 156. 36. See, e.g., the passages quoted by Rau, \*Staat und Gesellschaft\*, 59–61. 37. \*AŚ\* 6. 2. 22–28; \*Manu\* 7. 155–58; also Harmut Scharfe, \*Die Staatsrechtslehre des Kauṭalya\* (Wiesbaden, 1968), 120–27. See also below, chapter 10, section 5. 38. \*AŚ\* 6. 2. 39. 39. Scharfe, \*Die Staatsrechtslehre\*, 125f, 40. \*Viṣṇu Smṛti\* 3. 28, 48; \*Yājñavalkya\* 1. 335–37. 41. Lingat, \*Les Sources du droit\*, 256. 42. \*Manu\* 7. 54ff; \*Mbh\* 12. 87. 7ff. 43. \*Mbh\* 5. 34. 38. 44. \*AB\* 8. 17. 5. 45. E.g., \*Mbh\* 13. 85. 35; \*Śukranīti\* 2. 274. cf. also \*Jātakas\*, nos. 73, 432. The problem may be compared to that of kingship-by-the-grace-of-God and the right of resistance (see O. Brunner, "Vom Gottesgnadentum zum monarchischen Prinzip," in \*Die Entstehung des modernen Souveränen Staates\*, ed. H. H. Hoffman \[Cologne and Berlin, 1967\], 115–136). 46. On the much debated question of the king's "legislative" authority, see Lingat, \*Les Sources du droit\*, 251ff. 47. \*Manu\* 7. 203; \*Yājñavalkya\* 1. 342. 48. \*Manu\* 8. 41; \*Yājñavalkya\* 2. 192; \*Nārada\* 13. 2; \*Bṛhaspati\* 2. 28. 49. \*Manu\* 8. 46. 50. \*ĀpDhS\* 1. 7. 20. 6. 51. \*ĀpDhS\* 1. 7. 20. 7. 52. On the so-called Tegernseer Ludus or Ludus de Antichristo, see K. Langosch, \*Lateinische Dramen des Mittelalters\* (Darmstadt, 1961), 216: \*Deponam vetera, nova iura dictabo\*. 53. \*Manu\* 7. 13; 9. 275; \*Yājñavalkya\* 2. 186. The commentators are generally at pains to restrict this to occasional orders regarding, for example, the organization of festivals; one may also think of what we call administrative law. But the point to bear in mind is that the texts do not make such distinctions; dharma has to comprehend all or nothing. Moreover, elsewhere the king is instructed to prohibit those customs that are contrary to his wishes or interests (\*Nārada\* 10. 4). 54. \*AŚ\* 3. 1. 39. Further on, however, the same text does not mention rājaśāsana as a source of law (3. 1. 43). 55. \*Mbh\* 12. 59. 87ff. 56. Probably the next cycle of seven kings (or eight, if Visnu, the divine founder, is counted as the first, as the text does) should start with equally dismal risks and failures. The number seven recalls the seven kings of Rome. 57. \*Mbh\* 12. 67. Cf. also the Buddhist notion of the king as the \*mahāsammata\* (see Ghoshal, \*Political Ideas\*, 258–60, and the interesting observations of Louis Dumont, "The Conception of Kingship in Ancient India," \*Contributions to Indian Sociology\* 6 (1962): 61–64, contrasting the Buddhist and the brahmanic view). 58. \*AB\* 8. 5. 1. Cf. also \*Viṣṇu Dharmottara Purāṇa\* 1. 162, which prescribes the yearly repetition of the abhiṣeka. - [Previous: c19.s9.33](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.heesterman-1985.c19.s9.33) - [Next: c19.s9.35](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.heesterman-1985.c19.s9.35) - [Up: c19.s9](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.heesterman-1985.c19.s9) --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.heesterman-1985.c19.s9.34](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.heesterman-1985.c19.s9.34) · Pramāṇa