The Inner Conflict of Tradition: Essays in Indian Ritual, Kingship, and Society c4.s9.2

c4.s9.2

From this perspective, we may reformulate the relationship between "great" and "little tradition." The "great tradition" proposes the separative and conflict-free order of transcendence that denies society and its web of relationships. The "little tradition," on the other hand, is the lived-in order of society characterized by conflict and interdependence. It is therefore not exclusively geared to the "little community" of, say, the narrowly circumscribed village. While the renunciation-oriented brahmin is the exemplar of the ultramundane great tradition, the protagonist of the mundane little tradition is the king. The little tradition, then, is the king's order of conflict and connectiveness. Together king and brahmin bear the brunt of the unresolved conflict of civiliation.