The Inner Conflict of Tradition: Essays in Indian Ritual, Kingship, and Society c5.26

c5.26

This double point of vision seems to be connected with the two principles of social organization. Most prominent, of course, is the segmentary organization centered on the distribution of rights in the soil and its produce—in short, the “kingly” model. But an equally important form of organization seems usually to be overlooked in the context of state formation, probably because it operates in the margin of and threatens the “kingly” organization. I am referring to the war band in its different forms, a subject that deserves a separate study.²⁴ Here only a few points can be referred to that are relevant in connection with state formation. The first point, then, is that, in contradistinction to the segmentary "kingly" organization, membership of the war band is not based on ascription but is freely recruited on the basis of individual allegiance to a single successful leader.