[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) › c5.43 # The Inner Conflict of Tradition: Essays in Indian Ritual, Kingship, and Society c5.43 The Inner Conflict of Tradition: Essays in Indian Ritual, Kingship, and Society c5.43 - **Language:** English ### [c5.43](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.heesterman-1985.c5.43) This parenthesis on the limits of horizontal, national unity also shows us something of the precarious and explosive situation that arises from the blending of the vertical and horizontal orders into one reality. Everything then depends on the development of an institutional framework for dealing with this situation. Here probably lies Gandhi’s greatest achievement, namely, in the remolding of the Indian National Congress so that it could fulfill this function. For Gandhi did not simply give it moral inspiration, which usually fades once a particular action is over, but he played a dominant role in the different phases of its reorganization during the interbellum period.³⁸ Its remarkable success lay in its capacity to accommodate both the segmentary local and regional demands and the precarious reality of horizontal unity. - [Previous: c5.42](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.heesterman-1985.c5.42) - [Next: c5.44](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.heesterman-1985.c5.44) - [Up: c5](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.heesterman-1985.c5) --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.heesterman-1985.c5.43](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.heesterman-1985.c5.43) · Pramāṇa