The Inner Conflict of Tradition: Essays in Indian Ritual, Kingship, and Society c6.s3.11

c6.s3.11

On the face of it, it would seem that his purity and his liturgical monopoly eminently qualify the brahmin for priesthood. But here we come up against a difficulty. Purity was attained at the expense of the complementary relations with the others. In order to safeguard his purity, the brahmin had to keep aloof from the others and especially from their food and gifts; he is not allowed to take part in the reciprocal prestations implied by gifts. But to exercise his craft, he needed a patron. On the other hand the yajamāna, more than ever, was in need of the liturgical specialists, not only to eat his food and to accept his gifts, but also because of the hypertrophical development of ritual science.