[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) › c6.s3.19 # The Inner Conflict of Tradition: Essays in Indian Ritual, Kingship, and Society c6.s3.19 The Inner Conflict of Tradition: Essays in Indian Ritual, Kingship, and Society c6.s3.19 - **Language:** English ### [c6.s3.19](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.heesterman-1985.c6.s3.19) In fact the brahmin when serving a patron must either relapse into the ancient system of exchange and reversal or become one with his patron. The latter solution, however, tends to render his relations with a patron outside the brahmin caste all but impossible. Such relations of maximal closeness are only viable within his own caste, and even then he has to be careful: he should only eat at the sacrificial ceremony of a yajamāna who is a śrotriya.⁶⁹ Conversely, the yajamāna has to be equally careful as to whom he invites.⁷⁰ Insofar as the śrauta ceremonies are still performed at the present day, it is only among brahmins, almost as a secret ritual, and non-brahmins are rigorously kept at a distance. - [Previous: c6.s3.18](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.heesterman-1985.c6.s3.18) - [Next: c6.s3.20](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.heesterman-1985.c6.s3.20) - [Up: c6.s3](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.heesterman-1985.c6.s3) --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.heesterman-1985.c6.s3.19](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.heesterman-1985.c6.s3.19) · Pramāṇa