The Inner Conflict of Tradition: Essays in Indian Ritual, Kingship, and Society c6.s6.10

c6.s6.10

The position of the brahmin is, therefore, as precarious as it is eminent. His monopoly of Vedic knowledge should enable him to hold this position without falling for the temptation either of worldly involvement or of total abandonment. But in the end, it is all by himself that he must bridge the gap that separates renunciation from the householder's world. The brahmin, then, is the exemplar of the irresolvable tension that is at the heart of Indian civilization.