[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) › c7.s2.3 # The Inner Conflict of Tradition: Essays in Indian Ritual, Kingship, and Society c7.s2.3 The Inner Conflict of Tradition: Essays in Indian Ritual, Kingship, and Society c7.s2.3 - **Language:** English ### [c7.s2.3](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.heesterman-1985.c7.s2.3) That this was an orthogenetic development is shown by the fact that the śrauta ritual is built up with the disconnected elements of the dualistic pattern which were restructured in a “monistic” system. Piecing together the elements, we can, to a reasonable extent, reconstruct the ancient pattern. It would, I think, be possible to deal with the whole śrauta corpus from this point of view; the endless variety of the śrauta ritual could possibly be reduced to a single cyclically recurring pattern, in which the disconnected elements would fall back into their original place. This paper may serve to illustrate the original pattern as well as the way in which the Vedic ritualists broke up this pattern and “recycled” its disjoined elements. A further example can show how the rejoined ritual still reveals the original cycle that turned on the winning of “the head of the sacrifice.” - [Previous: c7.s2.2](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.heesterman-1985.c7.s2.2) - [Next: c7.s2.4](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.heesterman-1985.c7.s2.4) - [Up: c7.s2](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.heesterman-1985.c7.s2) --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.heesterman-1985.c7.s2.3](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.heesterman-1985.c7.s2.3) · Pramāṇa