dhism during its period of strong political patronage splits into numerous
factions, from which are winnowed a moderate number of long-standing
positions; when its bases in India shrink, Buddhist philosophies amalgamate.
(4) Jainism keeps a modest, steady basis of support and a unitary philosophical
position, aimed at mediating within the larger intellectual field. (5) When
Hindu intellectuals take over the Buddhist organizational resources and dis-
place them from the center of intellectual networks, Hindu philosophies crys-
tallize into about a half-dozen well-defined positions.^5 (6) Advaita Vedanta is
especially successful, building a new material foundation by organizing orders
of Hindu monks; as Vedanta grows, it splits into subfactions which dominate
the intellectual debate, while non-Vedantic schools tend to syncretize and are
eventually absorbed into theistic Vedanta. (7) The Vaishnava theists, worship-
pers of Vishnu and his avatar Krishna, are the most successful movement,
splitting into branches with their own technical philosophies. (8) Still later,
under the pressure of Muslim and then European conquest, the Vedantic
factions downplay their philosophical differences and amalgamate into a syn-
cretic pan-Hindu front. The politics of intellectual subdivision and alliance-
making runs through five broad repetitions: Vedic, Buddhist, Hindu, Vedantic,
and Vaishnavite.^6
Religious Bases of Philosophical Factions: Divisions and
Recombination of Vedic Ritualists
The Vedas, a word which originally meant simply “knowledge,” are not
abstract philosophy but the earliest transmission of specialized intellectual
productions. Let us see what they reveal about the organization of priestly
politics.
The orthodox Hinduism of medieval India adulated “the four Vedas.” One
can discern a long-term pattern of splits and recombinations among organ-
ized intellectual groups before this end point was reached.^7 Sometime before
1000 b.c.e., a collection was formed out of liturgical materials, including
hymns, prayers, incantations, and sacrificial formulas. This collection, known
as the Rigveda (“knowledge of verses”), must have coincided with formation
of a unified guild of priests. Subsequently two more Vedas were formed,
both consisting of different arrangements of much the same materials as the
Rigveda. The Samaveda is the knowledge of samans, sacred songs. The Yagur-
veda contained spells and formulas used in the rituals, plus meaningless-sound-
ing words chanted as mantras (yagus).
The orthodox interpretation is that separate Vedas come from a division
of labor in the ceremonies, each Veda constituting the liturgy of one of the
External and Internal Politics: India • 193