The Social Organization of Tradition

Author(s): Robert Redfield

Source: The Far Eastern Quarterly, Vol. 15, No. 1 (Nov., 1955), pp. 13-21
Published by: Association for Asian Studies
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The Social Organizationof Tradition*
ROBERT REDFIELD

OUT OF that anthropologywhich rested on studies of isolated primitive

or tribal peoples arose the concept, "a culture." The Andamanese had a
culture,the Trobrianders,the Aranda of Australia,and the Zuni. Each culture
came to be conceived as an independentand self-sufficient system. Recently
words have been foundto make clear this conceptionof an "autonomous cul-
turalsystem."It is "one whichis self-sustaining-thatis, it does not need to be
maintainedby a complementary, reciprocal,subordinate,or otherindispensable
connectionwith a second system." Such units-such culturesas those of the
Zuni or the Andamanese-are systemsbecause they have theirown mutually
adjusted and interdependentparts, and they are autonomous because they
do not require another systemfor their continuedfunctioning.1The anthro-
pologistmay see in such a systemevidencesofpast communicationsof elements
of cultureto that band or tribefromothers,but, as it now is, he understands
that it keeps going by itself;and in describingits parts and theirworkingshe
need not go outside the little group itself.The exceptions,wherethe band or
triberelieson some otherband or tribefora commodityor service,are small and
do not seriouslymodifythe fact that that cultureis maintained by the com-
municationof a heritagethroughthe generationsof just thosepeople who make
up the local community.
The cultureofa peasant community, on the otherhand,is not autonomous.It
is an aspect or dimensionofthe civilizationofwhichit is a part. As the peasant
societyis a half-society,so the peasant cultureis a half-culture.2
Whenwe study
such a culturewe findtwo thingsto be truethat are not truewhenwe studyan
isolatedprimitiveband or tribe.First,we discoverthatto maintainitselfpeasant
culturerequirescontinualcommunicationto the local communityof contentof
thoughtoriginatingoutside of it. It does require another culturefor its con-
tinuedfunctioning. The intellectual,and oftenthe religiousand morallifeofthe
The authoris RobertMaynardHutchinsProfessorof Anthropology at The University
of Chicago, and is the author of several books, includingThe Little Community:View-
points for the Study of a Human Whole.
* This paper is based on and is partlyan excerptfromone of fourlecturesdeliveredat
SwarthmoreCollege, underthe auspices of the Cooper Foundationin March 1955.It was
(in part) read at a meetingofthe CentralSectionofthe AmericanAnthropological Society
at Bloomington,Indiana, in April 1955.
1 "Acculturation:An ExploratoryFormulation,"The Social Science Research Council
SummerSeminaron Acculturation,1953 (Members:H. G. Barnett,Leonard Broom,Ber-
nard J. Siegel, Evon Z. Vogt, James B. Watson), AmericanAnthropologist, 56.6 (Dec.
1954),974.
2 A. L. Kroeber,Anthropology, (New York: Harcourt,Brace, 1948),284.
13
14 FAR EASTERN QUARTERLY

peasant village is perpetuallyincomplete;the studentneeds also to knowsome-

thingof what comesinto the village fromthe mindsof remoteteachers,priests
or philosopherswhose thinkingaffectsand perhapsis affectedby the peasantry.
Seen as a "synchronic"system,the peasant culturecannot be fullyunderstood
fromwhat goes on in the minds of the villagersalone. Second, the peasant
village invitesus to attend to the long courseof interactionbetweenthat com-
munityand centersof civilization.The peasant culturehas an evidenthistory;
we are called upon to studythat history;and the historyis, again, not local: it is
a historyof the civilizationof whichthe village cultureis one local expression.
Both points,in recognitionof both genericaspects of the peasant culture,were
clearlymade by George Foster when he reviewedrecentlyhis experiencesin
Latin-Americancommunitiesand wrotethat therethe local culture"is contin-
ually replenishedby contact with products of intellectualand scientificsocial
strata,"3and said also that "One ofthe mostobvious distinctionsbetweentruly
primitivesocietiesand folk [peasant]societies is that the latter,over hundreds
ofyears,have had constantcontactwiththe centersofintellectualthoughtand
development.. ."4
How, as anthropologistsworkingin the small communityofpeasants, are we
to conceiveand how are we to studythat largersystem,that compoundculture,
of whichonlyparts appear to us in the village?
I think we might begin with a recognitionlong present in discussions of
civilizationsof the differencebetweena Great Traditionand a Little Tradition.
Writingof Chinese religion,Wing-tsitChan says "that instead of dividing the
religiouslifeofthe Chinesepeople intothreecompartments called Confucianism,
Buddhismand Taoism, it is far moreaccurate to divide it into two levels, the
level of the masses and the level of the enlightened."5Writingof Islam, G. von
Grilnebaumdiscussestheways in whichthe Great Traditionofthe orthodoxand
the scholaris adjusted to or is requiredto take account of the Little Traditions
of the commonpeople in the villages. He distinguishessuch accommodationsof
Great Traditionto Little Tradition,as when a Christiancrosssent by Saladin
to Baghdad was firstdespised but in the end reverencedby even the orthodox,
fromsuch re-interpretations of doctrineas are forcedon the Great Traditionby
the Little, as when the expoundersof Islam come to justifythe cults of local
saints by referring to Koranic passages about "familiarsof the Lord."' At this
pointvon Grilnebaum,historianand humanist,is studyingfromthetop the same
8 George M. Foster, "What is Folk Culture?" American Anthropologist,55.2, Part 1

(April-June, 1953), 169.

4 Foster, 164. In quoting this passage I venture to substitute "peasant" for "folk" to
make the terminology fit that chosen for these lectures. I think Foster's "folk societies"
are much the same as those I here call "peasant societies."
6 Wing-tsit Chan, Religious Trends in Modern China (New York: Columbia University

Press, 1953), 141f. See also, W. Eberhard, "Neuere Forschungen zur Religion Chinas,
1920-1932" Archiv fur Religionswissenschaft, 33.3 (1936), 304-344, a discussion of Staat8-
kult and Volksreligion in China.
6 G. E. von Gruinebaum, "The Problem: Unity in Diversity," in Unity and Variety in

Muslim Civilization, ed. by G. E. von Grunebaum (Chicago: University of Chicago Press

[forthcoming1955]).
THE SOCIAL ORGANIZATION OF TRADITION 15

phenomenawhich Westermarck,anthropologist,studied in Morocco fromthe

bottom-in the local communities.7 From India ProfessorV. Raghavan8has sent
us a seriesof papers about the manykindsof specialistswho in India teach and
have taughtthe sanskritictraditionto thevillagepeasants. Centuriesago certain
sanskriticscholarsused popularcompositions, notablythe epics and the Puranas,
expresslyfor the purpose of teachingvedic lore to the people. Parts of these
compositions"wererecitedto vast congregations ofpeople gatheredat sacrificial
sessionsby certainspecial classes of reciters."ProfessorRaghavan tracesan un-
broken traditionto the presentday of deliberateprovision,by ruler and by
teacher,of recitationsin vernacularlanguages,of the ancient Hindu epics into
thevillagesofsouthernIndia and acrossto Cambodia. There was and thereis an
organizationof specialistsdevoted to mediatingbetween Great Tradition and
Little. So ProfessorRaghavan, historianand humanist,followsthe structureof
this organization,pursues the course of its influencesthroughIndian history,
untilhe comes into the presentday villages of south India where,as he puts it,
"some sweet-voiced,giftedexpounder"sits in templeor in house-front and ex-
pounds "to hundredsand thousandsthe storyof the dharmathat Rama upheld
and the adharmaby whichRavana fell."9
And in the village he findsalready there,having enteredso to speak by the
backdoor,the anthropologist, a fellownot verywellpreparedto conceiveand to
study this structureof tradition,this organizationof functionariesand of con-
tent of thought,into whichthe lifeof the village enters and on which the life
of the village in part depends.
II
Coming fromcultureswhich are autonomoussystems,anthropologistshave
experienceeitherwith societiesin whichthereis no distinctionbetweenGreat
and Little Traditions,or with societiesin which the upholdersof an incipient
Great Traditionare themselvesmembersofthat same small communityand on
thewholesharea commonlifewiththe othermembersofit. Eitherthereis but a
singletraditionto study or the specializationof knowledgethat has developed
is carriedon throughthegenerationswithinthelocal communityand we need not
go outsideofit to reportand accountforit.
In readingRadcliffe-Brown on the Andaman Islands we findnothingat all
about any esotericaspect of religionor thought.Apparentlyany older person
will be as likelyto knowwhat thereis to knowas any other.This diffusedistri-
butionthroughoutthe populationofknowledgeand beliefmay be characteristic
of verylarge primitivesocietiesof much greaterdevelopmentof the arts of life
than theAndamaneseenjoyed.Thus, amongtheTiv of Nigeria,a tribeincluding
about a millionagriculturalpeople "there is no technicalvocabulary, because
thereare no professionalclasses,and littlespecializationbeyondthat whichis the
7Edward Westermarok, Ritual and Belief in Morocco (London: Macmillan, 1926).
8 V. Raghavan, "Adult Education in Ancient India," Memoirs of the Madras Library

Association (1944), 57-65; "Methods of Popular Religious Instruction, South India," MS;
"Variety and Integration in the Pattern of Indian Culture," MS.
9 Raghavan, "Methods of Popular Religious Instruction, South India," MS.
16 FAR EASTERN QUARTERLY

resultofsex or age. Every aspect oftriballifeis everybody'sbusiness."'0This is a

primitivesocietywithouta greattradition.Amongthe Maori, however,". . two
different aspects of all the superiorclass of mythswere taught. One of these
was that taughtin the tapu school of learning,a versionnever disclosedto the
bulk ofthepeople but retainedby thehighergradeoftohunga(expertsorpriests)
and by a few others.The otherwas that importedto the people at large,and
this,as a rule,was of an inferiornature, more puerileand grotesquethan the
esotericversion."' And in West Africa,whereaborigineshad developedcomplex
states,a distinctionbetweenwhat we mightcall a littlerand a greatertradition
appears in the controlof elementsof worship,recognized by the people as
reconditeand esoteric,by certainpriests.Initiates into these cults are secluded
forseven monthsof instructionin secret.Also, thereare differences as between
layman and specialist in the understandingof the religion:the priestsof the
Skycult in Dahomey see clearly distinctionsamong deities and their charac-
teristicsabout whichlaymenare veryvague.'2AmongSudanese peoplesreported
by ProfessorGriaule'3thereis, apparently,extraordinary developmentof highly
reflectiveand systematicspecializedthoughtamong certainindividuals.
This orderingof some instancessuggeststhe separationof the two traditions
in societies that do not representthe greatworld civilizations.The contentof
knowledgecomesto be double, one contentforthe layman,anotherforthe hier-
archy.The activitiesand places ofresidenceofthe carriersofthe greattradition
mayremaincloseto thoseofthelayman,orthepriestsand primitivephilosophers
may come to resideand to workapart fromthe commonpeople.
Had we been presentat Uaxactun or at Uxmal when Maya civilizationwas
doingwellwe shouldhave been in a positionto studyGreat and LittleTraditions
in an indigenouscivilization.There the specialists developingthe Great Tra-
ditionhad come to live lives notablyseparatefromthose of the villagersand to
carryforwardelementsof an indigenouscultureinto a much higherlevel of
intellectualand speculativethought.ProfessorPedro Armillas,'4writingabout
this,tells us to thinkof Maya civilizationas formedof two culturalstrata cor-
respondingrespectivelyto thedominantaristocracyofthe ceremonialcentersand
the hamlet-dwelling farmers;he thinksthelives ofthesetwo becameincreasingly
distinctand separate. Indeed, I say, what the Old World and New World civili-
zationshad in commonis mostimportantlyjust what it is that makes a civiliza-
tion anywhere:the separationof cultureinto Great and Little Traditions,the
10 Akiga's Story,tr. and annot. by Rupert East (London: OxfordUniversityPress,
1930),11.
11Elsdon Best, Maori Religion and Mythology, Bulletin No. 10, Dominion Museum,
Wellington(N.Z.: W. A. G. Skinner,GovernmentPrinter,1924),31-32.
12 Melville Herskovits, Dahomey, An Ancient West African Kingdom (New York: J. J.
Augustin,1938),Vol. II, Ch. 26.
13 Marcel Griaule,Dieu D'Eau (Paris: Les Editions du Ch~ne, 1948).

14 Pedro Armillas,"The MesoamericanExperiment,"in "The Ways of Civilizations,"

ed. by RobertJ. Braidwood,MS. ProfessorArmillasmightnot thinkof the Maya hamlet-

dwellingfarmersas peasants. He regardsthe worldviews of the elite and of the farmers
as "sharplydifferent."
THE SOCIAL ORGANIZATION OF TRADITION 17

appearance of an elite withsecular and sacred power and includingspecialized

cultivatorsof the intellectuallife, and the conversionof tribal peoples into
peasantry.
But it is in the villages of the old indigenouscivilizations-in China, Indo-
nesia, Europe and India-that we anthropologistsin fact most closelyengage
the structureofcompoundtradition,Great and Little. In Latin Americawe en-
gage it also, but therethe civilizationis secondary,imposed by an invader on a
village people witha different tradition.In Maya villages ofthe presentday we
have to take account ofa double structureoftradition,one brokenoff,the other
continuingand changing.
In our village studies in Old World civilizationsespecially we shall find,I
think,that our efforts to understanda village will moreand morerequire us to
includein our subject matterinstitutionsand states of mindthat are far away
fromthe village in time or space or both.We shall findourselvesimprovingour
workingcommunicationswith the humanist-historian. His studies are textual:
he studiesnot onlywrittentextsbut art and architectureas part of his textual
corpus.'5Ours are contextual:we relate some elementof the great tradition-
sacredbook,story-element, teacher,ceremonyor supernaturalbeing-to the life
of the ordinarypeople, in the contextof daily life as in the village we see it
happen.'6

III
These remarksare, I am sure you see, not so much a reportas a forecast.I
thinkthatin pursuingour studiesin the peasant communitiesthat lie withinthe
great civilizationsthe contextualstudies of anthropologistswill go forwardto
meetthetextualstudiesmade by historiansand humanistsofthegreattraditions
of that same civilization.In doing this we shall expand our own contextsand
extendour concepts.We shall findourselvesstudyingaspects ofsmall communi-
ties thatwereabsent or unimportantin autonomousprimitivecommunities.We
shall study the peasant communityin its heteronomousaspects. And we shall
move outside of that communityto studyinstitutionsand groupsthat connect
Little and GreatTraditionsin singlestructuresofseveral distinguishablekinds.
I thinkit likelythatit willbe especiallyin the courseoftheirstudiesofvillage
India that anthropologists will come to develop these newformsof thoughtand
to recognizenew kindsofnaturalsystemsto study.It is in India that Great and
Little Tradition are in constant,various and conspicuousinteractionwith the
life of the local communities.It is therethat the Great Traditionsare in fact
several; therethe preeminentoldertradition,the sanskritic,is itselfa skein of
relatedbut distinguishablethreadsof teachingand institution.It is therethat
the teachingsofreflective and civilizedmindsappear plainlyin the festivalsand
in theideals ofpeasantry.It is in India that a man's ascribedstatus, in theform
ofcaste,is closelyassociatedwiththe claim ofthat caste to greateror lesserpar-
ticipationin theritualsand ideals oflifeas inculcatedin sanskriticteaching.Pro-
16 Stella Kramrisch, The Art of India Through the Ages (London: Phaidon Press), 1954.
16 For this way of contrasting the two kinds of studies, I am indebted to Milton Singer.
18 FAR EASTERN QUARTERLY

fessorSrinivas,anthropologist,has studied the way in which certain villagers

withways of lifesomewhatapart fromthe greatvedic traditionof India, have
been takingon, in part quite consciously,elementsof Hindu culture.In recent
generationsthis people, the Coorgs,have come to thinkof themselvesas Kaa-
triyas,people ofthe warriorcaste or varaa and have comeunderthe influenceof
philosophicalHinduismto thepointthatfourCoorgs,people once largelyoutside
the vedic tradition,have become sannyasis, dedicated holy men observing
teachingsoftheIndian hightradition.And as the Coorgshave becomeHinduized
theirplace in the Indian hierarchyof status has risen.'7
Westernanthropologists began theirstudiesin India, in most cases, withthe
study of the tribalpeoples there,but in veryrecentyears many of them have
studiedthe peasant villagesthat are partsofHindu, Muslim or modernciviliza-
tions.Some of themhave becomeinterestedin the way in which sanskriticele-
mentsof cultureentervillage life.In a recentpaper Bernard Cohn'8 has told us
how in a certainvillage the leather-workers have improvedtheir position by
adoptingcustomsauthorizedby the highsanskritictradition.AnotherAmerican
anthropologist who has consideredIndian village lifewith regardto its connec-
tions with the sanskritictraditionis McKim Marriott.'9In Marriott'svillage,
Kishan Garhi,the religionconsistsof elementsof local cultureand elementsof
the high sanskrittraditionin close adjustmentand integration.He finds"evi-
dence of accretionand of transmutationin formwithoutapparentreplacement
and without rationalizationof the accumulated and transformedelements."
Fifteenof the nineteenfestivalscelebratedin Kishan Garhi are sanctionedin
universalsanskrittexts.But some ofthe local festivalshave no place in sanskrit
teaching; those that do are but a small part of the entire corpus of festivals
sanctioned by sanskritliterature;villagersconfuseor choose betweenvarious
classical meaningsfortheirfestivals;and even the most sanskriticof the local
festivalshave obviouslytaken on elementsof ritual that arose, not out of the
greattraditionbut out of the local peasant life.
This kind of syncretizationis familiarto students of paganism and Chris-
tianity,or of Islam in its relationsto local cultsin North Africa. Marriottpro-
poses that the two-wayinteractionbetweenlittleand greattraditionsbe studied
as two complementaryprocessesto whichhe gives names. For one thing,the
littletraditionsof the folkexercisetheir influenceon the authorsof the Hindu
great traditionwho take up some element of beliefor practice and, by incor-
poratingit in theirreflectivestatementof Hindu orthodoxy,universalizethat
element,forall who thereaftercome underthe influenceof theirteaching. Mar-
riottcannotquite prove20that thefollowingwas indeedan instanceofuniversali-
17 M. N. Srinivas, Religion and Society Among the Coorgs of South India (Oxford: Claren-

don, 1952). See also Bernard S. Cohn, "The Changing Status of a Depressed Caste," in
Village India, ed. by McKim Marriott, (Comparative Studies in Cultures and Civilizations,
ed. by Robert Redfield and Milton Singer) (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1955).
18 Bernard Cohn, "The Changing Status of a Depressed Caste," in Village India.

19 McKim Marriott, "Little Communities in an Indigenous Civilization," in Village

India.
20 Mr. Marriott kindly tells me something of the strong evidence for the conclusion that
THE SOCIAL ORGANIZATION OF TRADITION 19

zation, but he suggeststhat the goddessLakfmiof Hindu orthodoxyis derived

fromsuch deitiesas he saw representedin his village daubed on walls orfashioned
in images of dung: the naturesand meaningsof the high goddess and the local
godlingsare similarand some villagersidentifythe latterwithLakemr.
The oppositeprocess,which Marriottcalls parochialization,is that by which
some sanskriticelementis learned about and then re-formedby the villagers
to becomea part oftheirlocal cult. For example: a divine sage of the sanskritic
tradition,associatedby theBrahmanelderswiththeplanetVenus,is represented
by erectionof a stonein the village. Brides are now taken here to worshipwith
theirhusbands. But then the originsof the stone are forgotten;it comes to be
regardedas the abode ofthe ancestralspiritsofthe Brahmanswho put it there.
Marriottwas able to learn somethingabout the interactionof great and little
traditionsin bringingabout the translationor substitutionofmeaningsand con-
nections of rite and beliefbecause he has read some of the sources of Hindu
orthodoxyand because in thevillagehe studiedhe foundsomepeople muchmore
than othersin communicationwiththosesourcesthemselves.The villageincludes
the educated and the ignorant,and the villager himselfis well aware of the
difference. A more educated villager calls himselfa sandtani,a followerof the
orthodoxand traditionalway; a Brahman domesticpriestdistinguishes"doers
and knowers";the ordinaryvillagersays that a certainritualisNarayana,a deity,
inseminatingthe mortarin whichthefamilyhusksgrain,but an educated man of
the same village says that it is a symbolof the creationof the world.2'Where
thereare such differences as betweenvillagers,the connectionsthe village has
withthe philosopheror theologiancan be tracedin part by the anthropologist in
his communitystudy. The analysis then moves outwardand upward to meet
such investigationsofthe downwardmovementoforthodoxyor philosophyas is
studiedby von GrUnebaumforIslam and Raghavan for Hinduism.
AlthoughI knownothingofIndia save at secondhand, I thinkI see in whatis
alreadycomingfromthat fieldofworkindicationsofsome ofthe kindsof things
that anthropologists willbe thinkingand observingas theycometo relatevillage
lifeto the civilizationofwhichit is a part. They willbe concernedwiththe com-
parisonsofreligiousand otherbeliefin the village withthe contentofsanskritic
orthodoxyand withtheavenues of communication-theteachers,singers,recit-

Laksmi has entered the great tradition relatively late and from the folk cultures of India.
He quotes Rhys Davids and Renou and Filliozat to this effect. It appears that this deity
was absent fromearly vedic literature, that early statues to her were set in places reserved
for popular deities, and that the Buddhist canon castigates Brahmans for performingnon-
sensical, non-vedic rituals such as those to Sri Devi (Lakami), etc. (Marriott, personal
communication.)
21Marriott says that in "Kishan Garhi" the more learned villager takes, in short, quite
distinguishable positions toward great and little traditions. The latter, which he sees
manifest in the doings of the uneducated villagers, is a matter of practice, is ignorance or
fragmentary knowledge, is confusion or vagueness, and is expressed in concrete physical
or biological images. The great tradition, which he thinks of himself as in larger degree
representing, is theory or pure knowledge, full and satisfying, is order and precision, and
finds for its expression abstractions or symbolic representations.
20 FAR EASTERN QUARTERLY

ers-between the two. They will study the "cultural media," the ceremonies,
songs,dances,dramas,recitationsand discoursesin whichmuchofthiscommuni-
cationis expressed.And theywill attendto the specialists,the kindsofteachers,
reciters,genealogistsand historians,who mediatebetweenLittle Traditionand
Great. So the anthropologistwillat timesleave thevillageto studytheseinstitu-
tions and groups.McKim Marriottand Surajit Sinha have suggestedto me an
anthropologicalstudyofa templeconnectedwithvillagelife.An Indian historian,
K. K. Pillay,22has alreadypublisheda study,fromhis point of view, of such a
temple in Travancore. Also, the anthropologistwill study one of those castes
whosespecial functionis to preserveand cultivatethe historyand the genealogy
ofthat othercaste on whichit depends,or one ofthosecastes ofthosewho singto
theirpatronstraditionalstoriesfromtheRamayanaortheMahabharata.Shamrao
Hivale23has writtena book on onesuch caste and a studyofanotheris underway
underdirectionof ProfessorSrinivas.Such castes are corporategroupsrelating
littleand greattraditionto one another.
Looked at in this way, the interactionof great and little traditionscan be
regardedas a part ofthesocial structureofthepeasant communityin its enlarged
context.We are concernedwiththosepersistingand importantarrangementsof
rolesand statusesappearingin such corporategroupsas castes and sects, or in
teachers,reciters,ritual-leadersof one kind or another,that are concernedwith
the cultivationand inculcationofthegreattradition.The conceptis an extension
or specializationof the conceptof social structureas used by anthropologistsin
the study of morenearlyself-containedsocietiesthan are peasant villages. We
turnnow to consider,forthe compoundpeasant society,a certainkind of the
persistingsocial relations,a certainpart of the social structure.The relations
betweenMuslim teacherand pupil, betweenBrahman priestand layman, be-
tween Chinesescholarand Chinese peasant-all such that are of importancein
bringingabout the communicationof great traditionto the peasant, or that,
perhaps withoutanyone's intention,cause the peasant traditionto affectthe
doctrineofthe learned-constitutethe social structureofthe culture,the struc-
ture of tradition.From this point of view a civilizationis an organizationof
specialists,kindsof role-occupiersin characteristicrelationsto one anotherand
to lay people and performing characteristicfunctionsconcernedwiththe trans-
missionof tradition.
We might,as does Professor Raymond Firth, reserve the phrase "social
organization"24in connectionwith concrete activityat particular times and
places. Social organizationis the way that people put togetherelements of
actionin sucha way as to get donesomethingtheywant done. Social structureis
a persistinggeneralcharacter,a "pattern" of typicalrelationships;social organi-
zationis describedwhenwe accountforthe choicesand resolutionsof difficulties
and conflictsthat actuallywent on or characteristically go on. Accordinglywe
K. K. Pillay, The Sucindram Temple (Madras: Kalakshetra Publications, 1953).
22

Shamrao Hivale, The Pardhans of the Upper Narbada Valley (London: Oxford Uni-
23

versity Press, 1946).

24 Raymond Firth, Elements of Social Organization (London: Watts, 1951), Ch. 2, 35f.
THE SOCIAL ORGANIZATION OF TRADITION 21

mightwithdrawthe titleof thispaper fromits wider use and reserveit for the
way in whichelementsofaction are put togetherin any particularcase of trans-
missionof thetradition.We shall be studyingthesocial organizationoftradition,
then,whenwe investigatetheway in whichthe schoolday is arrangedin the con-
servativeIslamic school,orwhenwe studytheway-as NorvinHein has already
done25-in whichthefestivalofRam Lila is broughtabout in an Indian commu-
nity,the peasants and the literatepaadit cooperatingto the end that the sacred
storiesare acted out to the accompanimentof readingsfromthe sacred text of
thehighertradition.If thereare problemsofadjustmentbetweenwhat the more
learnedman would like to see done and what the lay people ofthe village think
proper,or entertaining, these cases ofsocial organizationoftraditionwill be the
moreinteresting.I rememberlost opportunitiesto studythe social organization
of traditionin my own fieldwork,especially one occasion when the Catholic
parishpriestand the local shamanofthe Maya traditiontook part,successively,
in a ceremonyof purificationin a Guatemalan village. There were then many
pushingsand pullings,manymattersofdoubt,conflictand compromise,whichI
failedto record.In thatcase therewere,ofcourse,two moreesoterictraditions,in
somedegreeof conflictwith each other,and both requiringsome adjustmentto
the expectationsof the villagers.
So we come to develop formsof thoughtappropriateto the wider systems,
the enlargedcontexts,of our anthropologicalwork.In studyinga primitiveso-
ciety,in its characteristicself-containment, its societal and culturalautonomy,
we hardlynoticethe social structureof tradition.It may therebe presentquite
simplyin a fewshamansorpriests,fellowmembersofthesmall community, very
similarto otherswithinit. And in a primitiveand preliteratesocietywe cannot
knowmuchofthe historyofits culture.The structureoftraditionin earlyZuni
is seen as a divisionoffunctionwithinthe tribalcommunityand is seen as some-
thingnow goingon, not as a history.But a civilizationhas both greatregional
scope and greathistoricdepth.It is a greatwhole,in space and in time,by virtue
of the complexityof the organizationwhichmaintainsand cultivatesits tradi-
tionsand communicatesthemfromthe greattraditionto the many and varied
small local societieswithinit. The anthropologistwho studiesone ofthesesmall
societiesfindsit farfromautonomous,and comes to reportand analyze it in its
relations,societal and cultural,to state and to civilization.
25 Norvin Hein, "The Ram Lila," The Illustrated Weekly of India, (Oct. 22, 1950), 18-

19 (provided by McKim Marriott).