ABSTRACT
Bismarck, the Prusso-German statesman nicknamed the "Iron Chancellor", said that politics was not a science but an art. Science deals with facts that can be communicated; art deals with another kind of knowledge, which is skill, and skill cannot be communicated in the same way. Science looks for underlying patterns and assumes that matters which appear different on the surface may yet have features in common. Mafiosi and the Pathans have absolutely no connection with one another: They live in totally dissimilar environments, have entirely different economies, and subscribe to different religions. Underpinning the ritual structure is a de facto distribution of wealth and power. High castes tend to be well-to-do and powerful - in Bisipara's agrarian setting they were the landowners. The Bisoi's caste, the Warriors, saw themselves as the only rightful landowners, as the lords of the village, the body politic itself.
