Roots Deep in Heaven Indo-Iranian ritual concepts in a cross ...

Etymology and the European Lexicon
14 th Fachtagung of the Indogermanische Gesellschaft / Society for Indo-European Studies
University of Copenhagen, September 17–22, 2012
Roots Deep in Heaven
Indo-Iranian ritual concepts in a cross-cultural perspective
Velizar SADOVSKI
Institute of Iranian Studies, Austrian Academy of Sciences
Apostelgasse 23, A–1030 Vienna, Austria
* I. ‘Ritual Formulae and Ritual Pragmatics in Veda and Avesta’, Die Sprache 48, 2009, 156–166.
II. ‘Ritual Spells and Practical Magic for Benediction and Malediction: from India to Greece, Rome, and
Beyond’. In: SADOVSKI, Velizar and STIFTER, David (eds.): Iranistische und indogermanistische Beiträge
in memoriam Jochem Schindler (1944–1994). (Sitzungsberichte der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften.
Phil.-hist. Kl., 832. Band / Veröffentlichungen zur Iranistik Nr. 51). Wien 2012, 331–350.
III. ‘Structure and contents of lists and catalogues in Indo-Iranian traditions of oral poetry’. In: KLEIN, Jared S.
and YOSHIDA, Kazuhiko (eds.): Proceedings of the 14th World Sanskrit Conference in Kyoto. Vedic
Section. Bremen (to appear 2012).
1. Introduction and general concepts. Spells and rites of “binding”, “piercing”, “burying” (competitors,
adversaries, or else, beloved persons [!]).
(a.) Greek and Latin evidence: defixionum tabellae and papyri magicae.
● Κατάδεσμος; defixio.
● More than 1000 representatives of the genre unearthed; only ca. 600 published.
● Defixiones hostiles and defixiones amatoriae.
(b.) Indo-Iranian evidence: per disiecta membra. Atharvaveda (esp. Paippalāda) and Avesta.
(c.) Ritual poetry ‘in action’: Verba concepta and performative speech acts.
2. Types of ‘binding (seizing, piercing, burying etc.) spells-and-charms’ (cf. § 4ff.):
● ‘Binding spells’ against opponents, ‘defixiones hostiles’.
● ‘Binding spells’ for/against beloved persons: Magical “ars amandi”, ‘defixiones amatoriae’,
for (re-)winning love, neutralizing competitors, against rejection.
3. ‘Roots of Binding’ between Europe and Asia: *DEH1, *SEH2, *B H END H and Co.
● ‘To bind down’ – the infernal/chthonic notion:
3.1. Greek: (κατα-)δέω and κατά-δεσμος ‘binding-down (spell)’; Lat. de-figere ~ de-fixio, (re-)legare.
3.2. Iranian: √DĀ (< *DEH1) + ni, nī.diiā- ‘to bind down’, functionally identical with (κατα-)δέω: cf. e.g.
the 3 rd Avestan Gāθā, against demon(iac) furor/Furor ‘wrath/Wrath’ (aēšəma- ‘ira’). – Y. 48,7:
nī aēšəmō nī.diiātąm
paitī rəməm paitī.siiōdūm
Down, let w/Wrath be tied down! Cut back obstruction [...]!
(SKJÆRVØ, with modif.). – Further roots: HĀ, BAND.
3.3. Indian: Ved. √DĀ (< *DEH1), dyáti + ní ‘down’, ā́ , sám etc. Also: roots SĀ, BANDH, BĀDH + ní, GRABH i ,
AVŚ. 12,5,15 (the “curse of brahmán’s cow”):
sā ́ brahmajyáṃ devapīyúṃ
15. This Brahman-cow, when taken to oneself, binds the
brahmagavy ā̀dīyámānā
Brahman-scather, the god-reviler, in the shackle of death (cf.
mr̥ tyóḥ pádvīṣa ā ́ dyati ||15||
WL 2,703 and KULIKOV, Ved. -ya-presents, s.v.).
3.4. Anatolian: Hittite tii̯ a- (< *DEH1), cf. MELCHERT apud KLOEKHORST, Etymol. Dictionary, s.v.
Soldiers’ dirge KBo 3,40 = BoTU 14cx 13ʹ-15ʹ (dupl.. KBo 13.78 Vo. 12ʹ-14ʹ), CTH 16b.4 –
nu=zza išh̬ amaizzi ‘he sings’ (dupl.. išh̬ amiškanzi ‘they sing’):
Nešaš wašpeš Nešaš wašpeš
tiya=mmu tiya
nu=mu annaš=maš katta arnut
tiya=mmu tiya
nu=mu uwaš=maš katta arnut
tiya=mmu tiya
Shrouds of Nesas, shrouds of Nesas,
bind me, bind.
Bring me down for burial with my mother,
bind me, bind.
Bring me down for burial with my forefather,
bind me, bind (WATKINS, How to Kill a Dragon, 248).
4. Binding (seizing, piercing, burying) spells: performative speech acts and extralinguistic realia:
4.1. Greek, Graeco-Egyptian, Graeco-Roman defixiones:

14 th Fachtagung of the Indogermanische Gesellschaft, Copenhagen, September 17–22, 2012 2
● κατα-δῶ Χαρίαν ... καὶ ψυχὴν τὴν Χαρίου
καὶ γλῶταν τὴν Χαρίου ... κατα-δῶ ψυχὴν τὴν
Καλλίππο καὶ χεῖρας τὰς Καλλίππο
(Kerameikos [5 th c. BC, ed. D. JORDAN, SGD 95]):
I bind down Charias... and the soul of Charias and the tongue of
Charias... I bind the soul of Kallippos... and the hands of Kallippos.
For the stylistic form of body parts enumeration cf. Attica, beg. of 4 th c. BC (DTA, ed. WÜNSCH, no. 49):
● Side A: (1) I bind down Theagenes, his tongue and his soul and the words he uses; (2) I also bind down the hands
and feet of Pyrrhias, the cook, his tongue, his soul, his words; [...] (8) I also bind down the tongue of Seuthes, his
soul, and the words he uses, just like his feet, his hands, his eyes, and his mouth; (9) I also bind down the tongue of
Lamprias, his soul, and the words he uses, just like his feet, his hands, his eyes, and his mouth.
All these I bind down, I make them disappear, 1 bury them, I nail them down.
● Side B: τούτους ἅπαντας κατα-δῶ ἀ-φανίζω
κατ-ορύττω κατα-πασσαλεύω.
All of them, I bind them down, I make them disappear, I
bury them ‘down’, I nail them down.
● Most usual form in Greek καταδεσμοί – Defixionum Tabellae Atticae (= IG 3,3, ed. WÜNSCH) 86: “I bind Dromōn
... feet and hands ...”. “I bind Isias before Hermes the Restrainer – the hands, the feet of Isias, the whole body”.
4.2. Indo-Iranian tradition – binding, tormenting, piercing spells. S. § 6 and the genre subtypes:
4.2.1. ‘Body-binding’ mantras against competitors:
́
́
● AVŚ. 7,73[70],4–5:
ápāñcau ta ubháu bāhū
Turned back/behind are your two arms.
ápi nahyāmiy āsíyàm |
I bind (up) your mouth.
agnér devásya manyúnā
With the wrath of god Agni
téna te ʹvadhiṣaṃ havíḥ ||4||
I destroyed your oblation.
ápa nahyāmi te bāhū
I bind back/away your arms,
ápi nahyāmy āsyàm |
I bind (up) your mouth.
agnér ghorásya manyúnā
With the wrath of terrible Agni
téna ʹvadhiṣaṃ havíḥ ||5||
I destroyed your oblation.
4.2.2. ‘Piercing-and-seizing spells’ from the Atharvaveda (AVŚ. 16,7):
téna enaṃ vidhyāmiy
ábhūtyā enaṃ vidhyāmi
nírbhūtyā enaṃ vidhyāmi
párābhūtyainaṃ vidhyāmi
grā́ hiyā enaṃ vidhyāmi
támasā enaṃ vidhyāmi ||1||
evā́nevā́va sā
1. With that I pierce him;
with ill-success I pierce him;
with extermination I pierce him;
with calamity I pierce him;
with seizure I pierce him;
with darkness I pierce him.
́ garat ||4|| 4. Like this (‘So’), not like this (‘not so’), may she [Grāhi/
Seizure] swallow [him] down.
nír dviṣántaṃ divó níḥ pr̥ thivyā ́
6. Let us deprive our hater of share of heaven, of earth, of
nír antárikṣād bhajāma ||6||
intermediary space / atmosphere (antárikṣa-).
súyāmaṃś cākṣuṣa ||7|| 7. O you of good ways, provided with sight (cāksuṣá).
idám ahám āmuṣyāyaṇè 'múṣyāḥ
8. Now do I wipe off this evil-dreaming on him of such-
putré duṣvápniyaṃ mr̥ je ||8||
and-such lineage, son of such-and-such a mother.
táṃ jahi téna mandasva tásya pr̥ ṣṭī́r ápi śr̥ ṇīhi ||12|| Smite him, amuse yourself with him, crush in his ribs. (after
WHITNEY – LANMAN).
● Note the matri-lineal indication of origin (more about which see below).
● Cf. ritual act of piercing live animals instead of statuettes, e.g. the tomcat from Santones buried with head
twisted back (AUDOLLENT, Defixionum tabellae, no. 112; GRAF): aversos [...] esse quo/modi [sic] hic catellus
aversus / est nec surgere potest / sic nec illi, sic transpecti sint / quomodo ille ‘Let them be turned away [...] in
the same way that this little cat is turned away and cannot get up. Let it be thus for them as well’.
5. Binding spells and rites “beyond Indo-European”: Rituals of binding, piercing and burying
figurines (“voodoo dolls”) of enemies and beloved persons.
5.1. Egyptian evidence. Magical recipes, on tablet inscriptions and papyri.
5.2. Assyrian data. Maqlû incantation series (ed. MEIER etc.). Utukkū Lemnūtu spells (ed. GELLER).
5.3. Greek, Graeco-Egyptian and Roman testimonies: Binding and seizing enemies, lovers, gods.
[On ‘seizing names’ and ‘binding gods’ cf. below].
Various forms of BINDING / PIERCING / BURYING spells both in hostile and in erotic spells:
6. ‘TO BIND + (WITH) BOND(S)’ – between figura etymologica and variatio formae:
● Ved. DĀ, dyáti (+ ní, ā́ , sám) and Indo-Iranian ritual tradition:
AVŚ. 6,104[,1–3]:
ādā́ nena saṃdā́ nena
amítrān ā ́ diyāmasi |
apānā ́ yé caiṣāṃ prāṇā ́
ásunā́sūnt sám achidan ||1||
idám ādā́ nam akaraṃ
tápaséndreṇa sáṃśitam |
1. With tying-up, with tying-together,
we tie up the enemies;
the expirations and breaths of them,
lives with life (ásu) have I cut off.
2. This tying-up have I made,
sharpened up with fervor by Indra;

Velizar Sadovski, Indo-Iranian ritual concepts in a cross-cultural perspective, 18.09.2012 3
amítrā yé ʹtra naḥ sánti
tā́n agna ā ́ diyā tuvám ||2||
áinān diyatām indrāgnī ́
sómo rā́jā ca medínau |
índro marútvān ādā́ nam
amítrebhyaḥ kr̥ ṇotu naḥ ||3||
our enemies that are here —
them, O Agni, do thou tie up.
3. Let Indra-and-Agni tie them up,
and king Soma, allied;
let Indra with the Maruts
make tying-up for our enemies (WL 1,356).
● Cf. AVŚ. 6,103, used in the ritual, together with 104, according to Kauś.-Sū. (16,6) “in a battle rite for victory over
enemies: fetters, as the comm. explains, are thrown down in places where the hostile army will pass” (WL 1,356):
saṃdā́ naṃ vo br̥ ́haspátiḥ
saṃdā́ naṃ savitā ́ karat |
saṃdā́ naṃ mitró aryamā ́
saṃdā́ naṃ bhágo aśvínā ||1||
sám paramā́nt sám avamā́n
átho sáṃ dyāmi madhyamā́n |
índras tā́n páry ahār dā́ mnā
tā́n agne sáṃ diyā tuvám ||2||
amī ́ yé yúdham āyánti
ketū́n kr̥ tvā́ anīkaśáḥ |
índras tā́n páry ahār dā́ mnā
tā́n agne sáṃ diyā tuvám ||3||
1. Tying-together may Brihaspati,
tying-together may Savitar make for you;
tying-together may Mitra, Aryaman,
tying-together may Bhaga, the Açvins [make].
2. I tie together the highest, together the lowest,
also together the middle ones;
Indra hath encompassed them with a tie;
do thou, Agni, tie them together.
3. They yonder who come to fight,
having made their ensigns, in troops —
Indra hath encompassed them with a tie;
do thou, Agni, tie them together.
6.1. Binding spells as ‘verdicts to Non-Liberty / Non-Being’: stylistically elaborated, e.g. repetitions with
form variation, gradations, enumerations according to various classificatory patterns:
● AVŚ. 16,8,2e: sá nírr̥ tyāḥ pā́śān mā ́ moci
AVŚ. 16,8,3e: só ʹbhūtyāḥ pā́śān mā ́ moci
AVŚ. 16,8,4e: sá nírbhūtyāḥ pā́śān mā ́ moci
(AVŚ. 16,8,5e) sá párābhūtyāḥ pā́śān mā ́ moci
(AVŚ. 16,8,11e) só ʹṅgirasāṃ pā́śān mā ́ moci
(AVŚ. 16,8,12e) sá āṅgirasā́nāṃ pā́śān mā ́ moci
(AVŚ. 16,8,13e) só ʹtharvaṇām pā́śān mā ́ moci
(AVŚ. 16,8,14e) sá ātharvaṇā́nāṃ pā́śān mā ́ moci
[etc., for 27 stanzas; verses a–d remain identical!]
He shall not be liberated from the bonds of Nirr̥ ti.
He shall not be liberated from the bonds of Abhūti.
He shall not be liberated from the bonds of Nirbhūti.
He shall not be liberated from the bonds of Parābhūti.
He shall not be liberated from the bonds of the Aṅgiras-as.
He shall not be liberated from the bonds of the Āṅgirasa-s.
He shall not be liberated from the bonds of the Atharvan-s.
He shall not be liberated from the bonds of the Ātharvaṇa-s.
[cf. also above, § 7.1.]
6.2. ‘Binding down’ and ‘beating down’ demons and (abstract) demoniac powers: *drug h am BAND H - /
*drug h am (ni +) G H AN-. – Yt. 4,4:
θβąmca drujəmca baṇdāmi
θβąmca drujəmca niγne
θβąmca drujəmca nižbarəm
aδairi.naēməmca
I will bind thee and the Drug,
beat down thee and the Drug,
bring away thee and the Drug,
to the low-side.
● Ad drujəmca niγne cf. RV druhó hantā́ , jav jaṇta … drujō etc.; SCHLERATH, AvWb II, 160a, EWA 1,761
● ‘Un-binding’ mantra against Druh – formula druho muñcāmi varuṇasya pāśāt. AVP. 17,23,3 (druho mā
muñcantu varuṇasya pāśāt); AVP. 2,3,1.4–5 (emend./transl. ZEHNDER 26–28):
+ kṣetriyāt tvā nirṛtyā + jāmiśaṃsād
druho muñcāmi varuṇasya pāśāt |
anāgasaṃ brahmaṇā tvā kṛṇomi
śive te dyāvāpṛthivī abhūtām ||1||
sūryam ṛtaṃ tamaso grāhyā yathā
devā muñcanto asṛjan nir enasaḥ |
evā tvā kṣetriyān nirṛtyā + jāmiśaṃsād
druho muñcāmi varuṇasya pāśāt ||4||
amoci yakṣmād duritād + avadyād
druhaḥ pāśād grāhyāś cod amoci |
jahad avartim avidat syonām
apy abhūd bhadre sukṛtasya loke ||5||
1. Vom Kṣetriya-Leiden, vom Verderben, vom Geschwisterfluch,
von Arglist befreie ich dich, von der Schlinge Varuṇas;
schuldfrei mache ich dich mit einem Zauberspruch: „Himmel
und Erde sind dir günstig geworden“.
4. Wie die Götter die vom Anpacken der Dunkelheit getroffene
Sonne befreiend herausliessen aus dem Übel, so befreie
ich dich vom Kṣetriya-Leiden, vom Verderben, vom
Geschwisterfluch, von Arglist, von der Schlinge Varuṇas.
5. Er ist jetzt befreit worden von der Auszehrung, von der
Verfehlung, von der Schande; von der Schlinge der Arglist
und (von) der Grāhi ist er befreit worden; den Mangel zurücklassend
hat er eine angenehme (Lage) gefunden: er ist
dazu gekommen in der glücklichen Welt der Wohltat.
6.3. Gods as ‘binders’ of enemies: Soma/Haoma, Mitra/Miθra, Indra/Vərəθraγna:
6.3.1. Numerious Avestan and Vedic testimonies of ‘hand(-and-foot)-binding’ of enemies:
● AVP 1,18,4a.d
ihed asātha na puro gamātha- [...]
viśve vo devā upa + saṃdyān iha ||1||
● Avesta (Miθra, Vərəθraγna):
Yt. 10,48: āa ya miθrō frauuazaite
auui haēnaii + xruuišiieitiš
auui hąm.yaṇta rasmaoiiō
(For priority among one’s relatives:)
Here you have to be, you will not go forwards
all gods will bind you here together.
When Mithra comes driving
against the blood-thirsty enemy armies,
towards those who (in the area lying)

14 th Fachtagung of the Indogermanische Gesellschaft, Copenhagen, September 17–22, 2012 4
aṇtarə daihu pāpərətāne
aθra narąm miθrō.drująm
apąš gauuō darəzaiieiti
para daēma vāraiieiti
apa + gaoša + taošaiieiti
nōi pāδa vīδāraiieiti
nōi paiti.tauuā bauuaiti
tā daihāuuō tē hamərəθə̄
yaθa dužbərəṇtō baraiti
miθrō yō vouru.gaoiiaoitiš:
between two countries at war join their (respective) regiments,
(and, having arrived) there,
fetters behind the evil hands of men false to the treaty,
switches off their eyesight,
deafens their ears:
(then) one no longer disjoins the feet,
one has no strength to counter:
the lands and the men (lit. opponents)
he treats as (he treats) those who treat (him) badly,
Mithra the grassland magnate (GERSHEVITCH).
● On Yt. 14,63 etc., in which Vərəθraγna binds the hands of the enemies behind, by means of cords,
see now V.S., Die Sprache 48, 2009, 158f. – Cf. also Yt. 11,2–3 about Sraoša (hands, mouth, ears).
6.3.2. Soma/Haoma as binder of ‘sinners against right rite’:
Y. 11,7:
θβāšəm ā gə̄ uš frāθβərəsō
taṇcištāi haomāi draonō ※
mā θβā haomō baṇdaiiāt̰
yaθa mairīm baṇdaiiat̰
yim tūirīm fraŋrasiiānəm
maδəme θrišuue aiŋ́hā ̊ zəmō
pairišx v axtəm aiiaŋhahe ※
WOLFF 38:
7. Rasch sollst du dem heldenhaftesten Haoma (seinen)
Anteil an Fleisch abschneidend zuweisen,
daß dich nur nicht Haoma fessele […],
wie er den Schurken fesselte,
ihn, den tūrischen Fraŋrasyan,
den von Eisen rings umschlossenen […],
im mittleren Drittel der Erde hier.
● Vedic examples: e.g. AVP. 19,2,7 – Soma, Aditi, Mitra. The compound á-diti- to analyze not as a
determinative compound ‘Non-Binding’ but, due to her active role as releaser from bonds of evil,
as a factitive bahuvrīhi: ‘making binding/bonds to nothing’, ‘annihilating binding’, cf. amr̥ ́ta-
‘annihilating death’, SADOVSKI in OLSEN – CLACKSON 1997; on Varuṇa’s fetters in the watersand
the Avestan (Vd.) parallels s. Proceedings of the Mayrhofer memorial conference (forthc.).
6.3.2. Form variation: syntagmata of words for ‘TO BIND’ and ‘(WITH) BOND(S)’ from different roots.
Greek ἱμάσσω ‘lash’ is a denominative verb, formed from ‘thong’, stem ἱμάς. The latter is a derivative of an
Indo-European verb root *seh2i-/*sh2i- ‘to bind, tie’, Hittite išh̬ ai-, išh̬ iya-, Skt. syáti. In Greek, binding was
normally with thongs, and we find such typical verb phrases with the verb ‘to bind’ (δέω, δίδημι) and
instrumental datives as Il. 21.30 δῆσε δ᾽ ὀπίσσω χεῖρας ἐϋτμήτοισιν ἱμᾶσι, 10.567 κατέδησαν ἐϋτμήτοισιν
ἱμᾶσι, 10.475 ἱμᾶσι δέδεντο, 8.544 δῆσαν δ᾽ ἱμάντεσσι (WATKINS, How to Kill a Dragon, 453ff., esp. 454).
7. ‘BINDING and PIERCING the victim’s body (esp. separately, ORGAN BY ORGAN, the victim’s
limbs / heart / breath’, with enumeratio of the individual organs and (final) focusing on vital items:
7.1. Curse FROM TIP TO TOE, i.e. from the top of the head to the heels, by single (pairs of) organs, and
then, to joints and marrow: Against competition, i.e. (other) black magicians; AVP. 2,84 (ed. ZEHNDER):
idaṃ te śiro bhinadmi yātudhāna svāhā-
-idaṃ te mastiṣkaṃ ni tr̥ ṇadmi bhūmyām ||
idaṃ te hanū bhinadmi yātudhāna svāhā-
-idaṃ te + jihvāṃ ni tr̥ ṇadmi bhūmyām ||
idaṃ te grīvā bhinadmi yātudhāna svāhā-
-idaṃ te + skandhān ni tr̥ ṇadmi bhūmyām ||
idaṃ te aṃsau bhinadmi yātudhāna svāhā-
-idaṃ te bāhū ni tr̥ ṇadmi bhūmyām ||
idaṃ te hr̥ dayaṃ bhinadmi yātudhāna svāhā-
-idaṃ te klomānaṃ ni tr̥ ṇadmi bhūmyām ||
idaṃ te + pr̥ ṣṭīr bhinadmi yātudhāna svāhā-
-idaṃ te + parśūr ni tr̥ ṇadmi bhūmyām ||
idaṃ te śroṇī bhinadmi yātudhāna svāhā-
-idaṃ te vastraṃ ni tr̥ ṇadmi bhūmyām ||
idaṃ ta ūrū bhinadmi yātudhāna svāhā-
-idaṃ te jaṅghe ni tr̥ ṇadmi bhūmyām ||
idaṃ te kulphau bhinadmi yātudhāna svāhā-
-idaṃ te pādau ni tr̥ ṇadmi bhūmyām ||
idaṃ te tvacaṃ bhinadmi yātudhāna svāhā-
-idaṃ te prāṇān ni tr̥ ṇadmi bhūmyām ||
idaṃ te parūṃṣi bhinadmi yātudhāna svāhā-
-idaṃ te + majjño ni tr̥ ṇadmi bhūmyām ||
1. Here-and-now I (am) split(ting) your head, sorcerer: ‘svāhā’; hereand-now
I (am) pierc(ing) your brain down onto the earth.
2. Here-and-now I (am) split(ting) your jaws, sorcerer: ‘svāhā’; hereand-now
I (am) pierc(ing) your tongue down onto the earth.
3. Here-and-now I (am) split(ting) your neck, sorcerer: ‘svāhā’; hereand-now
I (am) pierc(ing) your shoulders down onto the earth.
4. Here-and-now I (am) split(ting) your shoulders/armpits, sorcerer: ‘svāhā’;
here-and-now I (am) pierc(ing) your arms down onto the earth.
5. Here-and-now I (am) split(ting) your heart, sorcerer: ‘svāhā’; hereand-now
I (am) pierc(ing) your lung(s) down onto the earth.
6. Here-and-now I (am) split(ting) your ribs, sorcerer: ‘svāhā’; hereand-now
I (am) pierc(ing) your side-bones down onto the earth.
7. Here-and-now I (am) split(ting) your hips, sorcerer: ‘svāhā’; hereand-now
I (am) pierc(ing) your cloth(s) down onto the earth.
8. Here-and-now I (am) split(ting) your thighs, sorcerer: ‘svāhā’;
here-and-now I (am) pierc(ing) your shanks down onto the earth.
9. Here-and-now I (am) split(ting) your ankles, sorcerer: ‘svāhā’;
here-and-now I (am) pierc(ing) your feet down onto the earth.
10. Here-and-now I (am) split(ting) your skin, sorcerer: ‘svāhā’; hereand-now
I (am) pierc(ing) your breathing (etc.) down onto the earth.
11. Here-and-now I (am) split(ting) your joints, sorcerer: ‘svāhā’;
here-and-now I (am) pierc(ing) your marrow down onto the earth.
7.2. Cf. the (Greco-Egyptian) recipe for a “marvelous erotic binding spell”, Papyri Magicae Graecae
[PGM] (ed. Karl PREISENDANZ et al.) IV, 296–466:
“Take thirteen bronze needles, drive one into her brain”, saying, “I pierce your brain with the needle, NN [name
to be filled in], two in your ears, two in your eyes, and so forth,” each time saying, “I stab this member of this
person so that she thinks only of me, NN.” (F. GRAF, Magic in the Ancient World, 1997, 138).
● Similar AV.: “twelve” body spots.

Velizar Sadovski, Indo-Iranian ritual concepts in a cross-cultural perspective, 18.09.2012 5
7.3. On (Greek) binding spells against competitors s. Chr. FARAONE, ‘The Agonic Context of Early Greek
Binding Spells’, in: Chr. A. FARAONE / D. OBRINK (eds.), Magika Hiera, 1991, 3–32.
● On form variation in the expressions of ‘BIND’ and ‘BONDS’ by using combinations of Cf. further on:
8. Amatory spells:
8.0. Erotic magic – φιλτρο-κατά-δεσμοι from whom to whom:
(A.) Greek evidence: above all, men in pursuit of women, but also other casūs:
1. women in pursuit of men: PGM XV, XVI, XIXb, XXXIX; DT 100, 230; GAGER no. 18.
2. women in pursuit of women: PGM XXXII; Jordan, ‘A Survey of Greek Defixiones…’ [SGD], Greek,
Roman and Byzantine Studies 26, 1985, 151;
3. men in pursuit of men: PGM XXXIIa; GAGER no. 25 ? ;
4. recipes to deliver men or women; PGM I, line 98; IV, line 2089; and GAGER no. 31.
(B.) Indian evidence:
1. men in pursuit of women: e.g., AVŚ. 2,30; 6,8; 6,77; 6,89 etc. etc.
2. women in pursuit of men: e.g., AVŚ. 6,130; 6,130; 6,60; 6,132...
8.1. Binding in amatory spells:
8.1.1. Greek tradition – almost always, (κατα-)δέω; also, κατ-έχω (Κάτ-οχος), on tablets: κατα-γράφω
● (GUARDUCCI, Epigrafia greca IV; GAGER 158f.): I record (κατα-γράφω) Isias, the daughter of Autoclea, with
Hermes the Restrainer. Restrain her near you. I bind (κατα-δέω) Isias before Hermes the Restrainer (Κατοχος)
— the hands, the feet of Isias, the whole body.
● Rich in spells for revenge for love rejection, cf. VERSNEL, Fs. Burkert, WINKLER, The constraints of Desire.
8.1.2. Indian – e.g., ápi + dyati:
● A pair of binding-and-unbind hymns – AVŚ. 6,138: to make the beloved (!) man impotent, and 4,4: to give
him his potency back, if he remains bound to the curser (!).
● AVŚ. 4,37,7:
ānr̥ ́tyataḥ śikhaṇḍíno
gandharvásyāpsarāpatéḥ |
bhinádmi muṣkā́ uv ápi + WL 1,212 (cf. also R. SENEVIRATNE, in prep.):
7. Of the hither-dancing, crested
Gandharva, Apsaras-lord,
dyāmi śépaḥ ||7||
I split the testicles, I bind fast (?) the member.
8.2. Seizing the mind and senses of the ‘beloved’ person – again, just like in hymns against enemies:
● AVŚ. 3,25,3–6: erotic spell.
● AVŚ. 6,94,2 – ‘defixio hostilis’ (GRABH i ):
aháṃ gr̥ bhṇāmi mánasā mánāṃsi
2. I seize [your] minds with [my] mind;
máma cittám ánu cittébhir éta |
come after my intent with [your] intents;
máma váśeṣu hr̥ ́dayāni vaḥ kr̥ ṇomi
I put your hearts in my control;
máma yātám ánuvartmāna éta ||2||
come with [your] tracks following my motion (WL).
8.3. “Corporeal binding”: lists of body parts in amatory spells (ā ́ + DĀ1; GRABH i ):
AVP. 2,35,3–4
yathā surā yathā madhu
yathākṣā adhidevane |
yathā ha gavyato mana
evā mām abhi te manaḥ ||3||
ā te padaṃ padenādiṣy
ā te manasā manaḥ |
pratyañcam agrabhaṃ tvā-
-aśvam ivāśvābhidhānyā ||4||
Like the Surā, like(/and) the honey (belong together)
like the dice (aim) at the playing board,
like the thought of a desirous (man),
so (let) your thought (aim) at me.
Your footprint has been taken by (a / my) footprint,
your thought has been taken by (a / my) thought,
I seized you as one turned to me (/ “frontally”),
as a horse by the horse-halter.
8.4. Further φιλτρο-κατά-δεσμοι – erotic(izing) prayers, amulets, pharmaka, technologies:
● Greek: J. J. Winkler, ‘The constraints of Eros’, in: FARAONE – OBBINK (eds.), Magika Hiera, 220ff.
● Indian evidence: BLOOMFIELD, AV.; J. MODI, Amulets.
8.5. Separation curse, Trennungszauber:
● Indian evidence: e.g., AVP. 2,58 – Separation of a woman from a man:
vi vāṃ yantu hr̥ dayāni
vi cittāni manāṃsi ca |
atho yat tanvoḥ saṃgataṃ
tad vām astu vidūrakam ||5||
asti vai vāṃ viduvikam
ubhau śayane antarā |
viṣvañcau pary ā vartethāṃ
yathā vāṃ na sahāsati ||6||
5. The hearts of you two shall go asunder/apart, asunder/
apart the intentions and the thoughts; and then that
of the two bodies which has been united, that of you
may be wide asunder/apart.
6. (Now) there is a separation in bed between you two:
turn (‘yourself’) in different directions, so that there will
be no (more) together(ness) (ZEHNDER 130–134; cf. ibid.
comm. J. HOUBEN: deconstruction of the last verse of the
RV, in the hymn about harmony [Eintrachtslied], to disharmony!).
● Greek evidence: separation of a woman from a man (and vice cersa); separation of two men.
– Separation of a woman from a man:

14 th Fachtagung of the Indogermanische Gesellschaft, Copenhagen, September 17–22, 2012 6
● Side A: [...] I bind Theodora to remain unmarried to Charias and (I bind) Charias to forget Theodora, and (I
bind) Charias to forget . . . Theodora and marriage bed with Theodora. Side B: [...]
– With enumeration of anatomic parts (also in curses for “seizing” body parts, such as in § 8.1):
● SEG 30. 353 (SGD 57), Nemea, prob. 4 th c. BC: “I turn away Euboula from Aineas, from his face (προσώπου),
from his eyes (ὀφθαλμῶν), from his mouth (στόματος), from his nipples (τιθθίαν), from his soul (ψυχᾶς), from
his belly (γάστρος), from his [penis] ([ + ψωλίον]), from his anus (πρωκτοῦ), from his entire body (ὅλου τοῦ
σώματος). I turn away Euboula from Aineas.” (GAGER – VERSNEL).
9. Seizing/binding the (person by his/her) name:
9.1. Name of the person concerned is given according to matrilineal principles, in the form: “X, son of
[the mother] Z, descendent of the clan Y”:
● AVŚ 10,5,44:
rā́jño váruṇasya bandhó ʹsi |
só ʹmúm āmuṣyāyaṇám amúṣyāḥ putrám ánne prāṇé
badhāna ||44||
● AVŚ 16,8,2–4:
jitám asmākam údbhinnam asmā́kam
r̥ tám asmā́kaṃ téjo ʹsmā́kaṃ
bráhmāsmā́kaṃ svàr asmā́kaṃ
yajñò ʹsmā́kaṃ paśávo ʹasmā́kaṃ
prajā ́ asmākaṃ vīrā ́ asmā́kam |
tásmād amúṃ nír bhajāmo
ʹamúm āmuṣyāyaṇám
amúṣyāḥ putrám asáu yáḥ |
sá nírr̥ tyāḥ pā́śān mā ́ moci ||2||
You are bond of king Varuṇa. Bind now „X“, descendent
of „Y“, son of the mother „Z“ in his food and his
breath/vital energy.
Ours is / We have (all that which is) won; we have (all that
which is) dug up; we have R̥ ta, we have (vital) ardor;
we have bráhman-; we have the sun(-light);
we have sacrifice; we have animals;
we have descendants; we have men(-heroes):
of this (all possession) we deprive 10 „X“: „X“, descendant
of „Y“, son (of mother) „Z“; (the one) who is „X“,
he shall not be liberated from the bonds of Nirr̥ ti.
9.2. Ritual instructions in Graeco-Egyptian poetry to intentionally use metronymics.
9.3. ‘Seizing names’, as a method of control over the adversary. – AVŚ. 1,191,13; 10,145,4.
AVP. 6,7,7: yas tvā bhūme 'nvavindad
yas tvā bhūma udābharat |
tayoḥ sahasradhāmann
ahaṃ nāmāni jagrabha ||
AVP. 2,32,4: śunam ahaṃ madhughasya
pitur nāmeva *jagrabha |
yo mā hiraṇyavarcasaṃ
*kr̥ ṇavat +pūruṣapriyam ||
AVP. 1,21,2a.3cd apacitaḥ pra patata [...]
sarvāsām agrabhaṃ nāma-
-avīraghnīr apetana ||
I have seized the names of these two [= (divine) Eagle (Vi-
ṣṇu/Sun ? ) and (divine) Hog (: Viṣṇu ? )], o you of a thousand
abodes: the one who has discovered you, o Earth, the one
who has brought you up, o Earth (cf. ed. GRIFFITHS 95).
For a profit I have seized the names of (the plant)
Madhugha, (just) like (his) father’s name, which (‘Madhugha’)
will make me of golden brilliance, pleasant to
people (coni. ed. ZEHNDER 91f.).
O Apacits (scrofulosis)! Fly forth [...]
I seized the name(s) of all,
go away, as ones, who do not kill men.
9.4. ‘Knowing X’s mother’s / father’s name’ as method of control and linking. – AVŚ. 1,2,1:
vidm śarásya pitáraṃ | parjányaṃ bhridhāyasam /
vidmó ṣuv àsya mātáraṃ | pthivṃ bhrivarpasam//1//
We know the reed’s father, Parjanya the much-nourishing;
and we know well its mother, the earth of many aspects.
10. Seizing gods: ‘seizing divinity’:
10.1. Indian evidence: Kauśika-Sūtra 133,3: for power above gods and the world. – AVP. 1,40:
AVP. 1,40,1 mamobhā mitrāvaruṇā
mamobhendrābr̥ haspatī |
mama tvaṣṭā ca pūṣā ca
mamaiva savitā vaśe ||1||
Mitra and Varuṇa, both, (be in) my (power)
Indra und Br̥ haspati: mine,
mine Tvaṣṭar and Pūṣan
in mine power olny (be) also Savitar.
etc.: divine names; all gods; heaven, earth, atmosphere, sun; plants, waters; cows, horses, goats, sheep; humans;
all the living world.
10.2. Greek evidence: ritual of ‘seizing Ares’ and subjecting him to the will of the polis in Boeotia.
● Binding gods as a form of re-ligio: public rites.
● “Rituals of burning” effigies of demons and living enemies (cf. maqlû incantations).
● Lead or wax figurines pierced, buried, melt.
11. ‘Binding, piercing, burying the victims’ in the form of effigies in cursing and amatory rites:
11.1. Burying figurines as usual black magic practice:
DTA, no. 49: τούτους ἅπαντας κατα-δῶ ἀ-φανίζω
κατ-ορύττω κατα-πασσαλεύω.
All of them, I bind them down, I make them disappear, I
bury them ‘down’, I nail them down.
11.2. Materials of the effigies: lead, wax, clay.
● Greek evidence: WÜNSCH, Defixionum Tabellae Atticae [DTA], no. 55, Side A –:
Τούτους ἐγὼ καταδίδημι ἅπαντας ἐν μολύβδωι καὶ
ἐν κηρᾶ(ι) [...]
[From the town of Karystos on Euboea]:
I bind all these people in lead and in wax.

Velizar Sadovski, Indo-Iranian ritual concepts in a cross-cultural perspective, 18.09.2012 7
● Latin evidence: Horace; Ovid (Loves 3.7.29; cf. GAGER, FARAONE ad loc.): wonders if a specialist
sorcerer has “victimized (defixit) [him,] who has written his name in red wax and pierced it with a
needle”.
11.3. The Vedic notion of kr̥ tyā́ -. Dimensions of the concept (studied by HILLEBRANDT, HENRY, S.K.
LAL, GOUDRIAAN):
11.3.0.: Material: Counter-spell against charmed clay effigies – Kauśika-Sūtra 39: esp. 7ff., 11ff.:, the
Brahmán pierces it ‘with a hostile eye’ (sūtra 39,11) and shoots (an arrow) on places the effigy has
wounded; he puts the effigy made of clay (12) on a hide, with the heels turned downwards (16), anoints
it (18), binds it (19), pours water on it (14) and on places vulnerable by the effigy (28, 31) and plows on
it with a plough drawn by black oxen (29).
(A.) kr̥ tyā́ -, f. (esp., RVKh., AV., YV.):
11.3.1. Abstract: ‘powerful magic hidden in an object’;
11.3.2. Concrete: ‘magical object (buried into the ground)’, esp. “voodoo doll” – Evidence from
Yajurveda, from Kauśika-Sūtra and from the Atharvaveda-Paippalāda-Saṃhitā:
● VSM 5.23 / VSK 5.6.2 út kr̥ tyā́ ṃ kirāmi ‘the kr̥ tyā I dig out’.
● Kauś. 39,7ff.: kr̥ tyā́ - presented like a doll (CALAND, HENRY) or another object (GOUDRIAAN) to bury.
Cf. also Egypt and Greece: The figurine “does not to be a portrait, it suffices that it bears some very
superficial resemblance to the identity” (M. MAUSS; F. GRAF).
● GRIFFITHS ad AVP. 7,1: “the wording of KauśS 39, sūtras 13 [...] and 14 [...] clearly implies an
object of human (or animal) shape, and so do stanzas like ŚS 10.1.1, 10.1.24”.
● On forming human figures (puruṣākr̥ ti-) with the bones in of burying and commemorative rituals, cf.
LANMAN in WHITNEY – LANMAN 2,856–857, ad AVŚ. 18,3,25, on the father, represented by the prostrate
figure of bones; and the quot. of Bāudhāyana-Pitr̥ medhasūtra 1,10, 5.7.10.13 (ed. CALAND, 15).
11.4. Indo-Iranian evidence – Re-Binding disiecta membra. – AV 3,25,3–6:
y plīhnaṃ śoṣáyati
kmasyéṣuḥ súsaṃnatā /
prācnapakṣā víyòṣā
táyā vidhyāmi tvā hdí //3//
śuc viddh víyòṣayā
śúṣkāsya abhí sarpa mā /
mdúr nímanyuḥ kévalī
priyavādíny ánuvratā //4//
jāmi tuvā janyā
pári mātúr átho pitúḥ /
yáthā máma krátāv áso
máma cittám upyasi //5//
víy àsyai mitrāvaruṇau
hdáś cittniy asyatam /
áthainām akratúṃ ktv
mámaivá kṇutaṃ váśe //6//
3. The well-straightened arrow of love
which dries the spleen [...],
forward-winged, consuming —
therewith I pierce thee in the heart.
4. Pierced with consuming pain [...], dry-mouthed,
do thou come creeping to me,
gentle, with fury allayed, entirely [mine],
pleasant-spoken, submissive.
5. I goad thee hither with a goad [...],
away from mother, likewise from father,
that thou mayest be in my power (krátu),
mayest come unto my intent.
6. Do ye, O Mitra-and-Varuna, cast out
the intents from her heart;
then, making her powerless,
make her [to be] in my own control (WL).
(B.) valagá-, m.
● TS. 1,3,2,1: idám aháṃ táṃ valagám úd vapāmi yáṃ naḥ samānó yám ásamāno nicakhā́ na ‘Here(and-now)
I (am) get(ting) out the Valaga which an equal, an unequal (person) has buried/dug in for us’.
(C.) Kauśika ritual of burying a substitute of a female rival with AV mantras like AVP 1,15.
11.5. Greek: ἀποστρέφω ‘to turn down’, generally used for the twisting of hands and feet that are bound
backwards (VERSNEL), a wide-spread topos in classical tabellae defixionum and esp. in ‘judicial
curses’. – ἀποστρέφω as terminus technicus transferred on the tongue:
SGD 99, ed. JORDAN (Demeter Malaphoros
sanctuary at Gaggara, Selinous, early 5 th c. BC):
Σελινόνντιος [κ]αὶ hα Σελινοντίο γλôσα
ἀπεστραμέν’ ἐπ’ἀτλείαι ἐνγράφω τᾶι τένον
VERSNEL, Fs.Burkert, 220:
I ‘register’ Selinuntius [or the Selinuntian?] and the tongue of
Selinuntius, so that it will be twisted and devoid of success.
(b.) Veda:
11.6. Kauś. 2,7[16],1-26: “To terrify enemy’s army, let it run away”: common nucleus and additional details:
(3) somāṃśuṃ hariṇacarmaṇy utsīvya (3) He binds an (amulet) consisting of Soma stalks, which he has sewn
kṣatriyāya badhnāti
into a piece of gazelle leather, to a kṣatriya- around (his neck).
(4) (pari vartmāni [6.67]) (indro jayāti (4) Pronouncing the songs AVŚ 6,67 or 6,98, the king goes (three times)
[6.98]) iti rājā triḥ senāṃ pariyāti around his army (turning his right side to it, in order to make it
invincible).
(5) uktaḥ pūrvasya somāṃśuḥ (5) (Kauś. 2,7[16],3) deals with the charm – connected (only) with the first
cited (song, i.e. 6,67) – with the (amulet) consisting of Soma stalks.

14 th Fachtagung of the Indogermanische Gesellschaft, Copenhagen, September 17–22, 2012 8
(6) (saṃdānaṃ vo [6.103]) (ādānena
[6.104]) iti pāśair ādānasaṃdānāni
(6) The songs 6,103 and 104 are connected with (the actions) of hand-binding
and foot-binding [in Avestan cf. Yt. 14], by means of the cords.
12. Where to bury a voodoo: Marked places of putting bound effigies, binding spells and other
objects of curse:
12.1. Vedic tradition: cemeteries, wells, fields – e.g. AVŚ. 5,31,8:
yā́ṃ te kr̥ tyā́m kū́ pe 'vadadhúḥ
śmaśāné vā nicakhnúḥ |
sádmani kr̥ tyā́m yā́ṃ cakrúḥ
púnaḥ práti harāmi tā́m ||8||
What witchcraft they have put down for thee in the well, or
have dug in at the cemetery; in the seat (sádman) what
witchcraft they have made—I take that back again
(WHITNEY – LANMAN 1,279).
12.2. Greek tradition: cemeteries, wells, walls, fields…
● Cemeteries: e.g. the Athenian Kerameikos; the necropolis at Camarina in Sicily (defixiones from ca.
450 BC) etc.
● Wells: cf. e.g. D. R. Jordan, ‘Defixiones from a Well near the Southwest Corner of the Athenian
Agora’.
● Walls: e.g. a 4 th century BC κατάδεσμος found buried in a mud-brick wall of a house in the ancient
Athenian industrial quarter (Supplement of Greek Defixiones, 20; FARAONE/OBBINK, Magica Hiera,
11); – a couple, bound and buried in the supporting wall of the temple of Zeus Hypsistos on Mount
Cynthus on Delos (FARAONE, Class. Ant., 10.2, 1991, 191.202) etc.
● Fields:
– AVŚ. 4,18,5:
anáya ahám óṣadhyā
sárvāḥ kr̥ tyā ́ adūduṣam |
yā́ṃ kṣétre cakrúr yā́ṃ góṣu
yā́ṃ vā te púruṣeṣu ||5||
I, with this herb,
have spoiled all witchcrafts —
what one they have made in the field, what in the kine, or
what in thy men (púruṣa) (WL).
– Cf. the Greek type of ‘field-buried’ tabellae defixionum like e.g. the two lead tablets plowed up in a field near
Arkesinē, on the island of Amorgos.
13. Amulets:
13.1. Amulets and binding spells – for protective and for destructive charms, in amatory rites and
beyond – e.g., if we take only AVŚ. 19:
AVŚ. 19,28,1: imáṃ badhnāmi te maṇíṃ
dīrghāyutvā́ya téjase |
darbháṃ sapatnadámbhanaṃ
I bind for thee this amulet, in order to long life, to brilliancy
— the darbha, damager of rivals, burner (tapana) of
the heart of the hater (WL 2,949).
́
́
dviṣatás tápanaṃ hr̥ dáḥ ||1||
AVŚ. 19,32,1cd:
[...] the darbhá that is a formidable herb,
darbhó yá ugrá óṣadhis
that I bind on thee in order to [prolonged] life-time (WL
táṃ te badhnāmy ā́yuṣe ||1||
2,941).
AVŚ. 19,33,4: tīkṣṇó rā́jā viṣāsahī
4. A keen (tīkṣṇa) king, of mighty power,
rakṣohā viśvácarṣaṇiḥ |
demon-slaying, belonging to all men (-carṣaṇí),
ójo devā́nāṃ bálam ugrám etát
force of the gods, formidable strength [is] that;
táṃ te badhnāmi jaráse svastáye ||4||
I bind it on thee in order to old age, to well-being.
12.2. If they pierce you, you should pierce back: ‘Piercing back’ forces of evil with amulets:
● AVP. 2,71,1 (counter-spell, with an amulet):
kr̥ tavyadhani vidhya taṃ
yaś cakāra tam ij jahi |
na tvām acakruṣe vayaṃ
vadhāya saṃ *śiśīmahe ||
● AVP. 1,10,4 (with a lead amulet against demons):
yadi haṃsy aśvaṃ ' yadi gāṃ yadi pūruṣam |
sīsena vidhyāmas tvā ' yathā no [']so avīrahā ||
ZEHNDER 159:
Zauberdurchbohrerin, durchbohre den,
welcher gezaubert hat, den triff:
wir schärfen dich nicht,
um den, der nicht gezaubert hat, zu treffen.
If you kill a horse, if a cow, if a man,
we pierce you with the lead, so that you shall not be a
man-killer to/toward us.