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

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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)
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