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

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.