20-24 septembrie 2009 - Biblioteca Metropolitana Bucuresti

612 Jan E.M. HoubenHubert and Mauss ... drew attention to some facts that are well knownto ritualists, viz., that the final bath (avabhtha) at the end correspondsto the consecration (dīkṣā) at the beginning, and the concluding offering(udayanīyeṣṭi) similarly corresponds to the introductory offering(prāyaṇīyeṣṭi), the departure (udavasāna) to the entrance (adhyavasāna),the dissolution (sakhyavisarjana) to the alliance (tānūnaptra), and soforth. In all these cases, a large number of rituals intervene betweenthese initial and final rites.In lesser rites, we often find the same structure. For example, within theFull- and New-Moon Ceremonies, the main oblation (pradhānahoma)is preceded by oblations called ājyabhāga and followed by an oblationcalled sviṣṭakt. The ājyabhāgas are in turn preceded by "fore-offerings"(prayāja) and the sviṣṭakt is followed by "after-offerings" (anuyāja).The relationship of "fore-offerings" (prayāja) and "after-offerings"(anuyāja) is indeed more or less symmetrical, but not the relationshipbetween ājyabhāga "clarified butter oblations" and sviṣṭakt as the latter inits formulas explicitly refers back not only to the butter oblations but alsoto the principal offerings ánd to itself.The black Yajur-vedic traditions contain, in fact, a prayer or formulathat expresses the foundational nature of this self-referential offeringquite clearly. The sacrificer should follow the Sviṣṭakt offering with thisformula:agniḥ sviṣṭakd yajñasya pratiṣṭhā, tasyāhaṁ devayajyayā yajñenapratiṣṭhāṁ gameyam /Agni Sviṣṭakt is the solid basis of ritual worship; with the ritual worshipof him (Agni Sviṣṭakt), with the ritual worship of the god (AgniSviṣṭakt), may I obtain a solid basis.This is the version preserved in one school of the Maitrāyaṇīyas, theMānava-śrauta-sūtra (MŚS 1.4.2.7 and 15), which places the importantstatement on Agni Sviṣṭakt as solid basis of ritual worship in a seperateclause. 213.3 Although most of the early Yajurvedic explanations (Brāhmaṇasand Brāhmaṇa-like passages) take the Sviṣṭakt offering and its necessityfor granted, it is clear from the quoted passage in the Śatapatha-brāhmaṇa21MS does not have this mantra. Other Yajurvedic branches integrate the statementof the first clause in the main sentence, as in the Taittirīya-saṁhitā, TS 1.6.2.4 andelsewhere: agnéḥ sviṣṭakto 'háṁ devayajyáyyuṣmān yajñéna pratiṣṭhṁ gameyam; KS5.1 and 32.1 have: agner ahaṁ sviṣṭakto devayajyayāyuḥ pratiṣṭhāṁ gameyam.