20-24 septembrie 2009 - Biblioteca Metropolitana Bucuresti

The Sviṣṭakṛt: formal structure and self-reference in Vedic ritual 613that it amounts to a self-referential episode of what I have called elsewherethe yajñéna-yajñám type (HOUBEN forthc. b). 22 The oldest attestation ofthis principle is in a verse of the g-veda, viz. V 1.164.50ab = 10.90.16ab:yajñéna yajñám ayajanta devs tni dhármāṇi prathamny āsan “Withritual worship the gods worshipped ritual worship: these institutions werethe foundational ones.” In the first part of this statement, the instrument andthe object are expressed in the form of the same noun, yajñá. This suggestsa circularity, which is also evident from a straightforward translation.Moreover, the process to be realized is expressed in a finite verb form fromthe same root which is at the basis of the noun yajñá, viz. yaj (in zerograde: ij), generally translated as “to worship,” “to sacrifice (something,in instr.) to some god (in acc.)”. If we consider “worship” as its centralmeaning, it is not just an incidental adoration but rather one that followscertain procedures, a “ritual worship”.A logical problem becomes apparent if it is realized that accordingto Vedic concepts the praise or worship of an object of praise or worship,usually a deity, will invigorate or strengthen that object, that deity. 23 In ourcase, the object of ritual worship is ritual worship itself. 24 The statement22This refers to ritual self-reference (ritual refers to ritual), not to self-reference ofthe ritualist or of the Vedic poet which is also frequent in Vedic texts. For this latter selfreferencecf. Renou 1961: 15-16: “At certain moments, the author seems to abandon histopic or rather superimposes on top of it another topic, which consists of making a curveback to himself. ... he pays tribute to poetic inspiration ... ” (“A de certains moments,l’auteur semble abondonner son propos ou plutôt y superposer un autre, qui consiste àfaire un retour sur soi-même. ... il salue l’inspiration poétique ... ”). An example of selfreferenceof the ritualist would be AVP 1.6 (~ AVŚ 1.1.1 ~ MS 4.12.1): MOLEANU2002; for THIEME’s phonetic interpretation (1985) of the three times seven there are stillsufficient reasons of context and of – it is true, inferred – substance.23On the basis of the mantras employed in them we have to infer that a major functionof Vedic rituals was to strengthen powers of nature and of gods. Projected on Vedic poetryemployed in rituals GONDA states this as follows (GONDA 1960: 22): “Wie groß dieMacht des feierlichen, von Brahmanen geäußerten Wortes nach indischer Auffassungwar, geht aus vielen Stellen hervor: ... V 8.4.11 “dir sind, Indra, die Lobgesänge eineStärkung”; nach 4.4.11 ist das Wort des Sängers so stark, daß es wie im Mythus denFelsen zersprengt. So wie man im allgemeinen wichtige und heilbringende Vorgänge inder Absicht erzählt oder beschreibt, dieselben zur Wirklichkeit werden zu lassen, und ausähnlichen Grunde Vergleiche einschaltet, so können Worte, Lieder und Formeln durchihre eigene, inhärente Macht die Kräfte der Natur und der Götter steigern und neue Lieder– die Neuheit wird öfters hervorgehoben – zur periodischen Erneuerung des Lebens undder nützlichen Potenzen beitragen. Das war die Hauptfunktion der vedischen Dichtkunst.”24This type of circularity is perhaps not rare in Vedic ritual but it is rarely as clearlyand crudely expressed as here. Cf. GONDA (1975: 66-67): “The poets are moreoverdeeply convinced of the existence of an interplay of factors, reciprocity or rather cyclical