Comentarios finales

Frits Staal

This article consists of two parts. The first part (pages 48-59) presents the evidence in the form of six mantras, provided in their original Vedic, with a translation and a discussion of the context in which they occur and are used. The second part formulates conclusions drawn from this evidence. There are three sections: the first (pages 59-66) deals with the distinction between Vedic and Tantric mantras; the second (pages 66-70) compares

mantras with speech acts; and the third (pages 70-85) discusses the relations between mantras and language.

The Evidence

Vedic Mantras are bits and pieces of the Vedas put to ritual use.* In the earlier ritual literature (e.g., in the Srauta * Sutras and in the Yajurveda itself), mantras are

distinguished from brahmanas*, or interpretive passages that elucidate and interpret the ritual use of mantras. In the later ritual literature (e.g., in the Mimamsa*), mantras are distinguished from vidhis, or injunctions that prompt to ritual acts. Mantras occur in each of the four Vedas. They belong to different kinds of Vedic utterances, such as rc*, "verse (from the Rgveda*)," saman* "chant or melody (from the Samaveda*)," yajus, "formula (from the Yajurveda), generally muttered," and nigada "formula (from the Yajurveda), generally spoken loud."

*Although this article is addressed primarily to Indologists and scholars of religion, the material also is of interest to linguists and philosophers. In order not to make the exposition unpalatable to its intended audience, I have not tried to adhere to standards of rigor and sophistication considered commendable in linguistics and philosophy. All the same, I have benefitted from comments by Yuki Kuroda and Steve Yablo.

Page 49

Before discussing mantras in general, it will be helpful to consider some examples. I shall list six of these, in the original Sanskrit, along with translations or with what I shall refer to as translatory meanings. I have omitted accents even though they are considered part of the mantras. Afterward I shall discuss these mantras in detail, one by one, and derive

some general conclusions.

1. agnin *...

agnnin* jyotismatah* kuruta / diksita* vacam* yaccha / patni vacam* yacchal (Kindle the fires! Consecrated one, control your speech! Wife, control your speech!) (Baudhayana* Srauta* Sutra* 6.6)

2. mitro na ehi ...

mitro na ehi surnitradha* / indrasyorum a* visa* daksinam* / usann* usantam*

syonah* syonam*/

(Come to us as a friend, making good friends. Enter the right thigh of Indra; you willing, it willing, you gracious, it gracious)

(Taittiriya* Samhita* 1.2.7.1 f) 3. yo'sman dvesti*...

yo'sman dvesti* yam* ca vayam* dvisma* / idam asya griva* api krntami*/

(He who hates us and whom we hate, here I cut off his neck!) (Taittiriya* Samhita* 1.3.1.1 c)

4. devasya tva* savituh*...

devasya tva* savituh* prasave' svinor* bahubhyam* pusno* hastabhyam* agnaye jyustam* nirvapamy* agnisomabhyam*/

(On the impulse of the God Savitr*, with the arms of the Asvins*, with the hands of Pusan*, I offer you dear to Agni, to Agni and Soma.)

(Taittiriya* Samhita* 1.1.4.2 m) 5. indra jusasva*...

indra jusasva* pra vaha* yahi* sura* haribhyam* / piba* sutasya mater iha madhos*

caknas* carur* madaya* // indra jataram* navyo na prnasva* madhor divo na / asya sutasya svarnopa* tva* madah* suvaco* aguh* // indras turasan*. mitro vrtram* yo jaghana* yatir* na / bibheda valam* bhrgur* na sasahe satrun* made somasya //

"Indra enjoydrive on,

come, herowith your two steeds, drink of Somalike a sage,

Page 50

loving the sweet, pleased with inebriation!

Indra, your bellylike one to be praised, fill it with sweetlike heavens,

with pressed Somalike paradise,

well-spoken inebriants have gone to you!

Indra fast conqueringlike a friend, killing the demonlike ascetics, he split the cavelike Bhrgu *,

he conquers his enemies inebriated with Soma!"

(Atharvaveda 2.5.1-3)

6. ha* bu ha* bu ha* bu . . .

ha* bu ha* bu ha* bu bha* bham* bham* bham* bham* bham* bham* bham* bham*

bham* bham* bham* bha* bham* bham* bham* bham* bham*/ ha* bu ha* bu ha*

bu brahma jajnanam* prathamam* purastat* / vi simatas* suruco vena a* vat*/ sa budhniya* upama* asya va* yi sthah*/ satas* ca yonim asatas* ca va* yi vah*. / ha*

bu ha* bu ha* bu bha* bham*. bham*. bham* bham*. bham* bha* bham*. bham*

bham*. bham*. bham* bha* bham*. bham*. bham*. bham*. Bham*/ ha* bu ha* bu ha* vu va/ brahma devanam*. bhati* parame vyoman brahma devanam* bhati*

parame vyoman brahma devanam* bhati* parame vyoman*//

Here translation becomes more difficult even than in the previous case (5); but it may be attempted, in free fashion, as follows:

(Hey hey hey! BANG bang bang bang bang bang BANG bang bang bang bang bang BANG bang bang bang bang ! Hey hey hey! Born as brahman first in the ea-east, Vena has shone out of the glimmering horizon. He has revealed its highest and lowest

positionemes, the womb of being and of non-be-be-ying. Hey hey hey! BANG bang bang bang bang bang BANG bang bang bang bang bang BANG bang bang bang bang bang!

Hey hey, hey man! Brahman shines in the highest heaven of the gods brahman shines in the highest heaven of the gods brahman shines in the highest heaven of the gogodeses!) (Jaiminiya* Aranyageyagana* 12.9)

All the expressions in these six examples are mantras or consist of mantras. They are not only very different from each other, but, the further we proceed in the sequence, the more difficult it becomes to provide a "translatory meaning." So let us now review these six once again, one by one, place them in their ritual context, and see what general

conclusions can be drawn.

1. Aginin*...

This mantra is a command, technically called praisartha*. It belongs to the category

nigada. It is addressed by the Adhvaryu priest, shouting in

Page 51

a loud voice, to the other priests, the Yajamana * (ritual patron) and the Yajamana's*

wife, after the Yajamana's* consecration has taken place. Following the mantra, fuel is added to the fires, and the Yajamana* and his wife ''control their speech" (i.e., they

pronounce only what is prescribed, but do not chatter; see Staal 1983a [AGNI] 1.333). It stands to reason, therefore, to assume that this mantra is an ordinary command, which has been understood as such by those to whom it was addressed. This implies, among other things, that the Adhvaryu priest is the kind of person who has the authority to issue such commands.

2. Mitro Na Ehi. . .

This mantra is a yajus, muttered by the Yajamana* after the Soma plant has been

purchased by the Adhvaryu from a merchant. The Yajamana* mutters the first part of the mantra (...sumitradha*) when the Adhvaryu approaches him with the Soma bundle. He then uncovers his fight thigh, places the bundle on it, and recites the remainder of the mantra (Caland & Henry 1906, 1.46; Kashikar & Dandekar 1958-73, II, Sanskrit Section;

1.50). Here no command is given or followed. The mantras accompany an act or acts and may be interpreted as comments on that act or on those acts.

3. Yo'sman* Dvesti*. . .

This mantra, which is recited frequently, has a purely ritual use: It is recited when the soil within a ritual enclosure is prepared with the help of the sphya, a wooden knife. One of the brahmanas* associated with this rnantra provides it with an interpretation that is a rationalization, as is usual: The enemy has to be excluded from the altar, for making the altar is a cruel act. "Let him think of anyone he hates; he does truly inflict trouble upon him!" (Taittiriya* Samhita* 2.6.4.4). Another brahmana* comments, "There are two persons: one whom he hates, and one who hates him. Surely, he should cut off the necks of both, successively" (Taittiriya* Samhita* 6.1.8.4; cf. Staal 1983a, 1.104).

When I call such interpretations rationalizations, I do not intend to deny that there were real enemies in Vedic times, whose necks could be, or actually were, cut off. There is ample evidence for battles, sometimes intruding on ritual (see, e.g., Heesterman 1962).

Such a background is reflected in the "translatory meaning" of the mantra and points to one of its possible origins. However, the meaning of a mantra is its ritual use. In ritual terms it means that the soil is scratched with the sphya. The authors of the brahmanas*

are aware of these ritual uses, but they go willfully beyond them, invoking anything that strikes their fancy, contradicting themselves, giving vent to their adventitious and often infantile wishesnot unlike some contemporary theorists of ritual.

4. Devasys Tva* Savituh*...

This mantra is recited frequently throughout all ritual performances. It accompanies and indicates an offering (nirvapa*). The first three

Page 52

phrases (through hastabhyam *) occur at the beginning of many other mantras (see Bloomfield 1906, 492-94). Characteristically, the brahmanas* are unhelpful; e.g., "He says 'On the impulse of the God Savitr'* when he takes the sword, for impelling. He says 'with the arms of the Asvins*' because the Asvins* were the Adhvaryus of the Gods. He says 'with the hands of Pusan*,' for restraint" (Taittiriya* Samhita* 2.6.4.1). All of this is vacuous because there need not be a sword, there is always one Adhvaryu already, there is no need or clear use of impelling or restraint. However, there always is an offering.

That the ritual meaning is only "offering" is obvious from a discussion in the

Mimamsasutra* (2.1.46). The purpose of this discussion is to establish that mantras

always consist of a single sentence because they express a single meaning (arthaikatvad*

ekam* vakyam*). The commentatorSabara* elucidated this as follow, "The sutra* is

explained because mantras fulfil a single purpose. Devasya tva*..., for example, indicates 'offering.' The words that comprise the mantra express precisely this, and therefore

consist of a single sentence" (ekaprayojanatvad* upapannam / yatha* tavad* devasya tveti nirvapaprakasanam* / tasya visistasya* Vacaka* etavan* padasamuhas*

tadvakyam*).

5. Indra Jusasva* . . .

These mantras are curious, to say the least, and they may well have been composed under the influence of Soma. This is rare, if not exceptional. In the Rgveda*, only one hymn (10.119) describes the effects of drinking Soma in detail. Even with respect to this hymn, Brough (1971, 341) judges, "Such a hymn cannot have been composed by a poet under the influence of soma: the artifice of its structure excludes this."

I don't know whether this is true, but there are good reasons to doubt it. I knew at least one mathematician who could do mathematics only when he was drunk, not on account of the auspicious inebriation (sumada) of Soma, but on account of the evil intoxication (durmada) of alcohol. It, therefore, is not unreasonable to suppose that the mantras indra jusasva* ... might have been composed under the influence of Soma, even though they consist of svaraj* metersrelatively uncommon meters consisting of thirty-four syllables each.

It is such meters that are important in the ritual use of these remarkable mantras. They constitute the material from which ritualists have constructed the beginning of the sastra*

recitation characteristic of an extended Soma ritual, "the sixteenth" (sodasi*). In order to put this in context, it should be recalled that the paradigm or prototype of the Soma rituals is the Agnistoma*, which consists of twelve Soma sequences. A Soma sequence is a

sequence consisting of a stotra chant, a sastra* recitation, Soma offering to the deities, and Soma drinking by the Yajamana* and his chief priests (Staal 1983a, 1.49). In the

Agnistoma*, there are five such Soma sequences during the morning pressing, five during the midday pressing, and two during the third pressing. From this

pro-Page 53

totype an extension is constructed by adding three Soma sequences; the resulting Soma ritual is called ukthya. When another Soma sequence is added to these fifteen, the

"sixteenth" is arrived at. One characteristic feature of this Soma ritual is that its sastra * recitation should consist in its entirety of anustubh* verses, viz., meters that consist of four octosyllabic verses, or 4 × 8 = 32 syllables.

Since the mantras indra jusasva*... consist of three verses in the svaraj* meter, and the first verse of a sastra* recitation is always recited thrice, we have 5 × 34 = 170 syllables at our disposal. If we disregard the syntax and meaning of these verses and concentrate only on counting syllables, we can make use of 160 = 5 × 32 syllables to obtain five anustubh*

verses, leaving an excess of ten syllables. Such a procedure is in accordance with the general character of Vedic mantras, in which formal features such as meters are of paramount importance. In terms of syntax or "translatory meaning," however, the

resulting anustubh* verses do not make sense, for they are arrived at by cutting off the last two syllables of the first verse and adding them to the beginning of the second (which is a repetition of the first); cutting off the last four of the second and adding them to the beginning of the third (another repetition of the first); cutting off the last six of the third and adding them to the beginning of the fourth; cutting off the last eight of the fourth and adding them to the beginning of the fifth; and cutting off the last ten of the fifth and

putting them in storage, so to speak. The entire procedure may be pictured as follows:

To provide a translatory meaning becomes very hazardous, but an idea may be gained from the following:

your two steeds, drink of Soma, like a sage, loving the sweet!

Page 54

3. Pleased with inebriationIndra, enjoy, drive on, come, hero, with your two steeds, drink of Soma like a sage, loving!

4. The sweet, pleased with inebriation, Indra, your belly, like one to be praised, fill,

it with sweetlike heavens with,

pressed Soma, like paradise well-spoken!

5. Inebriants have gone to you, Indra, fast conquering like a friend killing, the demon like ascetics he split, the cave like Bhrgu * he conquers!"

The remainder"His enemies inebriated with Soma!"is used for the beginning of the next part of the sodasi* sastra*, which I shall not write out in full, because it results in the same kind of meters, and the same kind of absurdities in terms of syntax and translatory meaning.

Later in the sastra*, which is very long, use is made of a technique called viharanam*

(intertwining or transposition). Its first occurrence is in the construction of two

anustubh* verses (consisting of 2 × 32 syllables) from intertwining a gayatri* verse (consisting of 3 × 8 syllables) with a pankti* verse (consisting of 5 × 8 syllables):

The gayatri* verse is Rgveda* 1.16.1:

a* tva* vahantu harayo vrsanam* somapitaye*/

indra tva* suracaksasah*//

(The tawny horses take you bull to the Soma drinking, You, Indra, with your sunny eyes!!)

The pankti* verse is Rgveda* 1.84.10:

Svador* ittha* visuvato* madhvah* pibanti gauryah*/ ya* indrena*

sayavarir* vrsna* madanti sobhase vasvir* anu svarajyam*//

(The gauri* cows drink from the sweet liquid, basic to the ritual,

enjoying themselves with their companion, Indra the bull, to look beautiful; beneficient to his supremacy.)

The intertwining of these two is as follows:

Page 55 a * tva* vahantu harayas svador* ittha* visuvatah* / vrsanam* somapitaye* madhvah* pibanti

gauryo//indra tva* suracaksaso* ya* indrena* sayavarih* / vrsna* madanti sobhase vasvir* anu svarajyo*//

In this construction, the portions from the underlying gayatri* verse are in italics, and the portions from the underlying pankti* verse are in Roman. (The -o ending is another

feature of sastra* recitation, to which I shall return.)

The translatory meaning can only be guessed at, but the following may convey some of its flavor:

The tawny horses take from the sweet, basic to the ritual. You bull to the Soma drinking, the gauri*

cows drink from the liquid. You, Indra, with your sunny eyesenjoying themselves with their companion, Indra the bull, to look beautiful; beneficient to his supremacy.

An intoxicated Sanskrit scholar might interpret this as a poetic rendering of a Soma orgy;

however, it merely results from the metrical arithmetic of the viharanam* technique. In terms of syntax or translatory meaning, none of these mantras make sense; their ritual meaning, on the other hand, is straightforward and uncontroversial: They constitute a portion of the sixteenth sastra*.

In the sequel of the "sixteenth recitation" are further cases of viharanam* and also instances where mantras, though recited in regular sequence, are reanalyzed into

anustubh* meters by counting the syllables of their original meters differently. The reader interested in these exercises can find them in Staal, 1983a, 1.661-63, and can listen to

them on the accompanying casette. The examples given should be sufficient to illustrate the ritual use and meaning of such mantras.

6. Ha* Br Ha* Bu Ha* Bu. . .

These mantras are chanted by the Udgata* priest of the Samaveda* after the Adhvaryu has placed a small image of a golden man (hiranmayapurusa*) on the lotus leaf that was earlier deposited and buried at the center of the Agni field; later the large bird-shaped altar of the Agnicayana will be constructed there. These chants (see Staal 1983a, 1.414-17 and the accompanying cassette), which continue through some of the following rites, consist of four parts, and the mantras we are considering constitute the last chant of the third part. In this third part, there are many chants similar in structure. They start with ha* bu ha* bu ha* bu ..., which is followed by a triple repetition of six syllables, five of them identical, and the first a variation, e.g.,

phat* phat phat phat phat phat ha* bu hau hau hau hau hau ka* hva* hva* hva* hva* hva*.

Page 56

This is followed, in each case, by a verse, generally from the Rgveda *, set to music in accordance with a melody (saman*), after which there is another round of meaningless syllables and finally a coda (nidhana), which is also meaningless.

Such meaningless syllables from the Samaveda* are called stobha. If Vedic mantras are called bits and pieces, the stobhas are the bits. Stobhas are very similar to the bija*-mantras of later Tantrism, meaningless syllables that sometimes are strung together in sequences called mantramala* or malamantra* (mantra garland, cf. Padoux 1978a, 81), but that also may be arranged two dimensionally in mandalas* ,cakras, or deities. The accompanying illustration depicts bija*-mantras for Hanuman*, the monkey god, also god of the martial arts. His legs, for example, are marked ram* ram* ram* ram* ram*

ram*.... Some of the Vedic stobhas are combined into larger mantra sequences with specific structures, not dissimilar to musical structures. These structures may be represented in abstract or algebraic form. The chant ha* bu ta* bu ha* bu ...,for example, is of the form:

p3 (QR5)3p3 X

p3 (QR5)3p2p*

Y

where a superscript indicates the number of times that a form has to be repeated; for example, P3 stands for PPP, (QR5)3 stands for QRRRRRQRRRRRQRRRRR, etc. To obtain the chant ha* bu ha* bu ha* bu... from this formula, we substitute P for ha* bu;

Q for bha*; R for bham*; X for brahma jajnanam*; P* for ha* vu va*; Y for brahma devanam*.

An abstract representation of this type may seem arbitrary at first sight, but it is not. It is not arbitrary because, by varied substitutions, we are in a position to construct other chants: first, by varying the "language" mantras X and Y; then by replacing Q with phat*

and R with phat; or Q with ha* bu and R with hau; or Q with ka and R with hva*; etc. In all these substitutions, P and P* remain the same. But there are other chants where part of the same structure is retained, but P and P* are replaced with, respectively, u hu va* ha*

bu and u hu va* ha* vu va*, or ha* vu va* and ha* ha* vu vo va* ha* yi. In other words, this abstract representation represents the invariant structure of a number of chants that can be derived by rules of various types.

Page 57

Mantras For Hanuman *

Page 58

I have provided such abstract structures elsewhere (see Staal 1983b) and mention them in

I have provided such abstract structures elsewhere (see Staal 1983b) and mention them in

In document PREPARAR A LOS MAESTROS PARA EDUCAR (página 190-195)