Filozofia, rytuał i performatywność w starożytnej myśli indyjskiej na przykładzie upaniszady Ćhandogia 6.2.4

Philosophy, ritual and performativity in ancient Indian thought on the example of the Chandogia Upanishad 6.2.4 The paper discusses cosmogony presented by Uddālaka Āruṇi attested in the Chāndogya Upaniṣad (6.1-6), according to which world forms arise by giving them a name. I argue that the experience that motivates the thinking of Uddālaka is ritual, the essence of which is to give people and objects a name, thanks to which their status dramatically changes for the duration of the ritual. An analysis of a selected passage of the king’s coronation described in the Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa (5.3.4) reveals the fundamental importance of the verses uttered during preparation of the water for the consecration. The reconstruction of an experience that influences philosophical thought makes it possible to see its coherence and depth, and the fact that this experience is a ritual, a common experience of humanity, enables it to be better understood by those who grew up in other philosophical traditions as well.

Early Historic Phase

An enquiry into the Indian tradition of healing and healthcare has to be traced back to the proto-historic Harappan culture. The main source for understanding the socio-economic and cultural developments in the Vedic society is the corpus of Ègvedic hymns. More details about medicine, treatment, and physicians are available in the Aithareya Brāhmaņa and the Śatapatha Brāhmaņa. The Vedic art of healing can be understood as belonging to two distinctive ages. This art of healing consisted medicine supplemented by magical rites with incantations of hymns. The specialization of the bhiṣaks, physicians, in the Vedic medical lore presupposes some amount of systematic organization of the knowledge of the science of medicine accumulated over a long period. Medicinal knowledge of the bhiṣaks was supported and supplemented by auxiliary knowledge of human anatomy, probably from experience in sacrificial rituals. There was a trend of objective and rational explanation of diseases and their healing in the existing texts that was further supported by the heterodox philosophical thinking of the Jains and the Buddhists. This element of rational thinking was instrumental in bringing about a radical change, a paradigm shift, in the indigenous knowledge of the science of Āyureveda.

Vedic Literature Vis-a-Vis Mathematical Astronomy

The present paper restricts to the analysis of some passages from the Vedic literature, viz. Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa and Vedāṅga Jyautiṣa, from the view point of mathematical astronomy.The Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa in 2.1.2.1 to 2.1.2.5, refers to some ritual in which some fire has to be set up. It recommends Kṛttikā as the nakṣatra or the lunar asterism under which to set up the fire. For, there are some special features that Śatapatha-Brāhmana obviously considers as good points. According to the text, one good point about Kṛttikā is that it is ′the most numerous′; secondly, it rises ′in the east′.

Dī- and uddī- ‘to fly’ in Indo-Aryan

The root dī- is found in the Rgveda some 13 times as dīyati and once as dàyaté (dàyamāna-), including once each with the preverbs nis and pári, and once in Satapatha-brāhmana in the intensive dédīyitavai. Pali has dayati (beside dēti) = uppatati.

The Legend of Purūravas and Urvaśī: an Interpretation

The Ṛg-Vedic hymn X. 95, describing the story of Purūravas and Urvaśī is of considerable interest and obscurity. It has attracted the attention of priests and scholars alike from the days of the Brāhmaṇas, with the result that different versions of the story have come down to us with unrestricted freedom. Geldner has recorded eight sources of the story: (i) the Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa; (ii) the Kaṭhakam; (iii) Ṣaḍguru-śiṣya's commentary on the Sarvānukramaṇī; (iv) the Harivaṃśa Purāṇa; (v) the Viṣṇu Purāṇa; (vi) the Bṛhaddevatā; (vii) the Kathāsaritsāgara; and (viii) the Mahābhārata. To the above a few more works, such as the Vāyu Purāṇa, the Mātsya Purāṇa, and the Rāmāyaṇa may be added to make the list more comprehensive. However, Kālidāsa made the story more popular through one of his finest plays, Vikramorvaśīyaṃ.

Purūravas and Urvaśī

It is customary to describe the Ṛavedic dialogue of Purūravas and Urvaśī (ṚV 10.95, referred to hereafter as D) either as the source ‘from which all the different versions have originated … an exaltation of a popular fairy-tale’ (H. D. Velankar, The Vikramorvaśīya, New Delhi, 1961, xxxxiii) or as ‘ein einheitliches festgefügtes Kunstwerk’ based on the fairy-tale narrated ‘im alten schlichten Märchenstil’ in Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa, 11.5.1 (K. F. Geldner).