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Bringing the Gods to Mind: Mantra and Ritual in Early Indian Sacrifice

Online ISBN:
9780520930889
Print ISBN:
9780520240872
Publisher:
University of California Press
Book

Bringing the Gods to Mind: Mantra and Ritual in Early Indian Sacrifice

Published:
27 June 2005
Online ISBN:
9780520930889
Print ISBN:
9780520240872
Publisher:
University of California Press

Abstract

This book introduces a new perspective on Indic religious history by rethinking the role of mantra in Vedic ritual. The book takes a new look at mantra as “performed poetry” and in five case studies draws a portrait of early Indian sacrifice that moves beyond the well-worn categories of “magic” and “magico-religious” thought in Vedic sacrifice. Treating Vedic mantra as a sophisticated form of artistic composition, it develops the idea of metonymy, or associational thought, as a major motivator for the use of mantra in sacrificial performance. Filling a long-standing gap in our understanding, the book provides a history of the Indian interpretive imagination and a study of the mental creativity and hermeneutic sophistication of Vedic religion.

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