The Ritual Pragmatics of a Vedic Hymn

The "Riddle Hymn" and the Pravargya Ritual

Bibliographic Data

ID3967915
AuthorsJan Houben (0000-0002-6072-1761, corresponding author), Jan E M Houben
Year2000
Volume120
Issue4
Pages499
Publication date2000-10-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of the American Oriental Society (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0003-0279 • E-ISSN: 2169-2289
PublisherJSTOR (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.2307/606614
OpenAlexW2322495577
LanguageEN
Citations received9
References cited4

The present paper explores the relation of the riddle hymn, Rgveda 1.164, with the Pravargya ritual, one of the few rituals that are explicitly referred to in the Rgveda, Starting from a few verses which have a well-established and generally acknowledged relation with specific episodes in the Pravargya ritual (about which we have detailed information only from later texts), this paper shows that several other enigmatic verses yield a convincing interpretation when placed in the context of the Pravargya. The ritual interpretations can, moreover, serve to clarify and harmonize some of the traditional, more philosophical interpretations of the verses. Thus, the findings have important implications for our understanding of the early development of Vedic ritual and also of Indian thought and philosophical speculation

Art · Hymn · Linguistics · Literature · Pragmatics · Historical, Religious, and Philosophical Studies · Indian and Buddhist Studies · Philosophy · Study and Philosophy of Religion