The Vedic concepts ā́gas and énas

Bibliographic Data

ID9893020
AuthorsH W Bodewitz (corresponding author)
Year2007
Volume49
Issue3-4
Pages225-271
Publication date2007-09-28
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueIndo-Iranian Journal (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0019-7246 • E-ISSN: 1572-8536
PublisherWalter de Gruyter GmbH (PUBLISHER • DE)
DOI10.1007/s10783-007-9002-9
OpenAlexW2060424178
LanguageEN
Citations received3
References cited16

Some years ago I planned to write a monograph on virtues and vices, merits and demerits, and good karma and sins in the Veda, but soon discovered that several preliminary studies would be required. See already Bodewitz (1997–98: 590 ff.) on sukr. ta (good action or doing good) and dus. kr. ta (bad action or doing wrong) which by some scholars have been misinterpreted as well and poorly performed sacrifice instead of merit and demerit. Even the term ahiṁsā (non-injury, one of the five virtues in the ChU.) has been associated by some colleagues with the Vedic ritual tradition, though killing and eating cattle are characteristic of Vedic rituals; see Bodewitz (1999: 39 f.). Vedic texts, indeed, are dominated by ritual and ethics and moral issues do not play a major role before the Upanis.ads, but this does not imply that all terms occurring in the Vedic texts should be interpreted as referring to ritual. I decided first to concentrate on the negative concepts of evil and sin in the Veda. Though some monographs on these concepts are available, it turned out that the definition of the contents of the concept of sin is problematic and that several terms translated with sin are unclear about the nature of the assumed sins. In this connection my attention was drawn by two terms which sometimes are equated, sometimes compared. The two Sanskrit words agas and enas are the only terms which Hartog (1939) accepts as the Vedic equivalents of sin. Rodhe (1946: 139) seems to be inclined to regard agas and enas as synonyms. He (1946: 139, n. 13) criticizes Lefever (1935: 26), who observed that agas “may be taken to signify sin in its deepest and most ethical sense.” Rodhe states: “. . . that āgas has a more ethical sense than enas cannot be proved.”

Action (physics · Art · Buddhism · Epistemology · Karma · Linguistics · Literature · Sacrifice · Sanskrit · Theology · Ancient Near East History · Linguistics and language evolution · Philosophical Ethics and Theory · Philosophy · Psychology · War, Ethics, and Justification

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