The Religion and Philosophy of the Veda and Upanishads v2.c32.s5: § 5. Mimetic Magic

The Religion and Philosophy of the Veda and Upanishads v2.c32.s5

Language: English

§ 5. Mimetic Magic

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In one special class of cases the effect which it is desired by magic means to produce in nature is brought about by the simple plan of representing in sensible form, within the means available to man, the operations which it is desired should take place. Thus when an enemy is to be defeated⁴ it is useful to break in two a piece of grass which is thrown towards the opposing host: the breaking of the grass symbolizes the breaking in two of the armed foemen. Or the rite can be made more effective in quite a simple way: as a daughter-in-law by an old taboo is expected to shrink away from her father-in-law, so by taking the hostile enemy as the daughter-in-law, and by addressing to it the remark that the father-in-law is looking at it, the hostile army will then break up in utter confusion.¹ More elaborate instances of the same thing are of course the ceremonies of the Mahāvrata where the water thrown on the fire produces rain, and the winning of the white round skin which represents the sun is a spell representing the recovery of the sun from the hostile powers affecting it. In the royal consecration the victory of the king over his rival is graphically depicted in mimic form: his success in dicing² is a picture of his success in the position of king on earth. The fertility of the earth and of the crops is produced by the mimicry of sexual relationships at the Soma sacrifice, at the horse sacrifice, and by the actual performance of ritual intercourse at the Mahāvrata offering. At the Vājapeya the chariot race is a magic performance to secure the pre-eminence of the sacrificer, just as in the rite he is made to be the victor in the race in question.³ The Sautrāmaṇī offering is a clear imitation of the story of the healing of Indra from his intoxication with Soma after the slaying of the demon Namuci:⁴ it is used to secure the sacrificer the success for which he is anxious in whatever sphere of life he may live. This sort of magic is particularly common in rain magic:⁵ herbs are often dipped in water, black garments assumed, black victims offered. One rite is of interest: the heads of a dog and a ram, hairs, and old shoes are fastened to the end of a bamboo, and passes are made in the air as if in combat with a demon: the animals may be intended to aid in the breaking open of the sky, just as at the Mahāvrata the shooting of arrows through, but not so as to penetrate, a skin, is presumably intended to let the waters of the skies flow down on the earth.

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⁴ Kauç. lvi. 10; xiv. 19–22 gives other devices, noted above.

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¹ AB. iii. 22. 7; Liebich, VOJ. xxvii. 474-7.

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² ĀpÇS. v. 19. 2 ff.; 20. 1 ff.; Weber, *Rājasūya*, pp. 69 ff.

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³ Weber, *Vājapeya*, pp. 27 ff.

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⁴ Oldenberg, GN. 1893, pp. 342 ff.

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⁵ For these rites cf. Henry, *La magie dans l’Inde antique*, p. 110; Caland, *Altindisches Zauberritual*, p. 141.

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The death of a man can be, as in all lands, compassed thus in many ways: an image of him may be made of wax and melted or it may be pierced to the heart, or again his shadow, which is in some degree the man, may be likewise treated: again a chameleon may be killed and formally burned in mimicry of the rite of the burning of the dead man.⁶ The footmark of a maiden can be used as a means of winning her love:⁷ the footmark of a beleaguered king is scattered to the winds.⁸ Worms are generally to be banished by the crushing and the burning of twenty-one selected Uçīra worms.⁹ The running away of a slave or some other persons may be prevented by the idiotic rite of pouring round the person affected the urine of the performer from the horn of a living animal, a symbol of strength: the urine represents the person to whom the slave belongs, and thus the person in living presence is in the vicinity and prevents the slave from running away.¹⁰ The destruction of misfortune of any kind often takes the shape of the burning or throwing away in water of old things such as garments, sunshades or shoes.¹ To destroy the borer insect which is damaging crops, one of the species is buried, head downwards, the mouth closed with thread, to prevent further depredations.² When the Soma is being pressed, he who desires to destroy a foe should think of him as he pounds with the pressing stone: the pounding will directly affect the foe. More amusing is the device to be adopted to secure the transfer of a stream from one course to another: the new bed desired is watered, plants like the Avakā are put along it, and a frog is also put there. The stream will therefore follow the path thus laid down.³ The same principle is at work in the rule by which objects to be attained are often expressed in a speech as so won. Thus when the wife is given an offering to look at in the ceremony of the parting of the hair and is asked, 'What dost thou say?' she replies, 'Offspring.' Similarly in the rite to attain male offspring her answer as to what she drinks, in the magic drink given to her, is the producing of a son. The husband and wife on the fifth day after the wedding ask a young Brahman what he sees, to which he replies, 'Sons and cattle.'⁴ So in the rite of the animal offering the question, 'Is it ready?' has always the answer that it is; in the plough festival⁵ the question of the wife whether the ploughing has been accomplished receives an affirmative reply; and such cases are to be found in every important rite. A mode of divination can be made a mode of conveying good fortune in this way: thus a merchant, going on a journey, places balls of dung on the limbs of a friendly Brahman and asks what sort of day it is, to which the latter replies that it is good and lucky.⁶