L. M. Bausch (ed.) Self, Sacrifice, and Cosmos: Vedic Thought, Ritual, and Philosophy. Essays in Honor of Professor Ganesh Umakant Thite's Contribution to Vedic Studies. Delhi: Primus Books, 41-55, 2019
The aim of this essay is to show how the Vedic composers constructed arguments in their ritual ex... more The aim of this essay is to show how the Vedic composers constructed arguments in their ritual exegesis. 1 Ritual activity, performed according to the metaphysical assumptions presented in cosmogonies, represents the dynamic reality in which man plays a crucial role. The ritual represents reality in two ways. First, it represents metaphysical assumptions and theories. Second, it represents their content, i.e. what happened during creation, in illo tempore, and what happens now. It is important to note that in the representation of the ritual, there is no division between the description and its designate. Whatever happens at the ritual place is real. The ritual, thus understood, is the embodied representation of human thought and its designates. I will show the rational background of the Brahmanical thinking that allowed them to construe a coherent and convincing theory of ritual understood as outlined above. The sources are the Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa (ŚB 2.2.4) and the Jaiminīya Brāhmaṇa (JB 1.1-2). In my reconstruction, I will use two models proposed by cognitive linguistics-conceptual metonymy and conceptual metaphor. These are basic mental strategies, the recognition of which enables us to analyze the meaning of verbal and non-verbal signs. Conceptual metonymy is a model of thinking within one conceptual domain. Its part (called the vehicle) gives access to another part of it or to the whole domain (called the target domain). 2 The vehicle can also
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The first Polish translation of the second book of the Rgveda.
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Zastosowanie narzędzi lingwistyki kognitywnej pozwala również na dostrzeżenie wysiłków rygwedyjskich poetów zmierzających do stworzenia spójnego systemu filozoficznego wyjaśniającego pochodzenie świata, jego funkcjonowanie i rolę, jaką w nim ma do odegrania człowiek. Pojmowanie rzeczywistości w kategoriach ognia manifestującego swą ambiwalentną naturę w kosmosie i w ludzkiej istocie ujawnia zdolność do tworzenia bardzo wysublimowanych pojęć metafizycznych. Przekonanie o ontologicznym monizmie i o fundamentalnej roli poznania stało się podwaliną wielu późniejszych filozoficznych koncepcji Indii.
Co więcej, nie byłoby tych koncepcji bez tych najwcześniejszych dążeń rygwedyjskich poetów do tworzenia abstrakcyjnych i ogólnych pojęć oraz języka ich wyrażającego. Wyniki moich badań są istotnym przyczynkiem do badań nad początkami filozoficznego myślenia widzianego jako ogólnoludzki – a nie tylko europejski – intelektualny wysiłek.
The application of cognitive linguistics makes it possible not only to grasp the coherence of the philosophical concepts of the Rigveda, but also to demonstrate that the thinking of the Rigveda is not mythological thinking, distinct from rational thinking, governed by a logic peculiar to itself, but rather represents capacities and strategies common to all humans and close to our own. This is an important conclusion about the universality of human thinking.
Applying the tools of cognitive linguistics also makes it possible to see the efforts of the Rigvedic poets to create a coherent philosophical system explaining the origin of the world, its functioning and the role humans have to play in it. Conceiving of reality in terms of fire manifesting its ambivalent nature in the cosmos and in the human being reveals a capacity to create very sophisticated metaphysical concepts. The conviction of ontological monism and the fundamental role of cognition became the foundation of many later Indian philosophical concepts.
Moreover, these concepts would not have existed without these earliest aspirations of the Rigvedic poets to create abstract and general concepts and the language to express them. The results of my research are an important contribution to the study of the origins of philosophical thinking seen as a pan-human - and not just European - intellectual endeavour.
& Toporov were also motivated by the ancient concept of reality understood in
terms of ambivalent fire. In the Slavic and Baltic accounts, this concept is already
lost, but its elements are still present in the specific conceptualization of the God
and the Snake. In the Vedic tradition, it is the identification of Agni with snake
which is not explicit, but it still motivates thinking of the composers. These facts
allow me to suppose that the ancient myth of fight between the God and the Snake
developed in two ways: while the Vedic composers elaborated the oneness of reality,
the composers of Slavic and Baltic myths elaborated its two opposing aspects
conceived in terms of the God and the Snake whose features are common to some
extent. It should be added that the main frame of the ancient myth is not completely
lost in the Veda: the Vedic composers used it to explain the role of man in ritual.
It is also worth adding that the research done in this paper shows the great
conceptual similarity between the ancient Vedic thinking and Slavic and Baltic
thinking which still needs more profound research.
The results of analysis are as follows. The Ṛgveda describes cosmogony understood as the first creative act and as the act which is re-enacted in cosmos (in the morning) and by men (in war and ritual). These three processes can be seen as creation of space in which physical movement, cognition and good life is possible. Freedom is conceived in terms of space thus understood. The general conclusion is that, according to the Ṛgvedic poets, creation of the world in all its dimensions is creation of freedom.
W artykule ukazuję, iż ustny przekaz nie oznacza niezdolności do tworzenia pojęć abstrakcyjnych, czego dowodem jest tradycja indyjska. Omówię zmiany semantyczne pojęcia brahman, w upaniszadach oznaczającego absolut, a w Rygwedzie - moc świętego słowa i święte słowo. Ukażę, że doświadczenia związane z długotrwałą recytacją tekstów, niezbędną dla ich zapamiętania i przekazu, mają wpływ na tworzenie się ostatecznego abstrakcyjnego znaczenia tego pojęcia.
Goody J. 2012. Mit, rytuał, oralność. Warszawa: Wydawnictwa Uniwersytetu Warszawskiego
Havelock E. A. 1983. „The Linguistic Task of the Presocratics". W: Robb K. (red.) Language and Thought in Early Greek Philosophy”. La Salle IL: Hegeler Institute, 7-82
Havelock E. A. 2006. Muza uczy się pisać. Rozważania o oralności i piśmiennictwie w kulturze Zachodu. Warszawa: Wydawnictwa Uniwersytetu Warszawskiego
The first Polish translation of the second book of the Rgveda.
Zastosowanie narzędzi lingwistyki kognitywnej pozwala również na dostrzeżenie wysiłków rygwedyjskich poetów zmierzających do stworzenia spójnego systemu filozoficznego wyjaśniającego pochodzenie świata, jego funkcjonowanie i rolę, jaką w nim ma do odegrania człowiek. Pojmowanie rzeczywistości w kategoriach ognia manifestującego swą ambiwalentną naturę w kosmosie i w ludzkiej istocie ujawnia zdolność do tworzenia bardzo wysublimowanych pojęć metafizycznych. Przekonanie o ontologicznym monizmie i o fundamentalnej roli poznania stało się podwaliną wielu późniejszych filozoficznych koncepcji Indii.
Co więcej, nie byłoby tych koncepcji bez tych najwcześniejszych dążeń rygwedyjskich poetów do tworzenia abstrakcyjnych i ogólnych pojęć oraz języka ich wyrażającego. Wyniki moich badań są istotnym przyczynkiem do badań nad początkami filozoficznego myślenia widzianego jako ogólnoludzki – a nie tylko europejski – intelektualny wysiłek.
The application of cognitive linguistics makes it possible not only to grasp the coherence of the philosophical concepts of the Rigveda, but also to demonstrate that the thinking of the Rigveda is not mythological thinking, distinct from rational thinking, governed by a logic peculiar to itself, but rather represents capacities and strategies common to all humans and close to our own. This is an important conclusion about the universality of human thinking.
Applying the tools of cognitive linguistics also makes it possible to see the efforts of the Rigvedic poets to create a coherent philosophical system explaining the origin of the world, its functioning and the role humans have to play in it. Conceiving of reality in terms of fire manifesting its ambivalent nature in the cosmos and in the human being reveals a capacity to create very sophisticated metaphysical concepts. The conviction of ontological monism and the fundamental role of cognition became the foundation of many later Indian philosophical concepts.
Moreover, these concepts would not have existed without these earliest aspirations of the Rigvedic poets to create abstract and general concepts and the language to express them. The results of my research are an important contribution to the study of the origins of philosophical thinking seen as a pan-human - and not just European - intellectual endeavour.
& Toporov were also motivated by the ancient concept of reality understood in
terms of ambivalent fire. In the Slavic and Baltic accounts, this concept is already
lost, but its elements are still present in the specific conceptualization of the God
and the Snake. In the Vedic tradition, it is the identification of Agni with snake
which is not explicit, but it still motivates thinking of the composers. These facts
allow me to suppose that the ancient myth of fight between the God and the Snake
developed in two ways: while the Vedic composers elaborated the oneness of reality,
the composers of Slavic and Baltic myths elaborated its two opposing aspects
conceived in terms of the God and the Snake whose features are common to some
extent. It should be added that the main frame of the ancient myth is not completely
lost in the Veda: the Vedic composers used it to explain the role of man in ritual.
It is also worth adding that the research done in this paper shows the great
conceptual similarity between the ancient Vedic thinking and Slavic and Baltic
thinking which still needs more profound research.
The results of analysis are as follows. The Ṛgveda describes cosmogony understood as the first creative act and as the act which is re-enacted in cosmos (in the morning) and by men (in war and ritual). These three processes can be seen as creation of space in which physical movement, cognition and good life is possible. Freedom is conceived in terms of space thus understood. The general conclusion is that, according to the Ṛgvedic poets, creation of the world in all its dimensions is creation of freedom.
W artykule ukazuję, iż ustny przekaz nie oznacza niezdolności do tworzenia pojęć abstrakcyjnych, czego dowodem jest tradycja indyjska. Omówię zmiany semantyczne pojęcia brahman, w upaniszadach oznaczającego absolut, a w Rygwedzie - moc świętego słowa i święte słowo. Ukażę, że doświadczenia związane z długotrwałą recytacją tekstów, niezbędną dla ich zapamiętania i przekazu, mają wpływ na tworzenie się ostatecznego abstrakcyjnego znaczenia tego pojęcia.
Goody J. 2012. Mit, rytuał, oralność. Warszawa: Wydawnictwa Uniwersytetu Warszawskiego
Havelock E. A. 1983. „The Linguistic Task of the Presocratics". W: Robb K. (red.) Language and Thought in Early Greek Philosophy”. La Salle IL: Hegeler Institute, 7-82
Havelock E. A. 2006. Muza uczy się pisać. Rozważania o oralności i piśmiennictwie w kulturze Zachodu. Warszawa: Wydawnictwa Uniwersytetu Warszawskiego