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

7. The Poetics of Paths: Mantras of Journeys

Chapter 7 The Poetics of Paths Mantras of Journeys Do you know the power of the things that led them, what sufferings and desires furrowed their road? Jeanne de Vietinghoff Lead us past our pursuers; make our paths pleasant and easy to travel. Find for us here, Pusan, the power of understanding Rg Veda 10.42.7 152 What does it mean to lose one’s way? How can we think about the question of “pathhood” and traveling through space in early India? The image most frequently brought to mind is the one of the ašvamedha, where the horse’s wandering for a year is in fact the horse’s sponsor’s domination of the land. Wherever the horse wanders is, de facto, owned by the king who set the horse free. And how much stock are scholars to put in the Šatapatha Brahmana’s image of the purifying fire, rolling across the Gangetic plain? The debate about traveling through space has tended to focus on the Indo-Aryan debate, thinking through issues of invasion, migration, and trade. Yet the poetics of space, to borrow from Bachelard, have not been attended to as closely. We know that in addition to the domination of space, there is the imagination of space, addressed by the mantras below. Like them, the Kaušika Sutra (42.1–5) and other sutras prescribe rituals for a person who desires that his business trip may be successful. The Baudhayana Dharma Sutra 1.1.2.4 refers to sea voyages undertaken by northerners. Moreover, chariots were the most popular vehicle, drawn by horses or bulls; and animals such as horses, camels, elephants, mules, asses, and bulls were common means of transportation.1 Causeways were also made across a river or inundated land, and other Sutras (such as ParGŠ 2.6.25 and KŠS 15.5.13), also prescribe the verses that ought to be recited at the time of boarding a boat.2 These ideas are of course related to tirthas, or crossing places, whose sanctity is evident even from the early texts. Taittiriya Samhita 6.1.1 remarks that the one who bathes at a tirtha becomes a tirtha for his fellows . The person thus symbolizes the places he has touched and is metonymically associated with it.3 The Grhya Sutras also prescribe that a bride and groom should recite a mantra when they reach a tirtha.4 And two Grhya Sutras state that a student should take his samavartana, or graduation, bath silently at a tirtha.5 Indeed, the mantras to be recited at journeys mentioned in all these texts are our best access to the ways in which journeys were imagined. We can see what was anticipated, what was feared, what terrain lay ahead, what obstacles were in the way and how they could be removed. At a more abstract level, we can also see how the idea of movement through space changed over time. RG VEDA 1.42: Pusan’s Path through Šrauta and Grhya Worlds Pusan is a benevolent protector in the Veda, a presiding deity of earth and at times, even synonymous with it. He leads the bride on her way to her new home (10.85.26); he also helps with the path of the sacrificers at the horse sacrifice (10.162.2–3). As son of the cloud, he is also like earth in that earth was born of water. That which was the essence of the waters became gathered together, and it became earth. He hides Agni like a robe (10.5.5). Pusa is also a feminine noun and synonymous with earth (10.26). This (feminine) is Pusa—for she cherishes the whole world. In this first hymn, Pusan is masculine and in his foremost role as the presiding deity over roads and journeying. He is one of the twelve Adityas, or sun deities, and as such has special jurisdiction over the earth (prthivyabhimani devah). 1.42.1. Cross the ways, Pusan, and keep away pain, O child of the unharnessing. Stay with us, O God, going before us. 1.42.2. The evil vicious wolf who threatens us, Pusan, chase him away from the path. 1.42.3. The notorious highwayman, the robber who plots in ambush, drive him far away from the track. The Poetics of Paths 153 1.42.4. Trample with your foot the torch of the two-tongued...