2000/10/01 by Jan Houben · 4 citations
Arts and Humanities · #Study and Philosophy of Religion #Historical, Religious, and Philosophical Studies #Indian and Buddhist Studies
paper · doi:10.2307/606614
openalex publication_date 2000/10/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/05/21
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.