Table Of ContentUnderstanding Mantras SUNY Series in
title:
Religious Studies
author: Alper, Harvey P.
publisher: State University of New York Press
isbn10 | asin: 0887065988
print isbn13: 9780887065989
ebook isbn13: 9780585075600
language: English
subject Mantras.
publication date: 1989
lcc: BL1236.36.U53 1989eb
ddc: 294.5/37
subject: Mantras.
Page i
Understanding Mantras
Page ii
SUNY Series in Religious Studies
Robert Cummings Neville, Editor
Page iii
Understanding Mantras
Harvey P. Alper, Editor
State University of New York Press
Page iv
Published by State University of New York Press, Albany
© 1989 State University of New York
All rights reserved
Printed in the United States of America
No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner
whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief
quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.
For information, address State University of New York Press, State
University Plaza, Albany, N.Y., 12246
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Understanding mantras.
(SUNY series in religious studies)
Bibliography: p.1. Mantras. I. Alper, Harvey P., 1945-
II. Series.
BL1236.36.U53 988 294.5'37 87-6481
ISBN 0-88706-598-8
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Page v
Contents
Introduction 1
Harvey P. Alper
1 Mántra kavisastá 15
: Speech as Performative in the Rgveda
Ellison Banks Findly
2 Vedic Mantras 48
Frits Staal
3 The Mantra in Vedic and Tantric Ritual 96
Wade T. Wheelock
4 Mantra in Ayurveda*: A Study of the Use of Magico- 123
Religious Speech in Ancient Indian Medicine
Kenneth G. Zysk
5 Are Mantras Speech Acts? The Mimamsa* Point of 144
View
John Taber
6 The Meaning and Power of Mantras in Bhartrhari's 165
Vakyapadiya*
Harold Coward
7 Mantras in the Sivapurana* 177
Ludo Rocher
8 The Use of Mantra in Yogic Meditation: The Testimony 204
of the Pasupata*
Gerhard Oberhammer
9 The Pañcaratra* Attitude to Mantra 224
Sanjukta Gupta
10 The Cosmos as Siva's* Language-Game: "Mantra" 249
According to Ksemaraja's* Sivasutravimarsini*
Harvey P. Alper
Conclusion: MantrasWhat Are They? 295
André Padoux
Notes on the Contributors 319
Abbreviations Used in this Volume 322
A Working Bibliography for the Study of Mantras 327
Harvey P. Alper
Bibliographical List 444
Page 1
Introduction
An ocean, verily, is the Word.
Pañcavimsa Brahmana
* 7.7.9
He lifts the lifewand and the dumb speak.
Quoiquoiquoiquoiquoiquoiquoiq
"Shem the Penman," Finnegan's Wake
This volume of essays and bibliography has been assembled in order
to focus attention on the Hindu mantra, a common and vital but
troubling feature of Indian culture that more often has been taken for
granted than made the object of sympathetic and systematic reflection.
The volume is exploratory not definitive. It may, I trust, be used as a
general introduction to the Hindu mantra and its study, but it does not
offer any comprehensive survey, nor does it deal with the use of
mantras and mantralike formulas in non-Hindu settings or in those
portions of Asia beyond India where Indian culture has penetrated. It
is my conviction that the essays collected here speak eloquently for
themselves and need no brief content summaries in this Introduction.
Rather, I shall set the stage for reading the essays by indicating quite
schematically some of the themes and issues in mantric studies that
the essays themselves raise.
Mantras: Why They Matter and Why They Perplex Us
In 1984, Sri Satguru Publications in Delhi brought out an English
translation of Mahidhara's* Mantramahodadhi, a sixteenth century
synthetic treatise on Mantrasastra.* Prior to the book's Introduction
the publishers insert a "warning" in which they disclaim
responsibilityethically and, I suppose, legallyfor the consequences that
ensue when mantras are used unsuccessfully or irresponsibly.
If any person on the basis of Yantras as provided in this book commits any
nefarious acts which causes loss, etc., to anybody then for his actions the
authors/editors/translators, printer and publisher will not be responsible in
any way whatsoever.
Page 2
The Mantras/Yantras as provided in this book if are tried by anybody and
is not crowned by success, which entirely depends on Sadhaka, the
author/editors/translators, printer and publisher will not be responsible in
any way for such failures.
The Mantras/Yantra be practiced and used for the help, good cause and
service of Mankind. These should not be used for any nefarious means, the
responsibility of such actions will be only that of the Sadhaka.
Is this disclaimer meant seriously? Does the publisher fear being sued
by someone who believed that he had been harmed by the use of a
mantra? Might a disgruntled devotee haul his guru into small claims
court because the mantra the latter had imparted did not perform as
advertised? Perhaps not, yet this disclaimer underscores the fact that
belief in the efficacy of mantras is a commonplace of Indian culture,
today as in the past. It further suggests the difficulty of approaching
Mantrasastra
* from a perspective at once modern and sympathetic.
For India, mantras are real, palpable, mental artifacts to be revered
and mastered, to be used or misused. While the significance of
mantras is not exclusively religious, mantras obviously play a pivotal
role in the religious realm. Instead, the history of the religious life of
the Indian people might plausibly be read as a history of mantras. To
be sure, there must always have been individuals who were sceptical
about mantras. The extent of such scepticism in the past is difficult to
gauge, but it could not have been great. The possibility of the
*
successful use of mantras was, and is, simply a common part of the
Indian mentality.
This centrality of mantras in the common life of the Indian people is
indicated, for example, by the observation in the Rajatarangini* that,
in twelfth century Kasmir*, the crops in the fields were protected from
