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Soul and Self in Vedic India
Series: - Numen Book Series, Volume: 176
Author:
How did the Vedic Indians think of life, consciousness, and personhood? How did they envisage man’s fate after death? Did some part of the person survive the death of the body and depart for the beyond? Is it possible to speak of a “soul” or “souls” in the context of Vedic tradition? This book sets out to answer these questions in a systematic manner, subjecting the relevant Vedic beliefs to a detailed chronological investigation. Special attention is given to the ways in which the early Indians’ answers to the above problems changed over time, with an early pluralism of soul-like concepts later giving way to the unified “self” of the Upaniṣads.
Per-Johan Norelius received his PhD in the History of Religions from Uppsala University in 2021 for his dissertation on soul-conceptions in Vedic India. He is currently a postdoctoral fellow at Åbo Akademi University, Turku.
Acknowledgements
Abbreviations
1 Introduction
1 “Souls” in Vedic Indian Beliefs
2 The Purpose of the Study
3 The Concept of “Soul” in the Study of Religion
4 Towards a Working Definition of “Soul”
2 Approaching the Sources
1 The Material
2 Previous Research on Vedic Soul-Conceptions
3 Notes on Methodology
4 Structure of the Study
3 Afterlife, Person, and Soul in Pre-Upaniṣadic Vedic Thought
1 The Vedic Concept of the Person
2 The Earliest Conceptions of the Afterlife
3 Later Vedic Views of the Afterlife
4 Conclusions
4 The Rise of New Doctrines on the Soul and Afterlife: A Late Vedic Conundrum
1 The Decline of Ritualism: Theories on the Transformation of Late Vedic Ideology
2 Conclusions
5 The asu
1 Meanings of the Term
2 asu in the R̥gveda
3 asu in the Atharvaveda
4 asu in the Yajurvedic Saṃhitās
5 asu in the Brāhmaṇas
6 asu in the Upaniṣads
7 Conclusions
8 Excursus: A Note on asu in Epic Sanskrit
6 manas, the Mind
1 manas in the R̥gveda
2 manas in the Atharvaveda
3 The Relation of manas to asu
4 manas in Middle Vedic Thought
5 Late Vedic: Mind as the Central Vital Faculty
6 manas in the Upaniṣads
7 Conclusions
7 prāṇa, the Breath
1 Etymology and Meaning of prāṇa
2 On prāṇa and the prāṇas
3 prāṇa in the R̥gveda
4 prāṇa in the Atharvaveda
5 prāṇa and the prāṇas in Later Vedic Literature
6 The prāṇa’s Rise to Greatness in Late Vedic Texts
7 The Supreme Cosmic and Psychic Force
8 The Fate of the Upaniṣadic prāṇa Concept
9 Conclusions
8 The puruṣa
1 Uses of the Word in Early Vedic
2 puruṣa in Brāhmaṇas and Āraṇyakas
3 Excursus: Some Possible Sources of the Homunculus Conception
4 puruṣa in the Upaniṣads
5 Conclusions
9 The ātman
1 Etymology and Original Sense of the Word
2 ātman in the R̥gveda
3 ātman in the Atharvaveda
4 ātman in Middle Vedic Texts
5 ātman in Late Brāhmaṇas and in the Āraṇyakas
6 ātman in the Upaniṣads
7 Conclusions
10 Self and Sacrifice: Ritual Interiorization and the Rise of Soul-Doctrines
1 The Interiorization of Ritual and the Emergence of the “Self”
2 Theories on the Causes of Interiorization
3 Interiorization and the Soul
4 Political Symbolism in the Imagery of the Soul
5 Conclusions
11 Soul and Selfhood: Changing Late Vedic Conceptions of the Person
1 Theories on the Unification of the Soul in India and Elsewhere
2 The Unitary Soul in Late Vedic Texts
3 The Question of Spirit-Matter Dualism
4 A Changing Society?
5 The Problem of Individualism in Ancient India
6 Conclusions
12 States of the Soul: Dreaming, Unconsciousness, and Ecstasy in Vedic Thought
1 Free-souls in Vedic India
2 Soul and Dreaming: Vedic Theories on the Nature of Dreams
3 Soul-travel in Vedic Texts
4 Mysticism and the Soul: The Case of the Upaniṣads
5 Conclusions
13 Soul in Non-Brahmanical Traditions
1 Bronkhorst’s Theory: The Inactive Self
2 More on ātman and Renunciation
3 Was There a Śramaṇic Concept of the Soul?
4 Conclusions
5 Excursus: Some Remarks on the Self in Early Buddhism and in the Upaniṣads
14 The Doctrine of Rebirth
1 The Early Vedic Evidence
2 Rebirth Understood in the Ancestral Rites?
3 The Recurring Death
4 Karma
5 The Earliest Theories of Rebirth
6 Conclusions
15 Souls and Self in Vedic Thought
Appendix 1: Indo-Iranian and Indo-European Soul-Concepts
Appendix 2: Shadow and Reflection
Appendix 3: The Soul or the Dead as Birds
Appendix 4: Soul and Fire
Bibliography
Index
Abbreviations
1 Introduction
1 “Souls” in Vedic Indian Beliefs
2 The Purpose of the Study
3 The Concept of “Soul” in the Study of Religion
4 Towards a Working Definition of “Soul”
2 Approaching the Sources
1 The Material
2 Previous Research on Vedic Soul-Conceptions
3 Notes on Methodology
4 Structure of the Study
Part 1: General Background
3 Afterlife, Person, and Soul in Pre-Upaniṣadic Vedic Thought
1 The Vedic Concept of the Person
2 The Earliest Conceptions of the Afterlife
3 Later Vedic Views of the Afterlife
4 Conclusions
4 The Rise of New Doctrines on the Soul and Afterlife: A Late Vedic Conundrum
1 The Decline of Ritualism: Theories on the Transformation of Late Vedic Ideology
2 Conclusions
Part 2: Vedic Soul-Concepts
5 The asu
1 Meanings of the Term
2 asu in the R̥gveda
3 asu in the Atharvaveda
4 asu in the Yajurvedic Saṃhitās
5 asu in the Brāhmaṇas
6 asu in the Upaniṣads
7 Conclusions
8 Excursus: A Note on asu in Epic Sanskrit
6 manas, the Mind
1 manas in the R̥gveda
2 manas in the Atharvaveda
3 The Relation of manas to asu
4 manas in Middle Vedic Thought
5 Late Vedic: Mind as the Central Vital Faculty
6 manas in the Upaniṣads
7 Conclusions
7 prāṇa, the Breath
1 Etymology and Meaning of prāṇa
2 On prāṇa and the prāṇas
3 prāṇa in the R̥gveda
4 prāṇa in the Atharvaveda
5 prāṇa and the prāṇas in Later Vedic Literature
6 The prāṇa’s Rise to Greatness in Late Vedic Texts
7 The Supreme Cosmic and Psychic Force
8 The Fate of the Upaniṣadic prāṇa Concept
9 Conclusions
8 The puruṣa
1 Uses of the Word in Early Vedic
2 puruṣa in Brāhmaṇas and Āraṇyakas
3 Excursus: Some Possible Sources of the Homunculus Conception
4 puruṣa in the Upaniṣads
5 Conclusions
9 The ātman
1 Etymology and Original Sense of the Word
2 ātman in the R̥gveda
3 ātman in the Atharvaveda
4 ātman in Middle Vedic Texts
5 ātman in Late Brāhmaṇas and in the Āraṇyakas
6 ātman in the Upaniṣads
7 Conclusions
PART 3: The Transformation of Vedic Soul-Beliefs
10 Self and Sacrifice: Ritual Interiorization and the Rise of Soul-Doctrines
1 The Interiorization of Ritual and the Emergence of the “Self”
2 Theories on the Causes of Interiorization
3 Interiorization and the Soul
4 Political Symbolism in the Imagery of the Soul
5 Conclusions
11 Soul and Selfhood: Changing Late Vedic Conceptions of the Person
1 Theories on the Unification of the Soul in India and Elsewhere
2 The Unitary Soul in Late Vedic Texts
3 The Question of Spirit-Matter Dualism
4 A Changing Society?
5 The Problem of Individualism in Ancient India
6 Conclusions
12 States of the Soul: Dreaming, Unconsciousness, and Ecstasy in Vedic Thought
1 Free-souls in Vedic India
2 Soul and Dreaming: Vedic Theories on the Nature of Dreams
3 Soul-travel in Vedic Texts
4 Mysticism and the Soul: The Case of the Upaniṣads
5 Conclusions
13 Soul in Non-Brahmanical Traditions
1 Bronkhorst’s Theory: The Inactive Self
2 More on ātman and Renunciation
3 Was There a Śramaṇic Concept of the Soul?
4 Conclusions
5 Excursus: Some Remarks on the Self in Early Buddhism and in the Upaniṣads
14 The Doctrine of Rebirth
1 The Early Vedic Evidence
2 Rebirth Understood in the Ancestral Rites?
3 The Recurring Death
4 Karma
5 The Earliest Theories of Rebirth
6 Conclusions
Part 4: Conclusions
15 Souls and Self in Vedic Thought
Appendix 1: Indo-Iranian and Indo-European Soul-Concepts
Appendix 2: Shadow and Reflection
Appendix 3: The Soul or the Dead as Birds
Appendix 4: Soul and Fire
Bibliography
Index
Students and specialists of Vedic studies or Indology, religious studies (especially the history of religions), and anthropology; institutes and university departments of Indology and religion.