Paralipomena Zum Sarvasarvatmakatvada II

Author(s): A Wezler
Publisher: A Wezler

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PARALIPOMENA ZUM SARVASARVĀTMAKATVAVADA II
303
302
ALBRECHT WEZLER
Sästra known to Kautilya already contained such instructions, nevertheless I am pretty sure that this assumption is perfectly justified. For, [2] one cannot help wondering why Samkhya authors should have thought it necessary to refer their readers to the corresponding Sastra, had the use of "human oil', in gardening been a well-known element of common everyday practice in their times, too. One is rather given the impression that this reference is, at least partially, caused by the fact, that this use of nara-taila, etc., was not easily observed or even common knowledge. [3] In any case, I see no reason to suspect these Vyksyurveda instructions to be a mere fabrication. On the contrary, there is every likelihood that they have been derived from a real, not necessarily accidental experience" which clearly demonstrated that the dead body of a man is very much something that can be regarded as suitable for use in gardening. After all in India we have to do with a society which not only, down to the present day, could not bring itself to ignore the phenomenon of death - although the corpse is heavily tabood - but which has also frequently been stricken by all sorts of natural disasters and epidemic diseases. But is is equally possible, nay even probable that the usefulness of the dead body of man was not discovered separately and independently, rather its use may have been the result of a simple consideration to the effect that what holds good for certain animal products" should be true of human products, too; or perhaps in view of the higher rank of man) even more true, viz. that it represents an excellent manure. Yet, whatever may have induced the Indians to use hurnan fat, etc., in gardening, a question which suggests itself with similar urgency is that of how they could have
procured such fertilizers. For, quite clearly we cannot go so far as to assume that human flesh and 'oil' have in India at any time be a merchandise easily available in the nearest market. On the other hand, the possibility that human flesh was nevertheless occasionally sold cannot be entirely excluded, not so much because of testimonies like e.g. that of act V of the Malatimadhava" or that of the Harsacarita (which might well derive from the arsenal of poetic imagination or the depths of popular horror stories), but rather in view of the fact that in the Arthashstra (4.10.14: punishment in the form of cutting off individual limbs and selling vima", 4.10.15: mănuşamārsavikraye vadhah) penalty of death is prescribed in the case of the sale of human flesh"; for the inclusion of this paragraph in the 'Ancient Indian Penal Code' cannot plausibly be explained by assuming that it is based exclusively on considerations of a merely theoretical nature: something real must have been the reason for it, whatever it may have been." But even so it cannot be disputed that the central question remains how
» Cf. also WEZLER, Die wahren "Speiseresteesser (Skt. vighasdsin), Wiesbaden 1978, p. 1811.
* CE. The Harsacarita of Banabharta with Exhaustive Nores ... by P. V. KANE, Delhi-Patna-Varanasi 1965, ucсhvisa 5, p.21 (text) and p. 72 (note) as well as uechvása 7. p. 65 and p. 204 (note); cf. also D. N. LORENZEN, The Kapalikas and Kaidmuthas, New Delhi 1972, p. 11 and 21 as well as p. 28, 56f. and 94 (on other sources about the sale of human flesh). Cf. also M. HARA, 'A Note on the Sanskrit Phrase dendndmi priya', IL 30 (1969) (Katre Felicitation Vol. II, p. 236
MH.-G. TŪRSTIG (Jyoriya. Das System der indischen Astrologie, Wiesbaden 1980, p. XV) maintains that the knowledge of medicine herbs ... can certainly ... not be acquired through experience and by trial and error and refers in this connection to LEVI STRAUSS famous work La pensie sauvage. However, it seems that he has fallen a prey to a misunderstanding for the French anthropologist clearly even emphasizes that such knowledge presupposes active and methodical observations and he consequently distinguishes between two different types of scientific thinking. It would have been correct to say that such knowledge can not have been derived exclusively from experience based on perception. Apart from this, it appears to me necessary to take into account in the whole discussion that certain species of higher animals, e.g. dogs, take particular plants when they do not feel well. Cr. also "DER SPIEGEL", Nr. 10 / 46. Jahrgang. 2. März 1992, 279 ("Heilkunde der Schimpansen").
» Regarding this term, R. P. KANGLE (The Kauritiya Arthasdstra, Pt. II, p. 327) rightly refers to AS 2.26.12 (parisanam asirahpdddishi wgandham sayapuntan a na wikriniran, they shall not sell (meat that is) swollen, without head, feet and bones, foulsmelling and (of a) naturally dead (animal). He renders it, in his translation of 4.10.15, by "unclean"; but one should bear in mind that the passage 2.26.12 clearly shows that the
uncleanness" is twofold vit, caused by decay having already set in (cf. also Gaut. Dh S. 17 2.8)38) or uncertainty about the cause of death, on the one hand, on the other by the difficulty of determining its true nature in case when no characteristic limbs are left, le, by the danger that meat of animals that are not eaten by the Indians is sold and in the end also unknowingly eaten. The practice of Nepalese butchers to lay out the severed head of goats and not to cut off the animals legs, rather a repulsive sight to the Western visitor, is hence not only due to the fact these parts are also purchased, but most probably also by a legally motivated tradition which can be traced back to Kualya. Cf. In this connection also Yajn. S. 2.297 and Visnu S. 5.49.
Dried blood of animals slaughtered is still used as manure, and available in every market garden, The use of the blood of sacrificial animals as fertilizer is also referred to by H. ZIMMER, Die indische Weltmutter, Frankfurt 1980, p. 21; for the use of flesh in this capacity see also Sukraniti 4.4.45 as quoted in Dharmkosa, Rajanltikanda p. 1431. -Note that the idea that blood makes the earth fertile is attested already in the RV (g. 1.32.5) (cf. K. HOFFMANN. Der Injunktiv im Veda, Heidelberg 1967, 244).
The eating of human flesh or, to be precise, an atonement for it, is mentioned in the abhakyahatsanaprdyaittaprakarand of the Mitäksara, subsequent to the explanation of Yaji. S3.289 (on p. 488 I. 11ff of the NSP-edition). On cannibalism and necrophagia in ancient India, and Iran, cr. H. FALK, Bruderschaft und Warfelspiel .... Freiburg 1986, p. 371, 3911; FALK himself also refers to E. ARBMANN, Rudra..., Uppsala 1922, p. 2661. and G. WIDENGREN, Hochgonglaube im alten Iran..., Uppsala 1938, p. 335. - For an arta, le a special type of medicinal preparation from human flesh se G. J. MEULEN