Soul Body And Person In Ancient India

Author(s): Karin Preisendanz
Publisher: Karin Preisendanz

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pears in sequence together with the full life-span (ayus) 10s also point in this direction, as does the mention of a plurality of asu-s connected with the body of an individual. 10 This second notion of ass, although much less dominant, 108 must
asa with "to breathe" because he translated it in this hymn with "Lebenshauch" (cf. Thieme 1964: 70; cf. also Renou 1956: 120: "souffle," just as in Renou 1942: 77 for the occurrence of ass in RV 10.14.12, there clarified as "souffle vital," similar to Oldenberg's "Lebensatem" [Oldenberg 1916: 575, as opposed to "Seele" in the compound asutyp in this very verse] and O'Flaherty's "breath of life" [O'Flaherty 1981: 44] and "life's breath" for the occur rence in RV 10.121.7 [O'Flaherty 1981: 28]). According to Arbman 1927a: 17, Tuxen claims that also in RV 10.121.7 the term as refers to abstract "life."
104 Cf. possibly RV 1.113.16 (cf. n. 100 above). For RV 1.140.8, Schlerath (1968: 149 and 151) assumes a meaning of "existence" in the sense of "mode or form of existence" for the word ass. However, the use of the qualifying adjective ja would be difficult to account for in this case. It seems much more meaningful to assume that plants which have been devoured by fire, just as a corpse by the funeral fire, are subsequently granted another, higher and invincible "living" or "vitalizing" "vital soul" in some restored body (cf. also Oldenberg 1916: 526 and Arbman 19272: 16: "Lebensgeist"). Renou syntactically separates the relevant phrase in two components and takes ja as a noun, and not an adjective, referring to life as a state; "l'âme [as] haute" and "la vie [= ja] insurmontable" (cf. Renou 1942: 48). Oberlies finds it remarkable that as is called "vitalizing" (ja) here (cf. Oberlies 1998: 504, n. 216); however, his translation of RV 1.140.8, which follows Renou's from the structural point of view (p. 504: "treffliche Lebenskraft"... "unüberwindliches Leben"), indicates that this statement relates only to RV 1.113.16.
105 Cf. again RV 1.113.16; AV 8.2.1 (here, the "body-soul" may already have left). Cf. also Arbman 1927a: 15 and Schlerath 1968: 149 and 151. On a passage from later Vedic literature cf. Baudhayana-Srautasutra 13.6 and Taittiriya-Sambita 2.2.4.2-4 referred to in Krick
1982: 453, n. 1235.
106 In AV 12.2.55, however, the term ass refers to "free souls" in such a combination: the as-s of the deceased are sent off whereas those of the living are supplied with a long life-span (ayus) (cf. also Arbman 1927a: 27, 35 and 56).
107 Cf. AV 8.2.26; cf. also Oldenberg 1916: 528 and Arbman 1927a: 15 and 56. The designation of all "body-souls" or "vital souls" in accordance with their most prominent one, i.e., in this case ass, would be parallel to the designation of all vital faculties as präna (cf. below p. 148). Just as in the case of prana, the plural expression in non-scholarly usage in later literature refers to "life" in the sense of the concrete vital force; cf. Arbman 1927a: 15-16 and
29.
108 This second notion may also be assumed for AV 18.2.24 (cf. Schlerath 1968: 148), which is part of a cremation hymn already addressed above (cf. nn. 20, 65 and 93). To make sure that the deceased does not haunt the world of those left behind, his mind (manas), limbs (arga), "sap" (rasa), and bodily Self (tan), all referring to the body and its vital forces, are urged not to remain here; not even a fraction of them should stay. This suggests that asu which is mentioned right after manas refers to the "vital soul" (cf. also Weber 1895: 853: "Lebenskraft") because otherwise this essential aspect of "life" of which traces could remain in this world would be missing in the present context (suggested also in Renou 1942: 78 by the translation "souffle"; Renou's understanding of manas as the "soul" in general, as evident from his translation "âme," seems to follow Oldenberg [cf. above, n. 65] who treats this passage in Oldenberg 1916: 530, n. 2, although from a different angle, cf. also Oberlies 1998: 500, with n. 197). If this interpretation is correct, a unitary interpretation of asu in this long hymn is no longer possible; earlier on, in verse 13, and later, in verse 27, the
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have existed parallel to the first and may even have been combined with it by some Vedic poets and magical healers. Arbman hypothesizes a development in which asu, originally only a "vital soul," was conceived in the wider sense of a "free soul" already in Rgvedic times; according to this hypothesis asu would be both, concrete life in (wo) man and her/his psyche, i.e., the concrete vital essence / vital force and thus the physical principle during life, and the "free soul," which becomes active during sleep and after death. However, as long as passages are not available in which these distinct functions of such an entity named asu are unambiguously expressed or implied jointly, this intellectual approximation to a unitary notion of "soul," or overcoming of the "dualism" of "soul," which is assigned to the tenth book of the Rgveda by Arbman,113 must remain hypothetical, especially because the distinction between prana and asu as well as atman (cf. below, p. 160) would be difficult to explain and because both notions of asu as "vital soul" and "free soul" are also found separately in later Vedic literature. A reference to asu, e.g., in the Kausitaki-Upanisad, clearly points at the concept of a "free soul" inasmuch as the absence of asu results in "confusion," ie., swooning, not death. However, the parallel passage in the Brbadaranyaka-Upanisad would rather suggest that asu was conceived as a "vital soul," i.e., "body-soul," because of the closely related reference to the full life-span (ayus).
term ass is obviously referring to the "free soul" (cf. n. 20 and n. 93 above), whereas in verse 23 manas seems to be the relevant term. Alternatively, specific mention of the "vital soul" may indeed be missing here, but part of its function referred to with the mention of the sap or vital juices (rasa). This would imply that asu refers to the "free soul," associated especially with the mind, ie, the "mental soul" (manas) (cf. above p. 136); thus a consistent understanding of this term in the hymn would be possible if another meaning for the term manas in verse 23 could be determined. - Among the passages adduced by Arbman for the usage of the term ass as referring to the "vital soul" AV 10.41 can be considered as unambiguously in favour of such an interpretation (cf. Arbman 1927a: 15, n. 1).
109 Cf. Arbman 1927a: 29ff. and 178, n. 2.
110 Cf. Arbman 1927a: 60-65 (with reference to other cultures), 89 and 133-134 on this unitary notion of a "soul."
11 Cf. Arbman 1927a: 177-179.
112 Cf. Arbman 1927a: 178.
113 Cf. Arbman 1927a: 182.
114 For a passage which clearly shows the notion of asu as "vital soul" cf., e.g., JaiminiyaUpanisad-Brahmana 1.41.1 adduced by Oberlies 1998: 504, n. 215; accordingly Oertel translates asu as "vital air" (cf. Oertel 1894: 118). For the closely related notion of concrete vital force cf., e.g.; the passage in the Manava-Srautasutra adduced in Krick 1982: 292.
115 Cf. Kauzaki-Upanisad (Kau Up) (ed. V.P. Limaye and R.D. Vadekar, Pune 1958) 4.12 (sound which follows purusa); according to the recension of the text used by Bodewitz (1991: 41) the reference to as occurs in 4.11 (purusa in the echo), according to Frenz 1968-1969 in 4.13 (purusa in thunder).
116 Cf. Bodewitz 1991: 42-43.
117 Cf. Brhadaranyaka-Upanisad (BrAUp) (ed. V.P. Limaye and R.D. Vadekar, Pune 1958)
2.1.10.
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