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to describe the function of this power of life" more precisely, are involved in the concept of ass; this would imply that the person could leave "here," i.e., this life and world, together with his/her asw, and continue to exist elsewhere, i.e., in the realm of the dead, together with it. Here (if not already under the previous alternative interpretation), however, the question poses itself as to whether it would at all have been considered that the person in the precise sense outlined above departs this world and continues to exist elsewhere. In view of what we know about the concept of the other world in Vedic thought, it is much more likely that the person as his/her as in the sense of the "free, " 'individuating soul" identical with the spiritual person)" is the entity which should it not "remain here"-"passes away," i.e., passes on," unless one would assume a further unnamed "power of life" here which could take over this role. The terminology of this piece of evidence may thus be presented as follows:
(1) asu: purusa (person, associated with as "here," maybe also "there").
hymn, has been utilized in a cremation hymn of the Athartua veda (AV 18.2.7) (most of the other adjacent hymns related to the ritual of the dead in the Rgueda have been incorporated in the eighteenth book of the Atharvaveda)." The person who has already passed away is thus addressed. The wording may indicate that the second alternative suggested for the interpretation of passage (1) just discussed should be preferred here. According to such an interpretation, the addressed ailing person is implored not to leave the world of the living for that of the forefathers in the form of his/her as, i.e., his/her "free" or "individuating soul," which the magic healer attempts to fasten here in this world. However, in view of the similar image used in AV 11.4.26, namely, "I fasten you, o breath (prāna), in me, for life," an understanding of the term as as referring to the "vital soul" (taking here the formulaic place of the breath-like "vital soul" called prana, cf. below) and thus an interpretation of passage (2) following the first alternative above cannot be ruled out either: as long as the "vital soul" (asm) is fas. tened here in this body, the person is supposed to be unable to follow the forefathers - in whatever form or sense this may have been conceived. The terminology and essential information which may be derived from this passage can thus be summarized as follows:
(2) asu : (person) associated with asu is kept from going "there" as long as ask is "here."
Another Atharvavedic passage related to extending the life of a seriously ill person says:
(2) "Stay here! Do not go! Do not follow the forefathers; I firmly fasten your asw."
Here, different from the previous passage (1) where the sick person is addressed indirectly as "this person," the diseased is addressed directly and his/her relation to as expressed by the genitive form in the singular number) of the personal pronoun used for the second person (literally: "of yours"). This direct address (without explicitly naming the addressee) is paralleled in a slightly reworked version of a verse contained in an important Rgvedic cremation hymn (RV 10.16.3, cf. analysis (8) below) which, together with other verses of this
In another healing "spell" of the Atharveveda, found in the same prayer as passage (1), the sick person is addressed with the following words:
(3) "Here (let there be your ass, here (il your) präna, here (iii) [your full) life-span, here [iv] your mind."? In this passage we can clearly see that as is distinguished from (i) präna ("breath"). The term präna foremost refers to concrete physical breath; however, the context of enumeration of vital forces suggests that it here refers to more than mere physical breath or a vital faculty (respiration), i.c., to the notion of a " vital soul" conceived as a "breath-soul." Such a notion is implied elsewhere in the Atharvaveda, e.g., in AV 7.31.1 where God Indra is implored to aid in the removal of enemies: whoever hates those who utter the prayer should fall
This implies a modification of Arbman's extreme statement relating to the "free soul that it plays no role at all in a conscious and alive human being (cf. Arbman 1926: 96 and 137). although he repeatedly stresses the close connection or even identity of the free soul and the individual human personality (cf. Arbman 1926 passim, especially 131-141 and 174). It seems, though, that he had a more concrete and active notion of "role" in mind, namely, a role in vital functions and processes (cf., c. Arbman 1926: 121 and 135, and 1927a: 174 and 182). "Individuating should also not be confused with performing the function of self-consciousness (cf. also Arbman 1926: 178): according to Arbman both functions would pertain to man understood by him as the conscious ego-soul that is at the same time the human free soul" (cf. p. 134 below and n. 60). Cl. especially Arbman 1927: 76-85 and 92-100, with reference also to further Vedic and later materials and to other terms used to refer to the free soul, such as we and deman, in these sources. This would also hold good in the case of the Vedic conception of a reconstitution of the "original body after its decomposition or cremation, to make possible the pleasant life in the heavenly realm of the gods imagined for especially pious persons, eager sacrificers and brave warriors after death. Cf. p. 155 below. CE. AV 5.30.1 (cf. also Oldenberg 1916: 528; Arbman 1927b: 352). On AV 5.30 cf. also be low p. 135.
*
.
* Cf. already Weber 1895: 814 and 846. » On addressing the dead person - psyche ("free soul") with "you" cf. Arbman 1927a: 75
78, 82, 89 and 92. 31 For this interpretation cf. Arbman 1927: 15 and 85; the implied contradiction has to be
viewed in the light of what has been suggested in n. 41 above. 5 Cf. AV 8.1.3. CF. also Schlerath 1968: 148 and the translations in Oldenberg 1916: 528 and
Arbman 1927b: 351. Cf. also Arbman 1927a: 55 where Arbman presumably equates the
free soulwith the referent of you." » As a collective term, prdna denotes inhaled breath / inhalation and exhaled breath/exhala
tion; cf. Bodewitz 1986:33). 54 Cf. also Arbman 1928: 200, n. 1; more on prapa cf. below V.
4
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