Asko Parpola - Human Sacrifice In India in Vedic Times And Before

VIII. HUMAN SACRIFICE IN INDIA IN VEDIC TIMES AND BEFORE Asko Parpola

Human sacrifice in the Veda has been the object of scholarly study for two hundred years now.1 It was first discussed in the pioneer­ ing article of 1805 by Henry Thomas Colebrooke,2 who knew horse sacrifice (asvamedha) and human sacrifice (puruf?amedha) at first hand from the Viijasaneyi-Smnhitii and the Satapatha-Briihmm:za.3 1 For an overall account of Vedic religion see H. Oldenberg, Die Religion des Veda (Berlin, 19172); A.B. Keith, The Religion and Philosophy of the Veda and Upanishads, 2 vols (Cambridge, Mass., 1925); J. Gonda, Die Religionen Indiens, I: Veda zmd iilterer Hinduismus (Stuttgart, 1960, 19782); J.C. Heesterman, 'Vedism and Brahmanism', in M. Eliade (ed.), The Encyclopedia of Religion, 15 vols (New York, 1987) 15.217-42. Sac­ rificial rites occupied a prominent position in Vedic religion. The earliest text coiiec­ tion, the �gveda(-Sa1Jzlzitii), attests to the worship of gods with recited and chanted hymns and offerings of an invigorating drink cailed soma; see T. Oberlies, Die Reli­ gion des ��gveda, 2 vols (Vienna, 1998-99). The next oldest text coiiection, the Atlwr­ vaveda(-Sm!lllitii), attests to a rather different ritual background, with emphasis on royal rites (with bloody sacrifices), rites of 'white' and 'black magic' as weii as domestic ceremonies; see M. Bloomfield, The Atlzarva-Veda and the Gopalha-Briihmm.za (Strassburg, 1899). In subsequent literature (the later Sm!zllitiis, the Briihmm.zas and the Srautasiitras) we meet a very complex srauta ritual, with hundreds of rites divided into different categories according to the sacrificial substance (vegetable, animal or soma offerings or combinations of these) and their duration (from one day up to a thousand years), and with a varying number of specialized priests (as many as sev­ enteen); see A. Weber, 'Zur Kenntniss des vedischen Opferrituals [I-II)', Indisclze Stu­ dien 10 (1868) 321-96 and 13 (1873) 217-92; A. Hillebrandt, Ritual-Litteratur, vedisc/ze Opfer und Zauber (Strassburg, 1897); F. Staal (ed.), Agni: The Vedic ritual of the Fire Altar, 2 vols (Berkeley, 1983). The relatively simple domestic (grhya) rites are dis­ cussed at greater length only in the youngest category of Vedic texts, the Grhyasiitras; see J. Gonda, Vedic ritual (non-solemn rites) (Leiden, 1980). 2 H.T. Colebrooke, 'On the Vedas or Sacred Writings of the Hindus', Asiatick Researches, vol. 8 (Calcutta, 1805) 369-476, reprinted in Colebrooke's Miscellaneous Essays, I (London, 1837) 9-113. 3 The oldest preserved Indian texts are Sm!zhitiis, coiiections of hymns or verses composed in Sanskrit and addressed to deities, and used as formulae (mantra) accom­ panying ritual acts in Vedic rites. The later Smtzhitiis, representing the several branches of the Black Yajurveda, also contain prose formulae (yajus) used as mantras,

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According to him, the Veda teaches their performance 'as emblem­ atic [that is, symbolic] ceremonies, not as real sacrifices' (p. 61), and hence 'human sacrifices were not authorized by the Veda itself' (p. 61). This is evident from the fact that in the punt$amedha, 'a hun­ dred and eighty-five men of various specified tribes, characters, and professions are bound to eleven posts; and after the hymn con­ cerning the allegorical immolation of N{ml.yana has been recited, these human victims are liberated unhurt; and oblations of butter are made on the sacrificial fire.'4

The issue has since been debated on a much broader textual basis than was available to Colebrooke. In 1864 Albrecht Weber published an i mpressive study on human sacrifice in India in Vedic times, republished in an enlarged version in 1868.5 Weber offers an exhaus­ tive and accurate description of all places in Vedic literature known to him a t that time that contain material related to human sacrifice. In 1 876, Rajendralala Mitra published a well-reasoned paper on the subject, in which he defended the view that human sacrifice has been a reality in India, in both early and later times.6 New textual material of high interest was added in 1926-28 when Willem Caland published extracts from the previously unknown Vedic text Viidhiila­ SiUra.7 It is obvious that the whole discussion and its results are hardly known to many contemporary scholars writing on this sub­ ject. In a widely used textbook on Hinduism published for the first time in 1 996, for example, we find altogether three statements on this topic that do not show much progress beyond Colebrooke:

as well as prose passages (brahnmtza) commenting on the ritual and anticipating the chronologically next literary category of Brahmm.za texts written in prose. The Brahr�atzas comment on the origin, meaning and purpose of sacrificial rites; they conta�n mythical, legendary, cosmogonic and cosmological passages with rudiments of �h!los�phy (especially in their esoteric portions called Upmzi$ad). In the younger White YaJurveda, the Vtljasaneyi-Smrzhita contains only mmztras, and all bralmuma pas­ sages ?Ppear in the very extensive Satapatlm-Brahmatw. Sec J. Gonda, Vedic Literature (�mrzhztas and Briilmzm.zas) (Wiesbaden, 1975). The next literary category of Siitm texts (I� prose) aims at a systematic description of all the numerous rites. See J. Gonda, Rztual Szitras (Wiesbaden, 1977). It is difficult to date the Vedic texts, but the follow­ i�g very rough approximations may be given for the completion of the texts men­ t�oned m this paper: the �gveda(-Smfzhitii) (the oldest preserved Indian text collec­ tion), c. 1200 BC; the Atharvaveda(-Sm!zlzita), c. 1000 BC; the Maitnlym.zi Slllfllzita, the Kntha-Smrzlzita and the Taittiriya-Smrzhita, c. 900 BC; the Aitareyi!-Brtlhmm. z a and the _ Tatz4yaBralmzatza, c. 800 BC; the Vajasaneyi-Sm1zhiftl and the Satapat/za-Bralmzm. z a, c. 700 BC; the Baudhayana-Srautasiitra and the Vtidhiila-Siltra, c. 600 BC; the Sank!zayana-Srau �aslitra, c. 500 BC; the Ktitytlymuz-Srautasiitm, c. 300 BC. Cf. three s�u Ies by � - Witzel: Tracing the Vedic Dialects' in C. Caillat (cd.), Dialcctes dans lcs lztteratures mdo-aryemzes (Paris, 1989) 97-265; 'Early Indian history: Linguistic and Textual Parameters', in G. Erdosy (eel.), The Indo-Arymzs of Anciwt South Asia: Lan­ . Culture and Etlmicity (Berlin, 1995) 85-125, and The Development of guage, fV!aterzal the Vedic Canon and Its Schools: The Social and Political Milieu', in his Inside the Texts, Beyond the Texts: New Approaches to the Study of the Vedas (Cambridge, Mass., 1997) 257-345. The great Sanskrit epics have a complex history, but the first book of the Ramayatza figuring in this paper dates from about c. AD 200; sec J. Brockington, The Sanskrit Epics (Leiden, 1998). 4 • E. Pirart� 'Le sacrifice humain: Reflexions sur la philosophic religieuse indo­ • uamenne anCienne', Journal Asiatique 284 (1996) 1-35, concludes: 'Human sacrifices, it seems, were only fictitious amongst Indo-Iranian tribes in the Antiquity. Probably their raison d'etre was theoretical: there were no real human immolations except as a punishment' (English summary on p. 2). Just like Colebrooke, I'irart (p. 8-9) bases his view mainly on Satapatha-Brahmm;za 13,6,2,12-13, which expressly enjoins the release of the (166) human victims of the puru$amcdha after they have been conse­ crated for immolation. The Satapatha-Bnlhmmu. z recognizes only 166 (released) vic­ tims, but the 13th book of the Viljasaneyi-Smrzhittl contains a list of 184 victims, the dif­ ference being due to a later addition in the last-mentioned source; cf. A. Weber, 'Ueber Menschenopfer bci den Indern der vedischen Zeit', Zs. Oeutsche11 Morgell­ liindisc/zen Gesellschaft 18 (1864) 262-87 at 270-3, revised and enlarged reprint in Weber's bzdisc/ze Streifcll I (Berlin, 1868) 54-89 at 67-70.

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'There was also a human sacrifice (purtt?mnedha) modelled on the horse sacrifice, though the human victims were set free after their consecration. 'Indeed the human sacrifice, the sacrifice of the 'great beast' (malzii pasu), is regarded in the Veda as the highest sacrifice, even though human sacrifices may never have actually taken place.' 'We do possess texts which refer to a human sacrifice in the Indian traditions, but such a practice may never have actually occurred, existing only as an ideal or possibility.8 The last statement is factually wrong. Early on, William Crooke, i� addition to providing numerous textual references to human sacn­ fice, especially to the goddess Durga and her multiforms as well as to demoniac village godlings in the Indian narrative literature, found vcdischen Zeit'. One part ?f 5 Weber, 'Ueber Mcnschcnopfer bei den Indern der Weber's material, the myth of Manu's sacrifice of his wife, has n�� b;en �xplored m an absorbing book by Stephanie Jamison, Sacrificed Wife I Sacrifzcer s Wife: Wome11, . Ritual, alld Hospitality ill A11ciezzt I11dia (New York, 1996). . India', Jozmzal of the Aszatzc S�czcty of 6 R. Mitra, 'On Human Sacrifices in Ancient tw11s Bengal 45, Part I (1876) 76-118, reprinted in Mitra's book llzdo-Arymzs: Contnbu Cal­ Towards the Elu cidation of Their Allcie11t and Mediaeval History, 2 vols (London and .

cutta, 1882) 2.49-113. 7 W. Caland, 'Eine dritte/vierte Mitteilung tiber das Vadhulasiitra', Acta Oricn­ talia 4 (1926) 1-41 and 161-213 and 6 (1928) 97-241, reprinted in Caland's Klei11e Sclzriftcll, ed. M. Witzel (Stuttgart 1990) 303-96 and 397-541. e, 1996) 41, 184, 218, respec­ B G. Flood, All I11troductio ll to Hi11duism (Cambridg tively.

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copious evidence of actual human sacrifices available in ethno­ graphic records and official documents. 9 One important reason for statements like the ones quoted above is probably the criticism leveled by such an authority as Hermann Oldenberg in his very influential handbook of Vedic religion in 1894 and its revised edition in 1917. Oldenberg states that to his knowl­ edge there is no sure evidence for the existence in Vedic India of a genuine human sacrifice. However, Oldenberg had his own narrow definition for this term and other reservations.IO A short summary of the practice of human sacrifice in the Veda was offered in 1960 by one of the best twentieth-century experts of Vedic and Hindu religion, Jan Gonda, who underlined its being a debated issue. And in any case, as he noted, human sacrifice is no longer topical in the Srauta ritual. This being the only treatment of the subject in his handbook, one gets the impression that Gonda did not consider it a matter of great importance.tt Lack of space does not allow me to cover many points in this chapter. Most of the debate has centered on isolated text passages, 9 W. Crooke, An Introduction to the Popular Religion and Folklore of Nortllem India (Allahabad, 1894) 294-301 and Tile Popular Religion and Folk-Lore of Nortllem India, II (Westminster, 18962) 166-79. 10 H. C?ldenberg, Die Religion des Vcda2, 361-4. After discussing the ritual of the fire altar (agmcayana), Oldenberg states: 'So erkennen wir hier den iiber die Erde verbrei­ teten Glauben wieder, dass ein Bau Festigkeit durch ein Bauopfer, insonderheit ein �enschenopfer erlangt. Doch trifft offenbar die gebrauchliche Benennung dieses Ri�us a s Op�er, sofern man "Opfer" im gewohnlichen Sinn des Wortes versteht, sem� eigentbche Bedeutung nicht. . . Also ein mit der Totung eines Menschen g7tneb?ner Zauber, aber kein Menschenopfer im gewohnlichen Sinn . . . Was sonst fiir die xistenz vedischer Menschenopfer angefiihrt wird, scheint mir nicht jeden Zweifel auszuschliessen. Wenn die alten Ritualbiicher in einem eigenen Abschnitt nac dem Rossopfer das "Menschenopfer" (puru$mnedha) mit allem Detail schildern, so swht das ganz nach einem Phantasieprodukt aus, dem Rossopfer nachgebildet u�d aus dess: n kolossalen Verhaltnissen ins noch Kolossalere gesteigert. Sollte selbst . di�s Prunk�tu�k de� grossen priesterlichen Modellsammlung irgend einmal die _ F:ommigkeit emes Fursten zur Ausfiihrung begeistert haben, bliebe das doch ein fi.ir dw Betrachtung des wirklichen vedischen Kultus unerheblicher Zufall. Von echten Menschenopfern aber, die entweder auf den Kultus von Kannibalen zuri.ickgehen oder als Siihnopfer die Hingabe cines Menschenlebens fiir verwirkte oder gefahrdete andere Menschenleben, als Erstlingsopfer einen Zauber fiir Mehrung der men­ schliche � Fruchtbarkeit _ darstellen, sind, soviel ich gegenwartig sehe, im vedischen _ lnd�en sichere Spuren mcht zu entdecken. Welches Gewicht den von solchen Opfern benchtenden mehr oder weniger alten Legenden zukommt, bleibt zweifclhaft. An sich ist es freilich durchaus moglich, dass die so weit verbreitete Praxis auch in diesem Kulturbereich heimisch gewesen ist.' 11 J. Gonda, Die Religionen Indiens, 2 vols (Stuttgart, 1960) I.173.

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and concrete textual evidence might indeed be of great interest. I therefore discuss first a few important textual references and their interpretation, hoping to establish beyond reasonable doubt that Vedic texts do indeed attest to real human sacrifices performed within the memory preserved by the authors, and that by the time of the Brahmm:w texts, the actual practice of bloody offering had already begun to diminish. Then I underline the direct association of human sacrifice with some pivotal concepts of Brahmanical religion - cosmic man and his sacrifice. I conclude with a few words on the wider context of human sacrifice in the Veda and my own views in this regard. The alleged archaeological evidence of Vedic fire altars is not taken up here, as it is ably discussed and criticized by Hans Bakker in the next chapter of this volume. 1. The Sunab§epa legend

In 1 852 Horace Hayman Wilson published an article 'On the Sacri­ fice of Human Beings as an Element of the Ancient Religion of India .'t2 In this paper Wilson translated the Vedic variant of the Sunal)sepa legend as preserved in the then unedited Aitareya­ Brahrna�za, which he sagaciously placed around 700-600 BC, in between the 8gveda and the later epic Ramayatza. For the benefit of the readers of this book who may not be acquainted with this text, some excerpts from Wilson's translation follow:13 Harischandra [Hariscandra] the son of Vedhas, was a prince of the race of Ikshwaku [Ik$vaku]: he had a hundred wives, but no son. . . . [Sage] Narada [Narada] advised Harischandra to pray to Varm)a for a son, promising to present him as an offering to that divinity. 'So be it,' said the prince; and repairing to Varul).a he said: 'Let a son be born unto me, and with him, I will sacrifice to you.' - 'So be it,' said Vann;a, and a son was born to the king, who was named Rohita. 'A son has been born to you,' said Varm;a, 'sacrifice with him to me.' - 'An animal,' replied the king, 'is fit for sacrifice only after ten days from birth. When the term of purification has passed, I will sacrifice to you.' - 'Very well, ' said Varm)a. The ten days 12 H.H. Wilson, 'On the Sacrifice of Human Beings as an Element of the Ancient Religion of India', J. Roy. Asiatic Soc. 13 (1852) 96-107. 13 Wilson's antiquated spelling of the Sanskrit names and words is retained, except that i1 is replaced with 1�, but the current spelling is given in square brackets at the first occurrence.

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copious evidence of actual human sacrifices available in ethno­ graphic records and official documents. 9 One important reason for statements like the ones quoted above is probably the criticism leveled by such an authority as Hermann Oldenberg in his very influential handbook of Vedic religion in 1 894 and its revised edition in 1917. Oldenberg states that to his knowl­ edge there is no sure evidence for the existence in Vedic India of a genuine human sacrifice. However, Oldenberg had his own narrow definition for this term and other reservations. to A short summary of the practice of human sacrifice in the Veda was offered in 1960 by one of the best twentieth-century experts of Vedic and Hindu religion, Jan Gonda, who underlined its being a debated issue. And in any case, as he noted, human sacrifice is no longer topical in the Srauta ritual. This being the only treatment of the subject in his handbook, one gets the impression that Gonda did not consider it a matter of great importance. It Lack of space does not allow me to cover many points in this chapter. Most of the debate has centered on isolated text passages, 9 W. Crooke, All Introduction to the Popular Religion and Folklore of Northern India (Allahabad, 1894) 294-301 and The Popular Religion and Folk-Lore of Northern India, II (Westminster, 18962) 166-79. 10 H. Oldenberg, Die Religion des Vcda2, 361-4. After discussing the ritual of the fire altar (agnicayana), Oldenberg states: 'So erkennen wir hier den i.iber die Erde verbrci­ teten Glauben wieder, class ein Bau Festigkeit durch cin Bauopfer, insonderheit ein �enschenopfer erlangt. Doch trifft offenbar die gebrauchliche Benennung dieses Ri�us a�s Op!er, sofern man "Opfer" im gewohnlichen Sinn des Wortes versteht, sem� eigenthche Bedeutung nicht.. . Also ein mit der Totung eines Menschen g�tneb�ner Zauber, aber kein Menschenopfer im gewohnlichen Sinn ... Was sonst Hir die �xistenz vedischer Menschenopfer angefiihrt wird, schcint mir nicht jeden Zweifel auszuschliessen. Wenn die alten Ritualbiicher in cincm cigenen Abschnitt nacl� dem Rossopfer das "Menschenopfer" (puru?amedha) mit allem Detail schildern, so Sieht das ganz nach einem Phantasieprodukt aus, dem Rossopfcr nachgebildet u�d aus dess� n kolossalen Verhaltnissen ins noch Kolossalere gesteigert. Sollte selbst di�s Pr,tmk�tu. �k der grossen priestcrlichcn Modellsammlung irgend einmal die F:ommigkeit emes Fi.irsten zur Ausfi.ihrung begcistert haben, blicbe das doch ein fi.ir die Betrachtung des wirklichen vedischen Kultus unerheblichcr Zufall. Von echten Menschenopfern aber, die entweder auf den Kultus von Kannibalen zuriickgehen oder als Si.ihnopfer die Hingabe eines Menschenlcbcns fi.ir verwirkte oder gcfahrdcte andere Menschenlebcn, als Erstlingsopfer einen Zauber fiir Mehrung der men­ schlichen Fruchtbarkeit darstellen, sind, soviel ich gegcnwartig sehe, im vedischcn lndien sichere Spuren nicht zu entdccken. Welches Gewicht den von solchcn Opfern berichtenden mehr oder weniger alten Legenden zukommt, blcibt zweifelhaft. An sich ist es freilich durchaus moglich, dass die so weit verbrcitete Praxis auch in diesem Kulturbereich heimisch gewesen ist.' 11 J. Gonda, Die Religionell Indiens, 2 vols (Stuttgart, 1960) 1.173.

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and concrete textual evidence might indeed be of great interest. I therefore discuss first a few important textual references and their interpretation, hoping to establish beyond reasonable doubt that Vedic texts do indeed attest to real human sacrifices performed within the memory preserved by the authors, and that by the time of the I3rahmm)a texts, the actual practice of bloody offering had already begun to diminish. Then I underline the direct association of human sacrifice with some pivotal concepts of I3rahmanical religion - cosmic man and his sacrifice. I conclude with a few words on the wider context of human sacrifice in the Veda and my own views in this regard. The alleged archaeological evidence of Vedic fire altars is not taken up here, as it is ably discussed and criticized by Hans Bakker in the next chapter of this volume. 1. The SunaMepa legend

In 1 852 Horace Hayman Wilson published an article 'On the Sacri­ fice of Human Beings as an Element of the Ancient Religion of India.'12 In this paper Wilson translated the Vedic variant of the Sunal)Sepa legend as preserved in the then unedited Aitareya­ Brlihma�za, which he sagaciously placed around 700-600 BC, in between the H,.gveda and the later epic Riimaya�1a. For the benefit of the readers of this book who may not be acquainted with this text, some excerpts from Wilson's translation follow:l3 Harischandra [Hariscandra] the son of Vedhas, was a prince of the race of Ikshwaku [Ik$vaku]: he had a hundred wives, but no son . .. . [Sage] Narada [Narada] advised Harischandra to pray to Varm:ta for a son, promising to present him as an offering to that divinity. 'So be it,' said the prince; and repairing to Varul).a he said: 'Let a son be born unto me, and with him, I will sacrifice to you.' - 'So be it,' said Varm).a, and a son was born to the king, who was named Rohita. 'A son has been born to you,' said Varul).a, 'sacrifice with him to me.' - 'An animal,' replied the king, 'is fit for sacrifice only after ten days from birth. When the term of purification has passed, I will sacrifice to you.' - 'Very well,' said Varmw. The ten days 12 H.H. Wilson, 'On the Sacrifice of Human Beings as an Element of the Ancient Religion of India', f. Roy . Asiatic Soc. 13 (1852) 96-107. 13 Wilson's antiquated spelling of the Sanskrit names and words is retained, except that fi. is replaced with 1�, but the current spelling is given in square brackets at the first occurrence.

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expired, and Varul).a said, 'Now sacrifice with him to me.' . . . [Four more times the king asks for, and is granted, a postponement.] The youth grew, and was invested with arms; and Varul).a said, 'now sacrifice to me with him.' The king replied, 'Be it so.' But he called his son, and said, 'My child, Varul).a gave you to me, and I have also promised to sacrifice with you to him.' - 'By no means,' said the youth; and taking his bow, he set off to the forest, where he wandered for a twelvemonth. Upon Rohita's disappearance, Varul).a inflicted the descendant of Ikshwaku with dropsy; which when Rohita heard he set off to return home. On the way he was met by Indra in the shape of a �rahman [who urged him to wander on. This happened four more hmes, so that eventually] Rohita returned for the sixth year to the forests. Whilst wandering thus in the woods he encountered the Rishi [B.$i, Sage] Ajigartta [Ajlgarta], the son of Suyavasa, who was distressed through want of food. He had three sons, Sunahpuchcha [Sunal,lpuccha], SunahSephas [Sunal,lsepa], and Sunalangula [Sunolangula]. Rohita said to him, 'Rishi, I will give thee a hundred cows for one of these thy sons, that by him I may redeem myself.' But the Rishi, taking hold of the eldest, said, 'Not this one;' 'No, nor this one,' said the mother, securing the youngest; but they both agreed to sell the middle son SunahSephas, and Rohita, having paid the hundred cows, took the youth and departed from the woods. He proceeded to his father and said, 'Rejoice, father, for with this youth shall I redeem myself.' So Harischandra had recourse to the royal VaruQa, and said, 'With this youth will I sacrifice to you.' And Varul).� replied, 'Be it so - a Brahman is better than a Kshatriya [K$at nya];' and thence directed the king to perform the sacrificial ceremony termed the Rajasuya [Rajasuya, the royal consecration]; and he, �n the day of initiation, appointed SunahSephas to be the . human vrchm. At that sacrifice of Harischandra, Viswamitra [Visvamitra] was e Hotri [Hotrl or reciter of the Rich [B,c]; Jamadagni, the dhwaryu [Adhvaryu], or repeater of the Yajus . . . ; but they had no . one who was competent to perform the office of binding the victim, hen consecrate d, to the stake, whereupon Ajigartta said, 'If you � grve �e another hundred cows I will perform the duty;' and they gave hrm the cows, and he bound the victim. But for the victim thus co �secr�ted and bound, sanctified by the divinities of sacrifice, and thnce crrcumam�ulated by the priests bearing burning brands of sacred g�ass, no rmmolater could be found, when Ajigartta again offered hrmself, saying, 'Give me another hundred cows and I will immolate him;' accordingly they gave him the cows, and he went forth to sharpen his knife. In this interval SunahSephas reflected,

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'These [people] will put me to death as if I were not a man but an animal; my only hope is the aid of some of the gods, to whom I will have recourse.' [Sunal)sepa now prays to various gods with B.gvedic verses quoted here by their initial words. While he was repeating the three concluding stanzas,] his bonds fell off, and he was set free; and the king, the father of Rohita, was cured of his complaint . . . [The legend ends with Ajlgarta's claim to have his son back, the rejection of Ajlgarta by Sunal�sepa, and Sunal)sepa's even­ tual adoption by Visvamitra, who curses the eldest 50 of his 100 sons who refused to acknowledge Sunal)sepa's primogeniture, so that these rejected sons became the ancestors of various despised tribes.] The legend had been known from a later version in the first book of the Rilmayn�za, but that version 'leaves it doubtful whether an actual sacrifice of the victim, or one only typical [= symbolical], is intended,' while 'there is no question of its purport as it is found in the Aitnreyn Bralmzn�w' and 'it may be received as authority to a qualified extent for . . . the sacrifice, on particular occasions, of human victims.' In 1859, Max Muller published a new translation of the legend and edited its text with the variant readings of the Sankhayana-Srautasfi tra.14 In his opinion, the legend 'shows that, at that early time, the Brahmans were familiar with the idea of human sacrifices, and that . . . Brahmans were ready to sell their sons for that purpose. '15 Wilson compared Hariscandra's vow with Abraham's readiness to offer up his son,16 noting that the purport of the divine command could hardly have been wholly unfamiliar to him, as a similar sort of sacrifice occurs in later Jewish history in the vow of Jephtha (Judges 1 1 ). The Jews borrowed 'the offering of children to Moloch . . . from their idolatrous neighbours.'I7 Muller retorted: 'it does not necessar­ ily follow from this legend that the Rishis, the authors of the Vedic hymns, offered human sacrifices' for 'no one would conclude from the willingness o f Abraham to sacrifice his own son in obedience to a supposed command from Jehovah, that the Jews had been in the habit of offering their sons as victims.' 1 8 11

M. MUller, A History of Ancient Srmskrit Literature (London, 1859) 408-19 and

573-88. 15

Mi.iller, Sanskrit Literature, 408 . See Noort, this volume, Ch. V. 17 Wilson, 'Sacrifice of Human Beings', 105 f. 1 8 MUller, Srmskrit Literature, 419. D. Shulman, Tire /nmgry god: Hindu tales of filicide a11tl devotion (Chicago, 1993), has sensitively compared the similarities and differences 16

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HUMAN SACRIFICE IN INDIA IN VEDIC TIMES AND BEFORE

The older version of the Aitareya Briihmatza explicitly quotes the seven hymns attributed to Sunal)sepa in the �gveda (1 ,24-30); the later version of the Riimiiym)a refers to 'sacred verses'. However, to Friedrich Rosen, who edited the first book of the �gveda in 1838, the Sunal)Sepa hymns, 'except in one or two doubtful passages, bore no relation to the legend of the Ramayana, and o ffered no indica­ tion of a human victim deprecating death.'I9 A similar opinion was expressed by Rudolf Roth, who also published on the Sunal)sepa legend of the Aitareya-Briihmatza. Roth concluded that the features central to the legend came into being only after the H.gveda, and that they are of a didactic nature. The story is ethical and directed against the gruesomeness of human sacrifice.zo According to A.B. K�ith too, 'the whole story reveals the slaying as proposed as some­ tlung utterly menstruous . . . it is enough to show that human sacri­ fice was for the Brahmal).a period a horror beyond words.'21 Rajen­ dralala Mitra, however, does find indications of human sacrifices in the �gveda, and regards these as pointing to a real and not a merely symbolical sacrifice.22 According to Julius Eggeling, the �gvedic verses 1,24,11-13 and 5,2,7 contain the earliest reference to the story of Sunal)sepa. The verse in the fifth book, addressed to Agni, says: 'Even Sunal)Sepa, who had been bound for the sake of a thousand (cows), didst thou let loose from the stake, for he had already been prepared (namely, for the sacrifice).' 'This legend, so far from bear­ mg witness to the existence of human sacrifices as a generally rec­ ognized practice at the time when it originated, would rather seem to mark this particular case as an exceptional one.'2J Weber thought that the royal consecration (rrljasllya), where Suna s�pa was supposed to be sacrificed, originally contained such a sacnf1ce, but the ritualized recital of the legend during the riijasllya

is its only reminiscence.24 Interesting proposals about the meaning and function of the legend at the royal consecration have been proposed by Jan Heesterman,zs and we shall return to them presently. Unfortunately, space forbids following the discussion of the Sunal)sepa legend further.26 Yet the principal arguments for and a gainst the legend's value as evidence for human sacrifice should be apparent from the early studies quoted above.

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in th: Biblical story of Abraham's aqedalz (this Hebrew term for the sacrifice based on . a drvme co�mand comes from the root 'qd 'to bind to an altar') and its Indian coun­ terparts besides the Su abSepa legend especially the Tamil and Telugu stories of a � ; devotee s slaugh�er of his own son as a meal to Siva disguised as a Bhairava ascetic . who demands thrs ultimate sacrifice. I 9 Wilson, 'Sacrifice of Human Beings', 97. 20 R. Roth, 'Die Sage von