#The god king divinity free#

Similarly, image installation begins with a journey to a вЂњ Е›ДЃntiВ house,вЂќ in which the image is bathed in waters which imbue it with the divine presence. In yДЃtrДЃ,В the king goes out from the city where he is ritually bathed in Е›ДЃntiwaters and spends the night so that he can return triumphant. In chapter 5, Geslani applies his method of careful comparison to ritual syntax, demonstrating that the early pЕ«jДЃВ is built out of the royal yДЃtrДЃВ ritual. For this reason, Geslani invites the reader to ponder the frailties of the body of the king, upon which so much depends, and the benefit that might be derived from keeping a copy of the king ritually auspicious and disaster free. In early medieval PurДЃб№‡as, it is the king who is at the center of ritual. Searching for the origins of pЕ«jДЃВ in early forms of devotional theism, in chapter 4 Geslani argues that we have been misguided. Thus, the protection of the king was far more important than appeasing the gods.

#The god king divinity free#

VarДЃhamihiraвЂ™s yДЃtrДЃВ or вЂњwar marchвЂќ is built syntactically on the Е›ДЃntiВ system, which includes bathing the king in Е›ДЃntiВ waters and putting him to bed, yet utilizes non-Vedic mantras replacing older Vedic rites of consecration and conquest.ДЄfter the Guptas, the ideology of Е›ДЃntiВ became ubiquitous the prosperity of the kingdom rested on daily rites which kept the king free of invisible malignant forces.

GeslaniвЂ™s study of the 6thВ century astrologer VarДЃhamihira shows that his ritual program is, in essence, a Е›ДЃntiВ program, but one no longer dependent on the Vedas. In chapter 3, the astrologer returns the favor. Through ritual appeasement of heavenly omens, the ritualist pretends to be an astrologer. Therefore, outside of large public ceremonies dominated by the other Vedas, the Atharvaveda claims the office of purohitaВ for itself by re-defining the office as constantly performing daily Е›ДЃntiВ rituals for the king.

Geslani has filled this chapter with information, demonstrating how Е›ДЃntiВ becomes not just a special rite in the Atharvavedic repertoire but a вЂњbrandвЂќ-the variety of rites derived from Е›ДЃnti, produced using its ritual syntax, constitute a family of name-brand вЂњproducts.вЂќ The appendices tell us these rituals belong only to the purohita. These appendices show a proliferation of rituals that use the Е›ДЃntiВ rite as their prototype. Recently, a great deal of attention has been paid to the pariЕ›iб№Јб№as-or вЂњappendicesвЂќ-of the Atharvaveda as reflections of the ritual practices of this period. In chapter 2, Geslani takes us into the period between the fall of the Mauryas and the rise of the Guptas. Geslani illustrates the development of the rite from a notion of expiation, yet the textвЂ™s growing concern with omens betrays a broadening of the application of Е›ДЃntiВ to the neutralization of inauspicious portents. The Е›ДЃntiВ rite is a transferring of the power of Atharvavedic mantras to waters that are then used to, among other things, bathe the patron. While rituals of appease ment or pacification existed in earlier Vedic praxis, a few features distinguish this new Е›ДЃntiВ as something different. Atharvavedic texts anxiously protest that their lore is supreme and that their priests are the most fit for the role of purohita, a coveted office which plans and executes the patronвЂ™s ritual agenda. This new ritual is developed in the ancillary texts of the Atharvaveda, a hieratic lineage excluded from participation in the yajГ±aВ during the Vedic period itself. In chapter 1, Geslani guides us through the development of a ritual innovation in the post-Vedic world: the Е›ДЃntiВ rite. Rites of the God-KingВ is ambitious, not simply because it traces ritual innovation from forgotten millennia to the present in a single volume, but because it does so through deft attention to the texts themselves. Geslani accomplishes this by demonstrating that Vedic ritual professionals remained creative and adaptive long after the Vedic era and by uncovering Vedic influences on icon installation in medieval South Asia. Two ritual systems have long been placed in opposition to each other: the dead ritualism of the aniconic Vedic yajГ±aВ and the living devotion of the modern Hindu pЕ«jДЃ.В This fictional opposition is precisely what Marko GeslaniвЂ™s Rites of the God-King: ЕљДЃnti & Ritual Change in Early HinduismВ seeks to correct.