Soul and Self in Vedic India

Acknowledgements


Abbreviations





1 Introduction


 1 “Souls” in Vedic Indian Beliefs


 2 The Purpose of the Study


 3 The Concept of “Soul” in the Study of Religion


 4 Towards a Working Definition of “Soul”





2 Approaching the Sources


 1 The Material


 2 Previous Research on Vedic Soul-Conceptions


 3 Notes on Methodology


 4 Structure of the Study





Part 1: General Background


3 Afterlife, Person, and Soul in Pre-Upaniṣadic Vedic Thought


 1 The Vedic Concept of the Person


 2 The Earliest Conceptions of the Afterlife


 3 Later Vedic Views of the Afterlife


 4 Conclusions





4 The Rise of New Doctrines on the Soul and Afterlife: A Late Vedic Conundrum


 1 The Decline of Ritualism: Theories on the Transformation of Late Vedic Ideology


 2 Conclusions





Part 2: Vedic Soul-Concepts


5 The asu


 1 Meanings of the Term


 2 asu in the R̥gveda


 3 asu in the Atharvaveda


 4 asu in the Yajurvedic Saṃhitās


 5 asu in the Brāhmaṇas


 6 asu in the Upaniṣads


 7 Conclusions


 8 Excursus: A Note on asu in Epic Sanskrit





6 manas, the Mind


 1 manas in the R̥gveda


 2 manas in the Atharvaveda


 3 The Relation of manas to asu


 4 manas in Middle Vedic Thought


 5 Late Vedic: Mind as the Central Vital Faculty


 6 manas in the Upaniṣads


 7 Conclusions





7 prāṇa, the Breath


 1 Etymology and Meaning of prāṇa


 2 On prāṇa and the prāṇas


 3 prāṇa in the R̥gveda


 4 prāṇa in the Atharvaveda


 5 prāṇa and the prāṇas in Later Vedic Literature


 6 The prāṇa’s Rise to Greatness in Late Vedic Texts


 7 The Supreme Cosmic and Psychic Force


 8 The Fate of the Upaniṣadic prāṇa Concept


 9 Conclusions





8 The puruṣa


 1 Uses of the Word in Early Vedic


 2 puruṣa in Brāhmaṇas and Āraṇyakas


 3 Excursus: Some Possible Sources of the Homunculus Conception


 4 puruṣa in the Upaniṣads


 5 Conclusions





9 The ātman


 1 Etymology and Original Sense of the Word


 2 ātman in the R̥gveda


 3 ātman in the Atharvaveda


 4 ātman in Middle Vedic Texts


 5 ātman in Late Brāhmaṇas and in the Āraṇyakas


 6 ātman in the Upaniṣads


 7 Conclusions





PART 3: The Transformation of Vedic Soul-Beliefs


10 Self and Sacrifice: Ritual Interiorization and the Rise of Soul-Doctrines


 1 The Interiorization of Ritual and the Emergence of the “Self”


 2 Theories on the Causes of Interiorization


 3 Interiorization and the Soul


 4 Political Symbolism in the Imagery of the Soul


 5 Conclusions





11 Soul and Selfhood: Changing Late Vedic Conceptions of the Person


 1 Theories on the Unification of the Soul in India and Elsewhere


 2 The Unitary Soul in Late Vedic Texts


 3 The Question of Spirit-Matter Dualism


 4 A Changing Society?


 5 The Problem of Individualism in Ancient India


 6 Conclusions





12 States of the Soul: Dreaming, Unconsciousness, and Ecstasy in Vedic Thought


 1 Free-souls in Vedic India


 2 Soul and Dreaming: Vedic Theories on the Nature of Dreams


 3 Soul-travel in Vedic Texts


 4 Mysticism and the Soul: The Case of the Upaniṣads


 5 Conclusions





13 Soul in Non-Brahmanical Traditions


 1 Bronkhorst’s Theory: The Inactive Self


 2 More on ātman and Renunciation


 3 Was There a Śramaṇic Concept of the Soul?


 4 Conclusions


 5 Excursus: Some Remarks on the Self in Early Buddhism and in the Upaniṣads





14 The Doctrine of Rebirth


 1 The Early Vedic Evidence


 2 Rebirth Understood in the Ancestral Rites?


 3 The Recurring Death


 4 Karma


 5 The Earliest Theories of Rebirth


 6 Conclusions





Part 4: Conclusions


15 Souls and Self in Vedic Thought





Appendix 1: Indo-Iranian and Indo-European Soul-Concepts





Appendix 2: Shadow and Reflection





Appendix 3: The Soul or the Dead as Birds





Appendix 4: Soul and Fire


Bibliography


Index