Power and its

Manifestations

The g Veda

• Observation lies at the basis of Vedic thought

• Speculation arises when such observations are organized and explained

• This ‘speculation’ may be considered to be ‘visionary’ and ‘intuitive’ as a mode of apprehension

Vedic Thought

• Based less on inductive and deductive reasoning and more on directness of the experience.

• A major assumption is “connectiveness”

• Individuals are part of society (family, clan, tribe) and nature

• A continuum exists from the individual (micro-cosmos) to the macro-cosmos

Vedic Knowledge

• Alive with powers and divinities

• The impersonal (powers) and personal (deities) are themselves continuous

• No hard and fast division between the two.

• The connection: one of the most important conduits was the “king” (rjan-)

The Cosmos

• Viewed as mediator between “society” and cosmos

• Based upon the assumption that the welfare of the community depends upon its harmony with the invisible powers

• Mahbhrata 11.8,32: ‘as is the king, so is his people.”

The King as Mediator

• The King is the people

• The King was the embodiment or personification of divine powers which transcended the present (and profane) phase of the life of the community.

• In the king the ‘community’ and the ‘divine powers’ important for the community’s welfare met.

The Vedic King

King as Intermediator of Powers

• Powers were controlled by the King leading to growth and increase.

• Vjasaneyi Sahit 9.25 (atapatha Brhmaa 5.2.2,7):– “The impulse (prasava) of that special power-

substance which manifests itself in vegetative life and increase of possessions (vja-) prevailed over all these worlds, in all directions; from days of yore the king goes about knowing, increasing the people, and the well-being (pui-) amongst us.”

Katra-

– anything that represents increase: • essence of food • essence of water and useful plants • any refreshing draught• a well-nourished condition• generative power

Katra-

• All these are mentioned as expressions of royal power in the Aitareya Brhmaa 8.7.10): katra-rpa tat

• The king was the pivot, the culture-hero, the sustainer of the community.

Other Examples: Shilluk

• Shilluk king: the continued existence of the Shilluk people is bound up with the continuance of Nyikang (a culture-hero of partly divine ancestry who made the Shilluk a separate people) as a living being representing the Nyikang

• This representative, the Reth, participates in the supernatural qualities of Nyikang

Intralacustrine Bantu

• The king inherits the land and the totality of relationships with the land, cattle, and people

• The relationship of king and people, etc. is such that his health affects the health of the kingdom.

• Any action of the king affects the whole kingdom

Alur Trib

• The power that goes with kingship, ker, resembles that of katra-.

• It is known by its results and manifestations and not as a power derived from ritual

• If a chief prospers, or when rain falls when the chief prays for it, this is proof that he has ker.

Alur Tribe

Ashanti

• The kingship is expressed by Nyame ne Hene “Nyame is the King”

• “-ne-” “to be” is used and not the usual -ye-, the usual word for “be.”

• “-ne-” emphasizes that only Nyame is king.

• His kingship is superior to, and the source of, sovereignty existing among the tutelar gods (abosom) and departed spirits (nsamanfo) and men.

Ashanti

• Onyame is the Supreme God

• Considered the Creator (oboade)

• He is the Sovereign (opanin)

• The consecrated human king (ohene) of the Ashanti is the representative of Nyame

• He is therefore sacred and capable of conferring blessing on his people.

Vedic India

• Universe is conceived from the standpoint of human experience

• Interconnection of individual, society (community) and nature

• There is a mutual sharing of the the powers in the universe. Therefore,

• The human body is a manifestation of divine energy and substance

Vedic India

• AV 11.8,32: All divinities have their abode in purua, as cows in a cow-pen. Therefore, one who knows man, thinks this is brahman.”

• The body is the abode of all the manifestations of the creative principle and other powers

Power-substances

• The connecting link between the individual, sacrifice (ritual), and cosmos)

• Cosmos was not only full of living beings and substances but also full of powers which manifested themselves in both nature and the human realm.