Atharva Veda · 487 of 724

HYMN X

HYMN X 1. So let the King, to whose house the Vrātya who possesses this knowledge comes as a guest. 2. Honour him as superior to himself. So he Both not act against the interests of his princely rank or his kingdom. 3. From him, verily, sprang Priesthood and Royalty. They said, Into whom shall we enter? 4. Let Priesthood enter into Brihaspati, and Royalty into Indra, was the answer. 5. Hence Priesthood entered into Brihaspati and Royalty into Indra. 6. Now this Earth is Brihaspati, and Heaven is Indra. 7. Now this Agni is Priesthood, and yonder Sun is Royalty. 8. Priesthood comes to him, and he becomes endowed with priestly lustre. 9. Who knows that Earth is Brihaspati and Agni Priesthood. 10. Great power comes to him and he becomes endowed with great power. 11. Who knows that Āditya is Royalty and that Heaven is Indra.

Insight · 2

The dialogue in Hymn XI is a remarkably warm small piece of ritual etiquette. The host rises to meet the Vrātya, asks where he passed the night, offers water, says let it be as you please. Each of the host's lines secures a specific blessing — the path to the gods, water, long life, the fulfilment of his own desire. The pattern is the hospitality-ladder also found in Genesis 18 (Abraham at the oaks of Mamre receives three strangers, addresses them with elaborate courtesy, and what looked like a chance visit turns into the promise of Isaac). In both cases the wanderer-guest carries a blessing that activates only when the host speaks the right words.Wave RR anchor — Vrātya hospitality dialogue / Genesis 18 parallel

Reading Hymn XI's dialogue closely, one notices how much depends on speech as ritual act. The host says 'where did you pass the night?' and thereby secures for himself the paths to the gods. The form is sometimes called performative utterance in twentieth-century philosophy — J.L. Austin's How to Do Things with Words (1962) developed it as a philosophical category. The Vedic poets had identified the phenomenon three thousand years earlier. To speak the right words at the right ritual moment was already to accomplish something in the world. The hospitality-dialogue here is one of the clearest examples in the Vedic corpus of the principle in operation.Wave RR anchor — XV.11 / performative utterance / J.L. Austin