Yaména! (RV 10. 14. 8, cf. 154. 4). King Yama is called sam
̇
gámana- jána ̄na ̄m,
‘gatherer of peoples’ (10. 14. 1). There is a formula pitr ́
̇
bhih
̇sam
̇vida ̄ná-‘in
union with the fathers’ (RV 8. 48. 13; 10. 14. 4, 169. 4), literally ‘finding
oneself together with’ them; it does not appear to be used of the dead, but one
sees no reason why it should not have been, and Paul Thieme found here a
very plausible etymology of UΑRδη, as the one who presides over meeting up.
Vedic sám‘together’ is from sem; as the first element of compounds in Greek
this appeared with zero grade, sm
̊
, which developed by regular sound
changes into [ha], as in >θρο ́ ο, >πλο ́ ο, etc. The Greek equivalent of sam-u
ˆ
id-
would therefore be >-fιδ-.^56
All Souls DayThe desire for reunion with the dead finds a different expression in the
widespread annual festivals or calendar events at which the souls of the
departed, and especially the departed ancestors, are supposed to return to
the upper world for one day or a few days at the beginning of winter, or at the
middle or end of winter. They are given food, and when their time is up they
are told to depart.
In India festivals of the dead were held at New Moon or on special
occasions such as anniversaries. At the ‘Fathers’ cake ritual’ (pin
̇
d
̇apitr
̇yajñam)
pits were dug and food prepared for the souls. The sacrificer prayed, ‘Come,
you Fathers, you friends of Soma, on your deep old paths. Give us here good
property, wealth and unharmed servants.’ At the end of the ritual he would
say ‘Go, you Fathers, you friends of Soma, on your deep old paths’.^57 In
Iran the Fravashis, the souls of the faithful, were supposed to revisit the earth
for ten days at the end of winter, receive offerings, and dispense prosperity
(Yt. 13. 49–52).
At Athens the festival in question was the one called Chytroi, which occu-
pied the third day of the Anthesteria at the end of winter. At its conclusion
the ghosts were expelled with the famous formula θ3ραζε ΚHρε, ο1κτ,,
Lνθεστ ρια, ‘Out with you, spirits of death, the Anthesteria is over’.^58
(^56) Thieme (1952), 43–52, followed by Schmitt (1967), 50 f.; Durante (1976), 100; Puhvel
(1987), 109, 231. Contra: E. Risch, Gnomon 41 (1969), 327; R. S. P. Beekes in Mír Curad, 17–19.
Thieme took pitr ́
̇
bhih
̇
sam
̇
vida ̄ná in AV 6. 63. 3 (= 84. 4) to refer to the dead man. But he is
not the addressee: uttamám
̇
na ̄ ́kam ádhi rohayemám does not mean ‘besteige diesen höchsten
Himmel’ but ‘make this man ascend to the highest firmament’ (Whitney).
(^57) Gobhila, Gr
̇
hyasu ̄tra 4. 2. 3; Oldenberg (1917), 549–55.
(^58) Ludwig Deubner, Attische Feste (Berlin 1932), 111–14; H. W. Parke, Festivals of the
Athenians (London 1977), 116 f. For a modern Greek ritual of the same kind from Zakynthos cf.
B. Schmidt, ARW 25 (1927), 74.
394 10. Mortality and Fame