Sound was extremely important in the exercise of these rituals. Sound was
personified as va ̄c, the female creative force. Pre-discursive sound was in the
beginning; hence, the recitation of chants evoked the creative power
operative at the beginning of creation. Often in later religious systems, the
evocation of sound provided access to the power of creation or to the nature
of the divine. In the Vedic setting, it was the brahman who had access to the
appropriate sounds.
In addition to the s ́rautaor public rituals, there was the practice of some
household (gr.hya) rituals. Though not systematized until later, there are
indications that funerals and marriages at least were performed in the
late Vedic period. The funeral, for example, served to offer the body of
the deceased as a sacrifice through the fire and to permit the “subtle essence”
of the self to escape and be temporarily housed in a surrogate body usu-
ally made of rice cakes, then to be eventually elevated to the first level of
the cosmos. In four generations, this “subtle self” would attain the level
of the pitr.loka, the abode of the ancestors, from which there need be
no return.^22
This sacrificial system was legitimated by the cosmogonic myths which
purported to describe the beginnings of the world. These myths were
eventually recorded in the later texts emerging from the Vedic period,
specifically in the R.g Veda, the tenth book. Two such myths illustrate the
dynamic.
The myth of Praja ̄pati reported that in the beginning of time, the primal
one, Praja ̄pati (the lord of beings) or Purus.a immolated himself. From his
parts, the social order was made – bra ̄hman.asspringing from his head,
ks.atriyas(warriors) from his shoulders and chest, vais ́yas(“fecundators”)
from his loins, and s ́u ̄dras(menial workers) from his feet. Also coming
from his person was the natural order – from his hair, vegetation; from
blood, the waters; etc. This myth, of course, had several levels of meaning:
a) because all creatures came from a primordial sacrifice, performing
sacrifice replicated the creative process; b) all things social and natural came
from a single source – that is, the universe was monistic and society and
nature were congruent; c) nonetheless, the social hierarchy was sanctioned
as having been given in the beginning; not least important, brahmanic
hegemony was also legitimated. The myth of Purus.a, found in the tenth book
of the R.g Veda(10.90) reads in translation as follows:
Thousand-headed Purus.a, thousand-eyed, thousand-footed – he, having
pervaded the earth on all sides, still extends ten fingers beyond it.
Purus.a alone is all this – whatever has been and whatever is going
to be. Further, he is the lord of immortality and also of what grows on
account of food.24 Sources of Indian Religion