Carri, Sebastian J.
Gavesanam

Or on the Track of the Cow And in Search of the Mysterious Word And in Search of the Hidden Light.

With an interpretive approach, the author searchs for an insight into the mysterious workings of mind of the Rsis, dealing mostly with the Rgvedic and the Yajurvedic texts. This volume deals with the Vedic discourse on many levels. The work shows a search for an insight into the highly cultivated poetic mind of the Rsis, which displays mystery and myth, knowledge and secrecy in their creations. The first two chapters illustrate with some clarity the method which is adopted in order to come to grips with a few of the symbolic and metaphorical, mythic and ritualistic texts and lays the foundation for the rest of the essay. The approach is interpretive and, therefore, necessarily speculative. In the main, the procedure is neither classificatory nor descriptive of the texts, since many scholars have done excellent work in this manner. The present exercise highlights the importance of the Vedic Ida, the Vedic World, the Vedic gods and goddesses like the Mitravaruna, Agni, Vak, Visnu, Sarasvati, Soma, and so on, from an interpretive point of view. A few figures make comprehension easier and more concrete. The work as a whole may be considered to be a long essay of progressive approximations, which means that the thoughts that are presented have to be corrected and complemented by further approximations in a truly academic and scientific spirit. Such an effort opens a new way for a better understanding and appreciation of the Vedic and the post-Vedic literature and culture. IX,355 Seiten mit vier Abb., broschiert (Beiträge zur Kenntnis südasiatischer Sprachen und Literaturen; Band 6/Harrassowitz Verlag 2000)