Abstract

Several scholars have criticized the efforts to explain Indian mantras as spells, but much is left to clarification. Why do submission-versus-coercion characterizations keep reoccurring, albeit disputed? Why does the difference between this-worldly and other-worldly goals also keep its important role in discussions about mantras? Furthermore, how are these ideas tied to analyses of the beliefs of practitioners? We identify three main positions concerning mantras: They are explained as spells, prayers, or both at the same time. However, the criteria for determining whether mantras are magical practices or religious practices apparently allow for characterizing the very same mantra as either of the two or even as ‘magico-religious’. The general theories of magic are not able to explain this problem. In the last part of this article, we analyse the role that the concept of supernatural powers plays in the debates. It was a whole structure of interconnected ideas, deeply rooted in Christian belief in a biblical God and fallen angels, which formulated the dominant characterization of magical practices in modern scholarship on India. We propose a three-step scheme which shows how the originally coherent account of Christian theology gradually dissolved into a set of problematic ideas that have typified discussions of Indian mantras over the last six or more decades.

Highlights

  • How to Understand Mantras?There is a growing dissatisfaction with the explanation of Indian mantras as spells or charms, that is, as examples of magical practices (Gonda 1963a; Alper 1989; Staal 1996, p. 191; Burchett 2008; Cohen 2020)

  • Newer routes for research have been proposed, we argue that without proper analysis of the wider structure of ideas in the background and the criteria for distinguishing magical activities from other kinds of human activities, current research on mantras will remain trapped within the same cycle of problems, shaped by ideas about spells and prayers

  • Our student certainly feels compelled to join fellow scholars’ lamentations about the conceptual mess in studies of magic; but what is to be done? If the student is still eager to understand the use of mantras in Tantric schools of India, and he or she is not giving up the topic, what routes remain open for interesting research into the matter? numerous publications offer detailed descriptions of ritual use of mantras, historical developments of the same, translations of treatises, commentaries, etc

Read more

Summary

Introduction

There is a growing dissatisfaction with the explanation of Indian mantras as spells or charms, that is, as examples of magical practices (Gonda 1963a; Alper 1989; Staal 1996, p. 191; Burchett 2008; Cohen 2020). Picking up this question, we strive to understand which ideas shaped the development of this characterization of magical practices, and how exactly they did so. We strive to understand which ideas shaped the development of this characterization of magical practices, and how exactly they did so Another important question is the emergence of a differentiation between ‘this-worldly’. ‘other-worldly’ goals ascribed to the practice of mantras (Conze 1953; Goudriaan 1978; Padoux 1989) Why do these two characterizations keep their central position in analyses of this Indian practice, though contested and sometimes rejected?. We will be able to step outside of this framework of ideas

Are Indians Adoring Their Gods or Manipulating Them?
Intermezzo
Coercion and This-Worldly Goals of Life
The Supernatural in Debates about Magic
From Clear Theological Explanation to Current Conceptual Mess
Conclusions
Leiden and New York
Full Text
Published version (Free)

Talk to us

Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have

Schedule a call