Vedic Ideals of Sovereignty and the Poetics of Power.

• Author: Thompson, George
• Position: Book review

Vedic Ideals of Sovereignty and the Poetics of Power. By THEODORE N. PROFERES. American Oriental Series, vol. 90. New Haven: AMERICAN ORIENTAL SOCIETY, 2007. Pp. 167.

This brief monograph consists of four chapters: "Introduction: Politics and Liturgical Poetry" (pp. 1-22); "Ritual Fires and the Construction of Sovereignty" (pp. 23-76); "Fire in the Waters and the Alchemical Ring" (pp. 77-113); and "The Universal Sovereign as a Paradigm for Spiritual Freedom" (pp. 114-52), It also contains a brief bibliography, an index of Sanskrit words and phrases, and an index of cited passages. Its thesis is clearly stated in its opening paragraph:

This monograph examines a number of motifs central to the expression of the ideal of sovereignty as it is articulated in Vedic liturgical poetry. It argues that, because the qualities and privileges of a sovereign leader were coveted even by those for whom there was no possibility of attaining royal station, the language proper to the domain of kingship was gradually generalized and used to express aspirations toward a freedom and self-determination that became progressively more mystical in nature. Thus, the study is not primarily concerned with the political history of the Vedic period or the constitutional organization of a Vedic polity. Rather, it focuses on the poetic form of Vedic political discourse within its liturgical context, and upon the ways it was adapted to express new ideas. This is a good, thorough work of scholarship that carefully frames its thesis within a very helpful outline that meticulously maps its argument. From the great aranya of Vedic literature Proferes has extracted a clear picture of the evolution of Vedic notions of kingship or sovereignty. He starts in chapter 1 with an analysis of kingship and divinity that has been outlined most recently by Oberlies, which identifies four divinities as most frequently characterized as kings. Indra is the god-king of battle-mobilization, a warrior-king, while Varuna is the god-king of the Vedic clans at peace and settled, and thus his focus is inward, on civil society. (Mitra is of course closely linked with Varuna, sharing the role of the "peace-king" [Oberlies's "Friedenskonig"] with Varuna.) The third god-king according to this interpretation is Soma, the god who is also a plant and a juice, as well as a king around whom the soma-pressing Vedic clans unite. Agni, as the god of the domestic lire, represents domestic kingship. But in...