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"THE DYING ROUND THE HOLY POWER"
ness (mahat)." He became, that is to say, a mahārāja, having reduced all other rājas to vassalage or forced allegiance.
There is a special observance or vow (vrata) that accompanies this magic ritual, and this must be kept by the one who performs it. "Ile should not sit down before the foe; if he think him to be standing, he should stand also. Nor should he lie down before the foe; if he think him to be sitting, he should sit also. Nor should he go to sleep before the foe; if he think him awake, he should keep awake also."
Then at last, the result of all these painstaking observances: "Even if his enemy has a head of stone, swiftly he lays him low -lays him low."
This is a vivid specimen of the magic of him "who knows thus," yo evam veda. In so far as it depends on knowledge--the knowledge of brahman-it is an archaic example of jñāna-marga, the "way of knowledge," but in so far as it can be successful only when accompanied by a performance of the special observance or vow (vrata), it belongs also to karma-marga, the "way of ritual action," the main thing being that it is to be practiced without fail on the five occasions of the birth and death of the five cosmic powers.
Anyone undertaking such an enterprise of magic for the gaining of supremacy over unfriendly neighbors-rival feudal chieftains, perhaps one's own cousins (as in the Mahabharata) or step-brothers (as in the case of the constant battle for cosmic supremacy between the gods and the anti-gods or titans)-will have a complicated task. It will keep him busy all the while, what with the fire, the sun rising and setting, and the moon appearing and again disappearing. Particularly during thunderstorms the man will have to be on the alert-the rain starting and ceasing and the lightning now flashing and immediately vanishing. He will have to be quick to mutter his curses at precisely the correct instant if he is to cast his spells at the distant enemy with any hope of success. And with all this business of
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| SR No. | 007309 |
| Book Title | Philosophies of India |
| Original Sutra Author | N/A |
| Author | Heinrich Zimmer, Joseph Campbell |
| Publisher | Routledge and Kegan Paul Ltd |
| Publication Year | 1953 |
| Total Pages | 709 |
| Language | English |
| Classification | Book_English |
| File Size | 34 MB |