type:論文

type:Article

UNK

Hindu mythologies tell of the character and favorite foods of the various gods. In Hinduism today, when offerings are made to the gods, there is a tendency to select foods which correspond to the respective nature of each god, as recounted in the mythology. In this paper, I have tried to explore the Brahmanical pantheon as conceived through the offering of food in the Grihya-Sutras (ritual books for twice-born people in the period 600 B.C.-200 B.C.). In Brahmanism, many gods are worshipped simultaneously by offering different kinds of food on the occasions of rites of passage, agricultural rites, and the time offering prayers to a god (Nihongo-gankake). Among these occasions, the character of rites such as Uie Shuragava sacrifice, wedding ceremony and sowing rite correspond to the nature of the specific gods. There are powerful and popular gods, such as Indra, Agni, and Prajapati; however, there is no difference in the type of food offerings presented to them, and in most cases the gods' individual characters as depicted through the mythology are not reflected in these offerings. Unlike in present Hinduism, the Sanskrit gods, Pitri (ancestral spirit) and other evil spirits are also not differentiated in the food offerings. As far as food offerings are concerned, it is difficult to ascertain that there is an obvious hierarchy in the Brahmanical pantheon. Brahmanical gods possess their own character and power just as do the present Hindu gods. But it is likely that people in the Brahmanical period were not concerned with reflecting the nature and power of the gods in their food offerings, nor did they try to heighten the availability of the gods by offering them their favorite foods. Both the Grihya-Sutras and the Manu-Smriti are Sanskrit literature of the later Brahmanical period. We may see the continuity and change in the relationship between the supernatural and food offerings through a further exploration of the literature of later times.

identifier:7

identifier:KJ00009365039