Sacrifice: Its Nature and Functions

SA C R IF' IC E ,:ITS N A TI]R E A N D F' I]N C TION Henri Flubert and Marcel Mauss Translated by

W. D. Halls Foreword by E. E. Evans-Pritchard Professor of Social Anthropology, University of Oxford

T HE U N I V E , R S I T Y

OF CHICAGO PRE,SS

ii;13 Translated.from the French ESSAI SUR LA NATURE E,T LA FONCTION DU SACRIFICE

L"'lnnde sociologique r 8gB THE UNIVERSITY OF CJHICAGO PRESS

CONTE,NTS

CHICAGO, 57 COIIEN AND !\'ES'f LTD

page \r|i Foreword by E. E. Evans-Pritchard ix Translator's Note r lntroduction I I. Definition and unity of the sacrificial system 19 II. The scheme of sacrifice III. How the scheme varies according to the 50 general functions of the sacrifice the How the scheme varies according to 6r special functions of the sacrifice

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V. The sacrifice of the God Vl. Conclusion Notes Index

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F'ORE,\ATORD by E. E. Evans-Pritchard SOME YEARS AGO my colleagues and I at Oxford came to the conclusion that some of the more important essays of the school of the Annde sociologigue should be published in English translations and so reach a wider public. Several volumes have already been published,l and the series has, f think, served the purpose for which it was intended. We have therefore been encouraged to add to the volumes already in print. Hubert and Mauss'Essay on Sacrifice is one of the gems of the Annde, and it treats of a subject of the utmost importance and one central in the study of comparative religion. Robertson Smith was undoubtedly right, even if his attempts at evolutionary reconstruction were vitiated by errors and misconceptions, in claiming that the sacrificium is the basic rite in ancient (and primitive) religion, and also in saying that since sacrifice is so general an l Emile Durkheim, Sociologyand Philosophy,trans. by D. F. Pocockwith an introduction by J. G. Peristiany, lgsb; Marcel Mauss,The Gift, trans. by Ian Cunnisionwith an introductionby E. E. Evans-Pritchard, rg54; Robert Hertz, Death and the Right I.[and, trans. by Rodney and Claudia Needham, with an introduction by E. E. Evans-Pritchard, 196o; Emile Durkheim and Marcel Mauss, Primitiue Classiftcation, trans., edited, and with an introduction by Rodney Needham, 1965. The previous volumes were published by the same publishers as the present one: Cohen and west' vii

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Foreword institution we must seek for a general meaning o{ it in some general explanation. The literature on sacrifice is enormlius, but rhe sociological and social-anthropologicalcontributions to it have been few. This is certainly one of the most important of them. I find its conclusions, evidently influenced by Rober"tsonSrnith's idea of the Semitic gods being reflections, symbols, of the rnystical unity of social groups, rather lame, but as a study of the structure, or one might almost say the grammar, of the sacrificial rite the Essayis superb. Though I am unable to comment on what the authors say about the details of Vedic and Hebrew sacrifices,what they say about them is intended to have general application to all sacrificial acts-or at any rate all blood sacrifices-everyrvhere and at al1 times, and to have therefore a significance beyond the two cultr.rres from which the evidences discussedare taken. If littie reference to this Essayhas been made in recent decades it is perhaps due to a lack of interest among sociologistsand socialantlrropologistsin religion and therefore in its most fundamental rite. Interest in the subject appearsto be reviving, and it would seem an appropriate time therefore for publication in an English translation of this remarkable piece of scholarly analysis. I thank the Ford Foundation for assistance,through a personal grant, in the prepar:ation of the volume. An earlier partial translation by Arthur Julius Nelson, arrd rvithorrt references and notes, appeared in The Open Court, vol. XL, r96l, pp. 55-4^5,g5-roB, and r69-179 under the title 'The Nature and Significance of the Ceremony of Sacrifice, according to Hubert and Mauss'.

TRANSLATOR'SNOTE, THIS STUDY OF SACRIFICE by H. Hubert and M. Mauss'rvasfirst published in L'Annde sociologique,Paris, r8g8 (pp. zg-r58). It was entitled 'Essai sur la Nature et la Fonction du Sacrifice'. Certain points regarding the translation must be noted. First, the notes have been checked so far as possible, and some errors of reference corrected: but as the works cited have in some casesnot been accessible,a few errors rnay remain. Secondly, Hebrew and Sanskrit words have been adapted to English transliteration systems,but diacritical marks have been dispensed with. Lastly, for the word (sacrifiant', which has no exact Englisir equivalent, the word 'sacrifier' has been coined. In the essaythe 'sacrifier'is defined as'the subject to whom the benefits of sacrifice accrue . . or who undergoes its effect'. w. D. H.

E. E. EVANS-PRITCHARD Yllt

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INTRODIJCTION OUR INTENTION IN THIS WORK is to define the nature and social function of sacrifice. The undertaking would be an ambitious one if the way had not bue, pr"l pared for it by rhe researchesof Tyior, Robertson Smith, and Frazer. We are consciousof what we owe to them. Brrt other studies allow us to propound a theory different from theirs, and one which seemsto us more comprehensive. Moreover, we do not think of presenting it s'aveas a provisional hypothesis: on a subject so yast and complex, new information in the futr;re cannot fail to lead irs to modify our present ideas. But, with these express reservations, it has seemed to us that it might be useful to coordinate the facts at our rlisposal urrd to formulate an overall conception of them. The history of the popular and ancient conceptsof the 'gift-sacrifice', the,food-sacrifice,, and the icontract_ sacrifice', and the study of the repercussionsthese may have had on ritual will not detain us, interesting as it may be. Theories of sacrifice are as old as religions, [ut to fini any which have a scientific character we must rook to recent years. It is to the anthropological school, and aboye aIIto its English representatives,that the credit for having elaborated them must go. Tylor,l inspired simultaneously by Bastian, Spencer, and Darwin, and comparing facts borrowed from vurious races and civilizations, formulated an origin for the forms I

w Introduction of sacrifice. Sacrifice, according to this miter, was originally a gift made by the primitive to supernatural beings with whonr he-neededto ingratiate himself. Then, when the gods grew greater and became more removed from man, the necessity of continriing to pass on this gift to thern gave rise to sacrificial rites, intended to ensure that the objects thus spiritualized reached these spiritual beings. The gift was follorved by homage, in which the devotee no longer expressedan;'hope for a return. From this it was but one step for sacrificeto become abnegation and renunciation; thus in the course of evolution the rite u'as carried over from the making of presents by the primitive to the sacrifice of oneself. Yet if this theory described accurately the phasesof the moral development of the phenomenon, it did not account for its mechanism. On the whole, ir did no rnore than reproduce in precise language the old, popular conceptions.l)oubtless it had in itself some historical basis oriii, r8; xxxiv, z5; Amos iv, 5. The mtnha so far fulfils the function of any other sacrifice that a minha without oil and incensereplacesa hattat and bears the same name. (Cf. Lev. v, rr). Minha is often used with the general meaning of sacrifice (".g., I Kings xviii, zg, etc.). Conversely, in the Marseilles inscription the word zebah is appiied like minha to vegetable oblations: C.LS. 165, r, l2; r, :-4; cf..ibid., 1 6 7 ,l i , g a n d ro . a r. L e v . i i . ee. Aristophanes, Plutus, ll. 6ggtr Stengel, GK, pp. 8gff. 25. Porphyry, De abstitzentia,ii, zg. DiogenesLaertius, viii, r5 (Delos). Stengel, GK, p. gz. Pliny, Nat. Hist., xviii, 7. Scholium on Persius,ii, 48. e4. Smith, R.9,pp. z5off He seeseven in the libationsof wine and oil of the Semitic rituals equivalents of the blood of animal victims. r08

25. K. Bernhardi, Tranhopfer bei Homer, Prograrnm des kiiniglichen Gyrnnasiums zu Leipzig, 1885. H. von Fritze, De libationc ueterum Graecorum,Berlin, r895. 26. v1gritrraand plellxpatov.See Stengel, GK, pp.95 and rrr. J. G. Frazer,Pawanias (r8g8), III, p. 585. a7. Stengel, GK, p.gg. A libation of spirits has sometimesreplaced, in modern practice, the ancient sacrifices.See P. Bahlmann, Mi)r*tcrland.ische Miirchnn (Miinster, r8g8), p. g4r. Cf. Paul Sartori, 'Uber das Bauopfer', Zeitschr. filr Ethnologi"e,vol. 3o (r898) ,p. 25. e8. See the texts cited by A. Hillebrandt, NVO, pp. 42, 42. 29. Were these vegetable offerings substituted for bloody sacrifices, as was implied in the Roman formula, in sacrissimulata pro aerts accipi (Servius,Ad Aeneid., If, 116; Festus, 56ob)? It was doubtless convenient to imagine a steady progress from human to animal sacrifice, then from animal sacrifice to figurines representing animals, and thence, finally, to the offering of cakes. It is possiblethat in certain cases,which moreover are little known, the introduction of new rituals brought about these substitutions. But there is no authority for applying these facts to make generalizations. The history of certain sacrifices presents rather a reverse process,The animals made from dough that were sacrificed at certain agricultural festivals are images of agrarian evil spirits and not simulacra of animal victims. The anaiysis of these ceremonieslater will give the reason for this. 3o. It follows from this definition that between religious punishment and sacrifice (at least, expiatory sacrifice) there are both analogies and differences. Religious punishment also implies a consecration (corxecratio bonorum et capitis); it is likewise a destruction and is wrought by this consecration.The rites are similar enough to those of sacrifice for Robertson Smith to have seen in them models of expiatory sacrifice.OnIy, in the caseof punishment, the manifestation in a violent fashion of the consecration affects directly the one who has committed the crime and who is himself expiating it; in the caseof expiatory sacrifice, on the other hand, substitution takes place, and it is upon the victim, and not upon the guilty one, that expiation falls. However, as society is contaminated by the crime, the punishment is at the same time a means for it to rid itself of the contamination with which it is sullied. Thus, in respectof society, the guilty one ful.fils the part of an expiatory victim. It may be said that there is punishment and sacrifice at one and the same time.

r09

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5r. See Max Muller, 'Die Todtenbestattung bei den Blahmanen', Z eitschr ift der D eutsclzen M or genlcin dis chen G esell schaft, v ol. IX, p. lxiii. .KSA,S,r. z. ro, rz, and commentary of Mahidhara, ad /oc., esp, at r r. Cf. I(ulluka on Manu, 21 25. tr'edrtnta Sara,7ff (ed. B6htlingk in Sanskrit-Chresto., pp. 254, 255).It appears that this classification is adhered to only by fairly recent authorities, while others go back to more ancient terts. But in fact it is to be found firstly in the liturgical collections which distinguish from the regular formulas (y"l^) the formulas of the optional rites (kamyeshtiyajyas) and those of the expiatory rites (prayashcittani). ft is to be found in the Brahmanas (for example, the ZB) which devote very long sections either to expiations or to special vows and necessary sacrifices. Finally, the sutras continually separate the rites into constant (nityani) , obligatory, and periodic, into optional (hamyani), occasional (naimittihani), and expiatory (prayaslrcittani). These divisions are to be found in the solemn as well as the domestic ritual. (See Oldenberg, 'Survey of the Contents of the Grihyasutras', in Sacred Books of the East, vol. XXX, pp. 5o6ff.) These texts also contain passages concerning the curative rites (blrcishajyan.i) parallel to those made known to us in the Kaushiha Szrra (Adh. III, ed. Bloomfield, rSgo). Thus the sacrifices were indeed divided according to this classification from the very beginning, although it did not become a conscious division until later. 32. The uajapeya. A. Weber, 'Uber den Vajapeya', Sitzber. d. Wiss. zu Berlin, Phil.-hist. tr/. (r89e), pp. 765ff, and h. h. '4kad. A. Hillebrandt, Vedis che M2rtholo gie (Breslau, r 89 r - r go z), I, p. z 42. g5. For example, in order to obtain a son or long life (Hiilebrandt, Ritual Litteratur (see n. ro abor-e), sects. 58 and 66). These sacrifices are extremely numerous, more so indeed than the published. texts which present them to us. 34. The principle is even so rigorous that the ritual of sacrifice is laid down even before that of the setting up of the altar. (See Hillebrandt, ibid., sect. 59, Vorbemerkung.) 35. Hillebrandt, ibid., sect. 66. 56. We thus translate the word soma, in the composite form somayajna, as a comnlon noun. The term is untranslatable, for the word designates at the same time the plant as the victim, the god released by the sacrifice, and the god sacrificed. Subject to this consideration, we make our own choice. 32, In fact the soma carfirot be sacrificed except at the timej when it is in flower, that is, the spring. (See Ash.ualayana sonlrt prrqfog& in MS Wilson 459, Oxford, Bodleian Library, fo. ry7.) l to

Notes 38. There is indeed the greatest possible analogy betrveen the ritual of the sacrifice of the animal at Agni-Sonn (ApShS, VII) and the Atharvan ritual of the smothering to death of the vasha (sterile cow) (.Kaz,S, 44 and 45). Similarly, in the dornestic ritual the various animal sacrifices, including that of the expiatory bull (see below, p. 55) are so analogous to each other that both, according to different schools of thought, were able to serve as the fundamental theme for the description (see Hillebrandt, Rinnl Litteratur (see n. ro above), sect. 44). 3 9 . D e u t. xi i ,6 , r r ,2 Z, cf. L e vi t. xvi i ,8 , cf. Ju d g . xx, 2 6 , II Sam. vi, 17, etc., mention only the 'olah and the zebah or shelamim.'fhe question of discovering whether these passagesrelate to previous rituals or to parallel ones is not iruportant for the special purpose of our work. For the theory according to which the expiatory sacrifices were only introduced into the Hebrew ritual at a later date, see the summary of Benzinger, Hebriiische Arclrcologie, pp. 44r and 447tr. 'fhe passageI Sam. iii, 14 is too vague for us to be able to conclude from it in any way against the existence of the hattat. In any case it is irnpossible to admit that expiatory sacrifices are transformations of a monetary fine. 4o. Levit. iv, z. shelamim. On the equivalence of the 4t. Shelamim:zebah zebahim and the zebah shelamim, see Benzinger, ibid., p, 455. 42. In translating the word 'olah we adhere to the traditional interpretation, which is moreover founded on the Biblical phrase 'he iaused the'olah to rise up (the rising up)'. Cf. ClermontGanneau,'L'fnscription Nabat6enne de Kanathat', ComptesRendus de l'Acadimie des fnscriptiorzs, Paris, Series 4, vol. 26, r898, p. Sgg. For the 'avon and its expiation, see Halevy in Reuue Simitique, 1898, p. 49. Another kind of sin, expiation of which was provided for in the ritual, the asham (Levit. v) does not seem to have given rise to a special form of sacrifice. It may be that the sacrifice which expiates it is designated by the name of asham, ltut according to Levit. v, the expiatory ceremony is made up of the hattat and the 'olah; Levit. vii, z-7, makes the lmttat and the asham identical; cf. Numb. v,gff. Yet Ezek. xl, j9; xlii, r3; xlvi, zo, formally distinguish between the two sacrifices. 45. The Marseilles inscription (C./.,S. I, 165) likewise reduces the various sacrifices to three types, (r) the kalil, which is the equivalerrt of the Hebrew 'olah; (z) the sauat, sacri;ficium laudis or orationis, equivalent to the slrclami*; (d the slzelem-kalil. Line rr mentions only two special sacrifices, the sh"asaf and the hazut (see tll

Notes

il

C./..S., I, p. 255). Must the shelem-halil be considereil as a iuxtapositionofsacrifices?SeeG. A. Barton, 'On the SacrificesKalil and Shelem-Kalil in the Marseilles fnscription', Proceedings of the Amertcan Oriental Socizty, 1894, Pp' lxvii-lxix. Inscription 167 (Carthage) distinguishes only helilim and sauat. Cf. ClermontGanneau, ibid., pp. gg7-9. 44. Exod. r'cix; Levit' viii. 49. Levit. xii, 6. 46. Levit. xiv. Cf. Levit. xiv, 7, with Exod' xxix, eo. 47. 'Ihe Greek sacrifices are easily divided into communion sacrificesand expiatory sacrifices,sacrificesto the godsofthe underworld and sacrificesto the heavenly gods: they are so classifiedin Stengel's excellent manual (G/(). This classification is exact only in appearance. 48. Levit. iv, 9; vii, r41 ix, cr, etc. 49. Levit. x, 16. 5o. Ezek. xliii, rgff; xlv, rg. Cf. the purification of the leper, Levit. xiv, 7. gr. Exod, rrcix, zo, CHAPTER TWO 5a. The principle of the entry into the sacrificeis constant in the ritual. It is remarkably expressedin the sacrifice of the sorna, in which we have the prayaniyeshti, the sacrifice of entry, correspondirrg exactly to the udayaniyeshti, the sacrifice of exit' ShB, 5 , 2 t 5 , r) 4 , 5 ,r, r. C f. A i tB , 4,5, r and z;al so T8,5, 6, r1 5, 5, 4' Generally simple rites and direct consecrationsuffice to prepare for the sacrifices. But we see that there are caseswhere the main sacrifice is preceded b1' preliminary ones. Thus the praecidaneae (Aulus Gellius, IV, 6, Z). The llpo06ptataare not of the same nature (Euripides, fphigenia at Aulis, l5ro-r8, cf. Paton, Cos, 38, 17; but other sacrificescorrespondedto them: ibid.,58, rz. 55. On the diJtsha,seeBruno-Lindner, Die Dihsa oder lTeilrcfilr d.as Somaopfer (Leipzig, 1878)' He studies only the theological texts and compares them. Moreover' these texts of the ShB, AitB, and 7S are really complete on this question. H' Oldenberg, RelV, pp. 5g8tr, seesin the diltsha an ascetic rite comparable to those of shamanism. He attachesno value to the symbolism of the ceremonies and believes it to be of recent date. Oldenberg seemsreally to have spotlighted one side ofthe facts; but his explanation is very easily reconcilable with our own. For the whole of the Brahmanic tLq.

Notes texts, see S. L6vi, Sacrifice,pp. rog-6. For the translation of the word di-kshawe associateourselves with the opinion of Nf. Weber (op: rit., n. gz above,p.ZZ8).The dihshais indicatedonly vaguely in RV and had no need to be so. ft has a preponderantplace in all the rest of the Vedic literature. The successof this rite, which moreover has been very well preserved, vras very great in the Puranic and Tantric rituals. g4. See Ldv| Sacrifrce,p. ro5. 5d. f.S, 6, l, l, r. 56. The Flindu texts give an excellent interpretation of this rite, which is found in most religions; the hair, the eyebrows,the beard, the finger- and toe-nailsare the 'dead part', the impure part of the body, They are cut in order to make oneselfpure. 7,S,6, t, r, 2. 97. Levi, Sacrifice,pp. 82, 88. fS, 6, r, l, g. ShB,5, r12,4 and 5. 98. This is the rite of the apsudiltsha(ApShS, X, 6, r5ff) which symbolizesboth his purification (seethe mantra 7S, r, z, r, r:ZS 4, 2, d : RV, ro, rZ, ro and AV 6, gt, z) and his new conception. Here is the series of s5rmbols,foilowing AitB, r, g, rff: 'The bath signifies his conception, the hut is the rvomb, the garment the amnion, the skin of the black antelopethe chorion', etc. The schools vary slightly as to the various meanings of the different rites and their order. gg. ApShS,X, 6, 6. The mantra is T8,5, ?,2, r.Cf. VS, 4, z and S hB ,5, r , z, zo. 6o. ApShS,X, 6, r t f f ; X, 7, r t r ; 7S, 6, l, r , 4and5, et c. 6t. ApS\S, X, 8, rr and rz. This antelope skin, according to certain texts (AitB,l.c., and ShB, 3, z, r, z,) is one of the membranes of the embryo god called the didiltshamana, the one who initiates. Other texts equally reliable (?S, 6, r, 3, 2,) say that the sacrifier must simply be clad in the skin of a Brahmanic animal, in order to enable him to acquire the quality of a Brahmal. 62. ,4pShS,X, lr, z. 65. ApShS,X, g, ro. 7S,6, r,5,3.Cf. Weber, fndischeSatdien, X , p. 5 58,n. 4. 64. ApShS,X, r r , 5f f 2S, 6, r , 4, 5. 69. ApShS,X, rr, 7ff; X, rz, t, r5-r8. 66. His atrnan, his individuality. He has becornean 'offering to the gods'.Ait B, 6, O , g; 6, g, 6. , SAB, 3, 5, 4, zr . ApShS,X, 14, r o. 'This is what is explained in the Brahmana. When this dikshita becomeslean, he becomespare (mcdhyo, sacrificial). lYhen there is nothing more, he becomespure. When his skin toucheshis bones, he becomespure. \Yhen he is fat he is initiated, when he is lean 1r 5

li Notes he sacrifices.what is missing from his limbs has been sacrificed.' By fasting tlie sacrifier has stripped off his mortal body as far as possible,to p.,t o,, an immortal form. \Ye see how asceticpractices iook their piac" in the Hi.du system of sacrifice.(SeeL6vi, Sacri,r. t. Cf'p. S+.)Developed{romthis time onwards'thev fice,p.85, -*"t" ubi" to become, in classical Brahminism, in Jainism, in Buddhism, the whole of sacrifice.For example, the Buddhist fast uposatha correspondsexactly to the-fast of upauasatha,-of the which correspondsto the upauasathanighi ofthe ordinary sacrifice-, fast of clikslin. (SeeS/zB, I' I' r,7') The comparisonis rnade by Eggeling,adloc. (SacredBooksof the East,XII; cf ibid', z, r,4,2, o.rih" fura of the di/*ha,ibid.,z,2,21 ro and rg') From the "al"l sbB onwards the virtues of asceticismare consideredas great as those of sacrifice(ibid., g, 5, r, r^7, etc')' We need not point out the analogy here with semitic, Greek and christian plactices. The sacrificiallLst of Kippur has becomethe model for the other Jew-ish fasts. These pt"puiitoty actions often become the tyPe for the sacrifice of on"relf. The asceticism preliminaly to the sacrilice became,in many cases,the whole sacrifice' 62. A. Hillebiandt, N/O, pp. 5, 4.C!' SlB, t, t, t, 7ff, and the passagescited in the preceding note. Cf. Schwab, Thieropfer, p' xxii, 59. t, t, t' tff. 68. S/r.-B, 69. Numb. ix, r4; xv' r5-r5' zg' Cf' Pausanias,II, 27, t; Euripides,Electra,TgS;C.I.A.II, 582, 583' .Iit" uncircumcised. cannot appear at the cult ceremonies' 7o. Ezek. xliv. 7. Cf. Exod. xii, 45, 45, 48; Levit' xxii' lo' 12' 15' Herodottrs VI, 6. W' Dittenberger, Sylloge Inscriptionwn Gryec1s6. In classicaland even \redic India, only the rum,558, "f.bT1, higher casteshave the right to sacrifice' of the'thtee me*bl-rs r49c; VI, z6zc.. IV, Athenaeus, 7r. (see n' 7o above), 575,9' Festus 82" LamDittenberger 72. De Agricultura,lxx'5ii, in the sacriCato, pridius, Elagabalus,6. iice to Mars Silrranus. The casesof the expulsion of women from the ceremoniesare very nurnerous. LTl concerning the. sacri75. Lev\t. vii, r9-zr; II Chron. x).x, impurities did not certain Yet Cf' C.I.Gficeif the Passover. 5562. zzzff' Od'ysseyXY, ro' Cf' ix, e.g.' Numb' sacrifices; certain out rule zz. xix. Exod. 74. The prohibition of sexual 7i. n"oa. xix, roff; Numb. xi, 18-25' is, moreovet, an almost any ceremony of occasion relaiion, on the religious invariable PrinciPle.

r r4,

Notes 76. Cf . PausaniasX, 32, g: panegyric of Tithorea. 77. Gen. xxxv, 2; Exod. xix, r4; xl, rz; Levit. viii, 6; Numb. viii, 7. Stengel, op. cit. (n. zz above),p. gZ. J. Marquardt, Handbuch der RdmischenAlterthumer, VI, p. 248, n. 7. Iliad, I, zr1ff. 78. Levit. xxili, 27, 5z; the fast of Kippur. Numb. xxix, 7. Cf. the fast of commr.rnicantand priest before the Catholic Mass. 79. Seecertain examplesin Frazer, GB,II, 76. 8o. Gen. xxxv, z) Exod, xxix, 8; xl, r5; Levit. viii, r5 (consecration of Aaron). Cf. PausaniasfI, 55, 4, processionof the Chthonia of Hermione. Plutarch, Consolatio ad ,4pollonium, 55 (l rg). The use of specialgarments,the daubing of the body or the face, form part of the ritual of almost all known festivals. 8r. Porphyry. SeeVita Pythagorae, 17. 82. S. Reinach,Le Voile de l'Oblation (t8gZ), pp. 5ff 83. Stengel, GK, p.98. Menander, The Peasant,verse 8 (seeH. Weil, 'Le " Campagnard" de M6nandre' , Reuuedesitu.desgrecques, r8g8, p. rz5). E. Samter, 'Rdmische Sihnriten', Philologus, r9g7, pp.A g4f f Fest us,p. r r Z. 84. Numb. v\ii, 7. Lucian, De dea syri.a.,gg. 85, For the corpus of ceremonies preparatory (ihram:sanct\fication) to the ancient sacrificescorresponding to the present-day pilgrimages to Mecca, seeJ. Wellhausen, ResteArabischen Heidcntums, pp. 79 ff The same practicesat the pilgrimages to Hierapolis (Lucian, De dea syria, gg). Likewise for the pilgrims to the ancient Temple, Jer. xli, g. See Smith, RS, pp. 535, 48t (additional note). 86. The casesthat are not borrowed from the domestic ritual and in which the sacrifier hirnself officiates are fairly rare in the religions we are studying. In Judaea it was only at the Passover sacrifice that one could, in the absenceof any Levite or Cohen and outside Jerusalem, slay a victim. fn Greece, for example, the sacrifice to Amphiaraos (Oropus) could be presented by the sacrifier in the absenceof a priest (C.I.G.G.S., %5). kr the Hindu ritual no one, unless he is a Brahmin, can sacrificeon the three fires of the great sacrifice. On the other hand, in the domestic cult, the Dresenceof a Brahmin was not insisted on. (I{illebrandt. Ritual -Lineratur (seen. ro above),p. 2o.) 87. Exod. xxix; Levit. viii; Numb. viii. 88. Ezek. xliv, g, r^. 89. II Chron. xxx, rZ. The Levites sacrificethe Passoverfor the impure. In the absenceof the Hindu sacrifier, one could carry out certain essentialrites on his behalf (Hillebrandt, NVO, p. 146, n. r).

r r5

Notes go. Exod. xxviii, 58' Numb. xviii, r, z, 3' noticeable in the Brahmin' ir. These two chiracteristics are very sacrifier, so much so that the of delegate on"the one hand. he is the (See L6vi, Sacrifce, p' rz') On his life' of master the he becomes the other hand he is the delegateof the gods,so much so that he is often treated as one when he is invited to the sacrifice,or when he receiveshis sacerdotalportion (seebelow, P' 45, n' 289)' On the character of the Brahmin in the ritual, seeweber, Indische satdien, X, p. rgd. Cf. ShB, r, 7, r,5, where the Brahmins are calledhuman gods. gz. Cult of Attis and Cybele, seeFrazer, GB, p'3oo' Pausanias, VIII, r5, r. Cf. Frazer,Pausanias,IV,p. zz5; V, p' z6r' F' -Back' De Gri"rorum caerimoniis in quibus homines deorurn uice fungebantur (Berlin, r885). VI, zo, r. 95. Pausanias, (cult of Demeter at Pheneus in ii. Panrattius, VfII, 15, 3 Arladia). Polyaenus,VIII, 59 (cult of Athene at Pellene)' See E' Samter, 'Rijmische Siihnriten, die Trabea' (Philologtts,LVI, r897, p. 5g4) for the garb of the Roman priest. Yet, accordingto Nlacroti*, ill, 6, r7, the sacrifice at the Ara maxima is carried out with the head.veiled, 'ne guis in aedc dei habitum ejus imitetur'' gd. Cf. Frazer, GB, I, pp. 286, 288, 3+5, 568, 37o; II, z, z7; M,-HOfl"t, ' Zur Opfer-Anatomie', Cotespond'enzblattder deutschen Geselkchaftfilr )ntlropologie. Jhg' XXVII (Jan', 1896, no' r), 5' himself the sacrifier, 96. In ihl "ut" in which the Brahmin was io the caseof a sattra, a ritual ceremonial and great sacrifice "oi in which the priests were subiected to the diksha at the same time as the sacrifiei, the king or the great man. fn all other cases,only minor lustrations are laid down for the Brahmin: rinsing out the mouth, washing the hands, etc. This rite was always obligatory when evil powershad been mentioned. (Shankhayana-grilEra-sutra, I, ro, g; lf,SAS,I, ro' 14. W.4I, e3, r' 15' for 97. Exod. xxx, zo, cr. Cf. Rawlinson, the hands. The rvashing of the hands of faithful ancl priest is customary in the s1'nagogueas well as in Catholic ritual' 98, Levit. x, 9; Ezek. xliv, ar; Josephus,'4ntiguities,5t.r2^,^2i Joslephus,De Bello Judaico, 5, 5, 7i Philo, De Ebrietate, r27ff' gg. Levit. vi, ro; xvi, 4, 52. Cf' Exod. xxviii, 40,42' roo. Levit. ni, 4i x'ri, c3. Ezek.xliv, r9. ror. Exod. xxviii, 55; Ezek. xlii, rr-r4 (the Septuagint text is to be preferred).

roc. Exod.xxviii,45;*",

1"i6t.

Notes ro3. Levit. x, rff. ro4. I Sam .iv, r r . ro5, See tlre legendary story in Talmud Jerus., Yoma, Gemara, f, r, 5 (tr. Schwab), which saysthat a high priest who committed a ritual heresy on Yom Kippur would die on the spot, that worms would come out of his nose, and the shoe from a calf's hoof from his forehead, as had happenedto the priests of the family of Baithos. ro6. Cf. Tosefta Sultkah, III, 16. ro7. We use the Mishnah and Talmud of Jerusalem, referring the reader for convenience to Schwab's French translation: Yoma, chs. II, IIf, SchwabV, p. r5S. Seeon dris subject: J. Derenbourg, 'Essai de restitution de I'ancienne r6daction de MassechetKippourirn', Reuued'etudesjuiues, VI (r88a), 4rff; M. T. Ifoutsma, 'Over de isradlietische Vastendagen', Verslagen en Mededeelingen der honin"klijke .4had. u. Wetercch., Afdeel. Letterk., Amsterdam, r8g7-8, vol. XII, part If, pp. 3tr ro8. Levit. xvi. rog. Levit. xvi, z, rro. Talm. Jerus., Yoma (Schwabtrans., p. 16r). On the occasion of Kippur sacerdotalpurity was reinforced, and absolute isolation was attained. rrr. During these seven days the high priest conductsthe service in fuII pontifical robes, which, as we know, had specialvirtues (Exod.;ocviii). r rz. The cell of Beth-Abdinos. rt3. Yoma, Mishnah, I, 5. The Gemara (ad loc.) gives several explanations of this rite, which has not been understood, One of them seemsto indicate what may have been the true meaning: the old men weep becausethey are forced to abandon, thus isolated, the pontiff whose life is at the sarnetime so precious and so fragile. r 14. For this vigil he either carries on biblical exegesishimself, or listens to the learned men, or passagesfrom the Bible are read to him. The direction that he occupy himself during the night before the sacrifice with the sacred writings, that he speak of them and them alone, is also a directive in Hindu sacrifice; it is also a directive for the Sabbath and for feast-daysgenerally, in the majority of known rituals. The Christian vigils, at first especially for Easter, later increasedin number, were perhapsan imitation of the learned discourseson the eve of the Jewish Passover. rr5. Seminal losses-that is the explanation, a correct but incomplete one, given in our text. fn fact, it must be remembered that sleep is very usually considereda dangerousstate; for the soul L17

Notes

Notes

is then in movement, outside the body, to which it may not be able to return. Now the death of the high priest would be a calamity. This is forestalled by requiring him to keep vigil' Sleep is Iikewise a dangerous state for the Hindu dihshita, who sleeps under the protection of Agni, by the fire, in a special position (cf' ?S,

sacr6sdu Rig-Veda' (Rernc de l'histoire des religions, XX (r88g), pp. r5rff), dealsonly with the riivision of the fires. \Meber, Indischc Snrdien,IX, p. ar6. Eggeling on ShB (SacredBooksof the East, XII, pp. z4?tr). rag. The materialswith and on which it is lighted and prepared (the Sambharas)all correspondto a very important m5,th (?8, r, r, g and g; cf. ShB, e, r, +). They are things in rvhich something igneous, particularly animate, seemsto dwell: so animate themselvesthat legend seesin certain of them the primitive forms of the world. This cieation of fire symbolizesthe creation of the world. r5o. The fire is always created by friction at the time of the placing of the fires, of an animal sacrifice, of the sacrifice of the soma. See Schwab, Thieropfer, sect.+2, pp. ZZff.Weber, fndische Sturlien, I, tg7, n. 5. A Kuhn, Herabkurt dcs Feuers und des GijttertranAts(Giitersloh, 1886), pp. 7off. Around this creation of the fire-god the Brahmins wove, from the RZ onwards, pantheistic conceptions.For the fire of sacrifice alone is excelling, it alone is the complete Agni, containirrg the 'three bodies of Agni'-his terrestrial essence(the domesticfire), his atmosphericessence(the lightning), and his heavenly essence(the sun); it containsall that is animate,warm, and 'igneous' in the worid (ZB, r, 2, r15 and 4). r5r. It is even one of the oldest epithets of Agni. See A. Bergaigne, La Religion Vddigue (Paris, 1878-85), II, p. zr7. rgz. Seenote r50 above. r53. Levit. x, z; Judgesvi, rrff, the sacrificeof Gideon; xiii, rgff, Manoah; I Kings xviii, 48, Elijah; I Chron. xxi, 26, etc. The preparation ofthe fires bulks large in other rituals. On the necessity of a pure fire, cf. Levit. x, r; on the renewing of the fires in Mexico: Sahagun, Historia de las cosasde Nueua Espaiia,II, p. r8; Chavero,Medco a trauCsde lossiglos,I, p. ZZ; at Lemnos: Philostratus, Heroikos, XIX, r4; L. Couve, 'Inscription de Delphes', Bulletin de correspondancehellenigue,XYIII ( r 8g+), pp. 87 and gz; in freland, A. Bertrand, Religion d.esGauJois(Paris, 1897),p. ro6. Cf. Frazer, GB, II, pp. 26, rg4. Frazer, Pausanias,II, p. 3gz; V, p. 52r. tr'or fndo-European religions see Knauer in Fe*grilss for Roth, p. 64. r54. It becomesthe 'deuayajana', the place of sacrificeto the gods.One must refer to the mystical speculationsof the Brahmins on this point. The 'deuayajana' is tire only solid ground on earth. The earth itself exists only to serve as the place of sacrifice to the gods.This specialsite is alsothe baseof operationsof the gods,their citadel; it is from there that, taking off in a bound (devayatana) rr9 I

6, r , 4, 5 and 6) . 116. talmud, Yoma, f, z, and Gemara, p. 168; cf' Mishnah,

ibid.,rrr, 5.

r17. Hemerology of the month of Elul. I{/Af, I, IY, p' 3e, 3' See Jastrow, The Origtnal Character of the Hebreu Sabbath' rr8. Stengel, GK, p.r5 (sacrificesto the heavenly gods). rrg. Stengel, G-K (sacrifices to the Chthonian gods)' Pausanias, See p' 54 below II, 24, r (Argos), sacri{ice to Apollo Aeupu8raiii, rg; xxxiv, z5; I)eut. xvi. a. 132

Notes

::fl ti'::,

ilyt.::_*,

jssi-,": .Frazer,pausanias, III, p. z4o. -;fr cr.

etr,u"*"i, ,-;;

lI.,,t,1,5oi. z6o. tl. Pausanias, II, iZ, -', X, ;;;.' -(, ,, uuog,ev,paton, Cos, 24. "

;i;; ychius, s.v. 'E