The Vedic Origins of Karma: Cosmos as Man in Ancient Indian Myth and Ritual

By Herman W. Tull

Book Overview

In this book, the author seeks access to Karma's origins by following several clues suggested by the doctrine's earliest formulation in the Upanistexts (circa 600-500 B.C.) These clues lead back to the mythical and ritual structures firmly established in the Brahmana texts, texts concerned with the rituals that chronologically and conceptually precede the UpanisThe rise of the karma doctrine is tied to the increasing dominance in late Vedic thought of the cosmic man (Purusa/Prajapati) mythology and its ritual analogue the "building of the fire altar" (agnicayana).

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0791400956
• ISBN13: 9780791400951
• Release Date: August 1989
• Publisher: State University of New York Press
• Length: 192 Pages
• Weight: 0.60 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 5.9" x 8.9"
• Grade Range: Postsecondary and higher