The Indo-European Prehistory of Yoga N.J. Allen

7/28/2019 The Indo-European Prehistory of Yoga N.J. Allen

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The Indo-European prehistory of yoga

N.J.Allen

Everyone agrees that a historical understanding of the Sanskrit language isimpossible without the framework provided by Indo-European comparativelinguistics, but when we turn to Sanskritic culture, the picture is less clear. Eversince William Jones, attempts have been made to develop a field of study that

might be called Indo-European cultural comparativism, and to situate Hinduismwithin it, but how far have we got? Compared to linguists, students of culturehave achieved relatively little consensus among themselves and even lessacceptance by others. The most eminent Indo-European cultural comparativist ofrecent times has been Georges Dum?zil, but, in spite of Books like Fr?d?ricBlaise's Introduction ? la mythologie compar?e des peuples indo-europ?ens(1995) and Bernard Sergent's Gen?se de rinde (1997), his work remainsrelatively little known and definitely controversial. No wonder so many accountsof Hindu religion, if they deal with the Indo-European dimension at all, do so ina couple of paragraphs on theVedas or in passing footnotes.

Clearly the field is a risky one. Since the death of Dum?zil in 1986,1 wonderif there is any individual equipped with sufficient cultural and linguistic knowledge to tackle the whole field with confidence?certainly not myself. Even inthe best case a comparativist will seldom know as much about any field hetouches on as does a specialist in that field. One can easily go astray and wasteeveryone's time. Nevertheless, for all the risks, anthropology ismeant to be acomparative discipline, and I have found the challenge irresistible. What can welearn about Hindu culture and religion by looking at itwithin an Indo-Europeanframework?

To explore this question, I have been, over the last ten years, pursuing twointerlinked ideas. One is that we need to expand Dum?zil's notion of the Indo

European trifunctional ideology by recognizing a bifid fourth function that'brackets' the classical three, so that the ideology ismost simply and typically

manifested in five-element lists and structures. Based on this idea, previous

International Journal of Hindu Studies 2, 1 (April 1998): 1-20? 1998 by theWorld Heritage Press Inc.


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papers (Allen 1991, 1996c, n.d.) have examined materials from Nuristan andfrom early Roman pseudo-history. The functions may possibly be relevant tosome of the five-element lists that will be encountered below, but I shall say nomore about them here.The second idea is thatmuch can be learned by comparing Sanskrit and Greek

epics, more precisely theMah?bh?rata and the Odyssey (Allen 1996a, 1996b).As regards the decision to focus on theMah?bh?rata, I am indebted particularlytoMadeleine Biardeau (1981), who showed the centrality ofthat vast and astonishing work for an anthropological understanding of classical Hinduism, and to

Dum?zil, who convinced me thatmany of the themes and structures of the 'FifthVeda' were rooted in the Indo-European heritage. From a comparativist point ofview adopted here, the processes by which and the dates at which different partsof the epic were written down (say between 300 BCE and CE 400) are not thecentral questions. The written texts, in greater or lesser degree, derive theirnarrative content from an oral heritage to which comparison may give access.

Working from reconstructed past towards attested present, a comparativist canenvisage a body of proto- or early Indo-European narrative material beingtransmitted orally throughout the Indo-Iranian period, bypassing

the Vedasproper, and only relatively recently reaching the form inwhich we now read it.As regards the Greek epic, it is a topic on which Dum?zil himself workedrelatively little, believing that the Homeric narratives (first given written form inthe eighth-seventh century BCE) had already largely escaped the straitjacket ofIndo-European ideology. Here, as over the number of functions, I disagree withthe great scholar. As I have argued elsewhere (Allen 1995, 1996a, 1996b), inparts of their careers, Arjuna and Odysseus show similarities so numerous anddetailed that they must be cognate figures, sharing an origin in the proto-hero ofan oral proto-narrative. For present purposes many questions about this protonarrative can be left unanswered. Was it told in prose or in verse or in amixtureof the two? Was it told in the Urheimat or original homeland (whatever thelocation and date of that logically necessary zone of space-time), or did itdiffusesomewhat after the dispersal began? It does not matter. The similarities cannotbe explained either by chance, or by Jungian archetypes, or by diffusion of theHomeric epics from Greece to India; and if they are as striking as I think then,one way or another, they must be due to common origin in a proto-narrative.I can now explain the aim of the paper. While looking for similarities betweenthe plots of the two epics, I found that, roughly speaking, Books 5-6 of theOdyssey correspond to part of Book 3 of theMah?bh?rata. In both cases thehero undertakes a journey. The relevant part of Book 3 describes the journey ofArjuna from the Gangetic forests to the Himalayas, the abode of the gods, andthen by celestial chariot to the heavenly city of his father Indra, king of the gods.


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Books 5-6 of the Odyssey describe the journey of Odysseus from Calypso's isleof Ogygia to the capital of the blissful land of Scheria. Not only are the twoheroes cognate, so are the two journeys (Allen 1996b); in other words, Iproposed, they reflect a single episode in the proto-narrative. But Arjuna'sjourney is in several senses a yogic undertaking?for a start, the hero isexplicitly 'yoked to Indra's yoga.'In ancient Greece one finds hints of yoga-like religiosity, especially inPythagoreanism,1 but there is nothing obviously yogic or Pythagorean aboutOdysseus' journey. So, if both stories descend from a proto-narrative, there aretwo possibilities. Either the proto-journey was like the Greek and containednothing relating to yoga, inwhich case the yogic aspect of the Sanskrit story wasan innovation that developed in the Indian branch of the tradition. Or the protojourney was like the Sanskrit and was quasi-yogic or proto-yogic in character, inwhich case Greek epic tradition largely or wholly eliminated that aspect of thestory. I shall argue for the second scenario, claiming both that the proto-narrativeshared certain features with yoga and that the telling of such a story makes itlikely that there already existed ritual practices ancestral to yoga.I shall not spend long discussing views

on the history of yoga basedon other

methods of study. In brief, the fundamental philosophical and didactic text, thes?tras or aphorisms of Pata?jali, is often dated to around the third century CE(though opinions vary). However, the roots of yoga lie much further back, andmost accounts of itmention the references to yoga as such, and to related ideas,in the Upanisads (from around 500 BCE). Some suppose that yoga was elaborated around that period, perhaps on the basis of quasi-scientific medical ideas asfound in Ayurveda (Filliozat 1991: 299-303), while others have wished to gofurther back still, either rather vaguely to Indo-European or Asiatic shamanismor more precisely toMohenjodaro, to the pre-?ryan (that is, pie-Indo-European)Indus Valley civilization (McEvilley 1981). A complex institution like yoga maydraw on multiple roots, and I do not wish to oversimplify. However, I argue thatsome significant and fairly precisely identifiable features of yoga go back to theculture of those who told the proto-narrative?who, though I do not argue thepoint here, may well have been proto-Indo-European speakers.

Structure of the argument

Essentially I limit myself to four main sources: the two epic narratives, Pata?jaliplus commentaries, and the ?veta?vatara Upanisad. No doubt, in a fuller study,other Sanskrit texts could be brought into the argument. Nothing is moreconfusing than trying to compare more than two texts at once, so all the sixcomparisons will be binary.


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Mah?bh?rata

Svet?svatara Upanisad

The sequence of the comparisons is shown in the diagram. To justify the notionof a proto-journey, I have first to compare the two epics. To show inwhat senseArjuna's journey is yogic, I concentrate next on the Sanskrit texts, comparingthe epic with Pata?jali, and then, moving backwards within the yoga tradition,comparing Pata?jali with the Upanisad and the latter with theMah?bh?rata.

Only then can we return to the Greek and compare the Odyssey first to the laterand then to the earlier of the philosophico-ritual texts.

ODYSSEY-MAH?BH?RATA

I begin by contextualizing the two epic journeys and providing rapid overviews.Mah?bh?rata. As is well known, the main plot recounts the conflict betweenP?ndavas (roughly, the goodies) and Kauravas (the baddies). Arjuna is by birththemiddle of the five P?ndava brothers and inmany ways the central characterof the epic. Although all the brothers have divine fathers, Arjuna's is Indra, kingof the gods. In Book 3 the Kauravas have succeeded in exiling the P?ndavas tothe jungle for twelve years, and it is now that Vy?sa the sage arrives withinstructions for Arjuna to undertake his journey: the hero will thereby acquirethe weapons he needs in order to defeat the Kauravas. He is to receive themfrom a series of deities culminating in Indra himself.2

Arjuna leaves his four brothers and DraupadT and sets out on his journey. Firsthe goes to the Himalayas and practices severe austerities (tapas) directed to?iva. The great sages are worried and visit the god. Siva descends to earth, takesthe form of a mountain-dwelling tribal hunter, and picks a quarrel with Arjuna.After a duel Arjuna receives a weapon from the god. The four Lokap?las (deitiesof the cardinal points) come to visit him, and three of them give him furtherweapons. Indra now sends his own chariot to take the hero up to heaven. Aftervarious adventures, Arjuna receives a thunderbolt. He returns to his brothers,


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and eventually the P?ndavas complete their exile, defeat the Kauravas, andregain their throne.

Odyssey. After ensuring the fall of Troy by means of the Wooden Horse,Odysseus sets off for Ithaca. He meets with various delays and ten years later isstill languishing on Ogygia. Athene speaks up for him in the Council of theGods, and Hermes is sent to start him on the final leg of his return journey, asolo voyage by raft. It is fated that on reaching Scheria he will be safe, but thetransit is far from easy. Poseidon, still angry at the blinding of his son Polyphemus, raises a storm which wrecks the raft, and it is with great difficulty,helped by a kindly but unnamed river god, that the hero at last staggers ashore,naked and exhausted. After a night sleeping in a thicket, he accosts PrincessNausicaa, daughter of Alcinous king of Scheria, who guides him to the royalcity.

At first sight Arjuna's journey by land and air will probably appear unrelatedtoOdysseus' journey by sea and land, but I shall now quickly work through thetwo stories and list twenty-three points of similarity, summarizing a longeranalysis still in draft.1 The rapprochements vary in scale from the very macroscopic (such as the first) to quite small details of the narrative, but such variationhas no obvious bearing on the validity of the comparison.

1.Larger journey. For both heroes, as we know, the transit in question is partof a much longer round trip. The P?ndavas set off from their royal capital beforetheir exile and will return there. Odysseus sets off from Ithaca before the TrojanWar and will likewise return.2. Stasis. Before the transit both heroes are, as it were, becalmed. The

P?ndavas have spent thirteen months in Dvaita Forest and show no signs ofmoving. Odysseus has spent seven years inOgygia, and Calypso hopes to keephim there indefinitely.3. Depression. The P?ndavas are deeply depressed and lament their situationat length. Odysseus spends his days weeping on the shore of Ogygia.4. Visitor with instructions. Vy?sa arrives unexpectedly with instructions forthe whole party to move on and for Arjuna himself to go to heaven (3.37.20).Hermes arrives unexpectedly with Zeus' instructions for Odysseus to depart(5.77).4

5. Intermediary. Neither visitor speaks directly to the hero. Vy?sa deals onlywith Yudhisthira (Arjuna's eldest brother), Hermes with Calypso.6. Female's farewell. Draupad? and Calypso both make touching good-byespeeches.

7. Uneventful start. Arjuna goes north to the Himalayas, traveling alone andfast until he is well into the mountains. Odysseus sails alone before a favorable


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wind for seventeen days until he comes in sight of Scheria.8. Unwearied. Arjuna travels night and day without fatigue. Odysseus does notsleep for the seventeen days.

9. A complex ordeal (we shall come back to its detailed structure later).Arjuna undertakes four months of tapas. Following a change of scene while thesages visit Siva, the story returns to earth for the fight, after which god and heroare reconciled. As for Odysseus, his raft is progressively destroyed by the storm.Then comes a lull. The hero's sufferings resume as he faces the problems oflanding, until his final success at the river mouth.

10. Emaciation. Though most manuscripts ignore it, some refer, reasonablyenough, to Arjuna's emaciation following the tapas. The sages worry, but thegod reassures them, and they rejoice. During the lull Odysseus rejoices, and hisjoy is compared to that of a group of sons worried about their father. The fatherhas suffered a long emaciating illness, and when, at last, the gods relent and thefather mends, the sons rejoice. This rapprochement, like some others (e.g., 13),is between the Sanskrit main story and a Homeric simile.

11. Divine enemy and supporter. When Siva comes to earth, he initially treatsArjuna

as if he were an enemy. When Poseidon becomes aware of Odysseus, hetreats him as his enemy. However, in both cases, the divine enemy is balanced

by a divine friend, for during his ordeal Arjuna receives support from Indradisguised as a Br?hmana and when Poseidon has departed Odysseus receiveshelp from Athene.

12. Painful bodily contact. Arjuna's battle with Siva starts with an exchange ofarrows and progresses to wrestling. Odysseus is thrown by a wave against arough rock and clasps hold of it as the wave rushes past.13. Lump of flesh with injured extremities. Siva reduces Arjuna to what lookslike a lump of organic matter, a pinda (cf. Scheuer 1982: 232ff.), with damagedlimbs. The wave which throws Odysseus against the rock rebounds from thecliffs and plucks him off again, stripping the skin from his hands. He is like anoctopus dragged from its hole with pebbles adhering to its tentacles.

14. Unconscious. Arjuna falls to the ground unconscious in front of Siva.Odysseus falls to the ground unconscious on landing.

15. Prayer. Arjuna revives and prays to Siva, begging for forgiveness. Justbefore he lands, Odysseus prays to the river god, begging for his kindness.

16. Offering. Arjuna makes a clay image of Siva and offers to it a garland,which the god takes and puts on.5 Odysseus gives to the river god the veil of thegoddess Ino, which he has been using as buoyancy aid. The god returns it to Ino,who duly takes it in her hands.

17. Restoration. Arjuna is physically restored by the touch of Siva. Odysseusis physically restored by Athene's hypnotherapy.


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18. Cardinal points. After his encounter with Siva, Arjuna meets the fourLokap?las. During the storm, Odysseus is buffeted by the four wind gods, Euros,Notos, Zephyr, and Boreus, who are linked with east, south, west, and north,respectively.

19. Three-plus-one structure (a point we shall come back to). The fourLokap?las include Indra, but the king of the gods stands apart from the otherthree in various particulars. Among the four winds, Boreus, who is 'king of thewinds' (Pindar 4.181), stands apart, for when Athene calms the other threewinds she lets Boreus continue blowing until the lull.20. City with park. Indra's heaven contains a divine city Amar?vat?, inhabitedby gods, with blossoming trees and a park. The Scherian city (unnamed) belongsto the Phaeacians, who are near kin to the gods (agkhitheoi gegaasi; 5.35), and itcontains Alcinous' park and his ever-fruitful trees.21. Wheeled vehicle. Arjuna goes to the city in a chariot belonging to Indra,its king. Odysseus walks to the city behind the mule-cart that Nausicaa borrowedfrom her royal father.

22. Throne. Arjuna shares his divine father's throne in his palace. Odysseus isseated next to the king on a throne which has just been vacated by Alcinous'favorite son.

23. Disappointed nymph. In heaven theApsaras Urvas? ismisled by Indra intothinking that she will enjoy sex with Arjuna, which indeed she wants to do.6Nausicaa is misled by Athene into thinking that she will very soon be getting

married; and when she meets Odysseus, she hopes itwill be to him.

Although there ismuch scope for elaboration of the argument, I hope that thisstraightforward listing of rapprochements suffices to show that the two storiesare

cognate. The full force of the argument will not be appreciated unless aneffort ismade to envisage the individual items structurally, that is, as interrelatedboth sequentially and hierarchically. One needs to compare not only items n andN but also n with its neighbors and N with its neighbors and n regarded as (say)a pre-ordeal feature of a journey within a journey and N regarded similarly.Though individual parallel innovations are always a theoretical possibility,probably all the twenty-three shared features or motifs were present in someform in the proto-narrative.

MAH?BH?RATA-PATANJALl

In what sense is Arjuna's journey yogic? At its start the hero is said to be 'yoked


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to Indra's yoga' (aindrena yogena; 3.38.27), but what does that mean?7 Indrayoga is not a recognized category in the philosophico-ritual literature, but thecontext suggests that it refers here to the whole of Arjuna's journey from thesorrows of forest exile to the delights of his father's heaven. The journey offers arough typological resemblance to the spiritual progression of a yogin from themundane world of suffering to a condition of transcendence, but how close is thesimilarity?

Before detailing yogic practice, Pata?jali describes the obstacles the yoginmust overcome. These include languor and listlessness, accompanied by painand despondency (1.30-31; Feuerstein 1989: 45-46; Woods 1988: 63-65), astate of mind which recalls the condition of the P?ndavas before Vy?sa's arrival(see especially 3.28.1; comparison 3 above). Yogic practice itself is presentedunder eight headings called anga, 'parts, limbs,* which come in a fixedsequence. The group of eight limbs is split into the five outer or indirect and thethree inner or direct. Let us work through the list, asking in each case whetherthe item in question relates toArjuna's journey.

The outer anga (Pata?jali 2.29-35)1. Yama. five forms of self-control or abstentions. Before he sets off, Arjuna is

said to be 'disciplined in speech, body, and mind' (yata-v?k-k?ya-m?nasa,3.38.14; yata shares its root with y?m?).2. Niyama, the five observances (positive activities, as distinct from the initialnegative group, but the same verb root). The list includes contentment (santosa)followed by tapas. Arjuna is happy (pritam?nasa, ramam?na) at finding apleasant place in the forest for his tapas.

3. ?sana, posture. As we shall see, Arjuna adopts a particular ?sana for hisfourth month of tapas.4. Pr?n?y?ma, breath control. The description of Arjuna's posture is followed

immediately by a reference to his pr?na. In this particular context the wordseems tomean strength rather than breath, but the choice of the term is suggestive.

5. Praty?h?ra, withdrawal of senses from the outer world. At the end of thefight Arjuna becomes samm?dha, unconscious or stupefied. This is not the samething as voluntary sensory withdrawal, but the similarity is again suggestive.

So, of the five outer limbs, Arjuna's behavior certainly relates to the first threeand possibly to the last two as well. In the epic the motifs are not placed inparallel so as to form a recognizable list, but the order inwhich they occur is thesame as in Pata?jali.


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The inner anga and the overall structure (Pata?jali 3J-7)The three inner limbs, dh?ran?, dhy?na, and sam?dhi, 'fixation of thought,meditation, and ecstasy,' are psychological activities or states difficult to characterize in words. They in turn lead on to kaivalya, 'isolation,' the ultimate goal.

Though Arjuna does not go through any such mental stages in the course of hisjourney to heaven, comparison is possible at amore abstract level. The sequenceconsisting of psycho-physical preliminaries, then three inner limbs, then ultimategoal parallels the sequence of gods who give weapons to Arjuna?Siva, thenthree Lokap?las, then Indra. In other words, if we treat the outer limbs as asingle element, Pata?jali and the epic share the abstract structure of initialelement, triad, and final element or one-plus-three-plus-one.

The comparison would be more striking if the epic structure were five-plusthree-pius-one, with an initial fivefold element corresponding to Pata?jali's outerlimbs. Since the hints of the five outer limbs in the epic do not form a list, theycannot be used as evidence of such an element, but there is another sense inwhich Arjuna's dealings with Siva are unambiguously fivefold. The interactionbegins with four months of tapas directed to the god, each month under a different regime. According to one of the two versions (3.163.14-16), the regimes are,respectively, roots and fruit; water alone; total fast; and, for month four, standingon tiptoe with arms raised (the ?sana mentioned earlier). The four months ofincreasingly severe austerities culminate in the encounter which constitutes the

fifth phase of the interaction. Thus, the epic journey does show the five-plusthree-plus-one pattern present inPata?jali.

The final element in this pattern is represented on the one hand by Arjuna inheaven with Indra, on the other by kaivalya. According to Pata?jali's final s?tra,isolation can be conceived either as the involution of the components of nature(gun?n?m pratiprasava) or as 'the power of awareness grounded in itself(svar?pa-pratisth? citisakti). The comparison iswith Arjuna, earthly incarnationof Indra, who has returned to his origin, being taken into his father's lap andsitting on the supreme throne 'like a second Indra' (3.44.21-22).

SiddhisBefore reaching isolation, the yogin may acquire magical powers (siddhi orvibh?ti), which, although they are signs of success, are not recommended forthose who truly seek salvation. Is this feature of yoga present in the story?

When Vy?sa brings instructions for the journey, he also provides amysteriousentity that seems to be a spell, but which is described as being 'like siddhipersonified' (3.37.26). With itArjuna will obtain success, sadhayisyatU the verb


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containing the same root as the noun.More specifically, Pata?jali's account of siddhis (3.16-18) includes invisibility (3.21), knowledge of cosmic space (3.26) and of the arrangement andmovement of stars (3.27-28), the sight of Siddhas or Perfecti (3.32), and upwardflight (3.39). All of these motifs relate to Arjuna's journey (3.43.26-28). In thecourse of his upward flight to heaven, the hero becomes invisible to mortals;having been told beforehand by Yudhisthira that he will be able to see the entireuniverse, he sees the stars in their thousands and is told about them by M?tali; heis driven along the roadway of the Siddhas, and on arrival those who greet himinclude Siddhas.

Towards the end of the same section (3.51) Pata?jali refers, somewhat oddly,to 'invitations from those in high places,' invitations which should not arousepride or attachment in the yogin. The meaning is clarified by Vy?sa's commentary (from around CE 750?) and V?caspati Misra's subcommentary (a centurylater). Those in high places are the gods, 'like the great Indra,' whose invitations

may in effect tempt the yogin to deviate from his true purpose?for instance,when they offer 'maidens who are not prudish' (in James Woods' translation?literally 'who are compliant,' anuk?l?). But this is just what happens toArjuna.

Soon after his arrival in heaven, Indra arranges for a seductive nymph Urvas?(cf. comparison 23) to visit the hero one evening, got up in all her finery?butthe temptation is rejected.

Thus, there are connections of many different types between Arjuna's journeyand the undertaking of the yogin.

?VETASVATARAUPANI$AD-VATA?JALl

Any account of the history of yoga (e.g., Feuerstein 1980; Hauer 1958) willmention this latish Upanisad, which is also important in the early history ofS?nkhya. After raising some of the basic philosophical questions, the firstsection describes the individual soul, which is whirled along in life with fivetypes of suffering but can be saved by appropriate knowledge and discipline. Aninvocation of the Vedic god Savitar (2.1-7) leads on to the well-known passagegiving brief but explicit instructions on how to perform yoga, where to performit, and the apparitions (such as mist and smoke) that itwill initially produce. Thenext section begins with a vision of the god Rudra (3.1-6), who remains fundamental in the soteriological reflections that dominate the remainder of the text.

The Upanisad lacks Pata?jali's five-plus-three-plus-one structure, but it refersto what in classical yoga would be four of the limbs (2.8-9). The practitioner


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should keep head, neck, and chest erect (?sand)\ draw his senses into his heart(praty?h?ra); control his breathing (pr?n?y?ma); and restrain his mind(dh?ran?).

The two yogic texts are usually presented in historical order, but the connection between them is so well recognized that I can pass on quickly. However, itis perhaps worth noting their shared theistic orientation. Pata?jali gives to Isvara,the Lord, a significant place in the yogin9s undertaking, for instance, by makingdevotion to him the fifth of the niyama. On the other hand, he does not associateIsvara with any other theonym, and it would be risky to assimilate the Lord toMaheSvara (Siva) and thereby claim a link with the Rudra of the Upanisad.

?VET??VATARAUPANISAD-MAH?BH?RATA

We can skip past features that the epic and Upanisad share with Pata?jali?theinitial situation of suffering, the explicit reference to yoga, and the four limbs(see the preceding section)?and concentrate on rapprochements involving onlythe first two.

1. The section concerning Savitar is interesting. The god's name, whichappears in five of the seven verses, comes from s?, 'set inmotion, impel, vivify,'and is three times linked with other derivatives of the verb (as is common in theRg Veda; Macdonell 1974: 34). In the present context the god is apparentlysetting inmotion journeys to heaven (suvargey?ya sakty?, suvaryato) and thewhole yogic undertaking. But this is just the role of Vy?sa, without whoseimpulsion Arjuna would presumably never have made his journey.2. The first five verses of the Upanisadic passage all begin with forms of the(uncompounded) verb yuj, 'yoke,' and the same root occurs five times inconnection with the start of the epic journey (3.38.9-11, 3.38.27-28; the firsttwo instances being compounded). One also notes that the spell or knowledgeprovided by Vy?sa is once referred to by Yudhisthira as an upanisad (3.38.9), aswell as being called a vidy? and a brahman (neuter).3. The Upanisadic yogin is to restrain his mind as if itwere a chariot yokedwith vicious horses (2.9). The image of the person or soul as chariot is quite wellknown (some Indian instances are collected by Teun Goudriaan 1990), but thecomparison here is with the chariot of Indra, yoked with its ten thousand bayhorses, and driven by M?tali, which carries Arjuna heavenwards from MountMandara. Arjuna is of course not restraining the horses?the rapprochementbears only on the occurrence of the image at just this point in both texts.8


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4. As regards deities, the configuration is not the same as in the epic where, inthe present context, the supreme deity is clearly Indra and the link between

Rudra-Siva and the hero's undertaking is spelled out. On the other hand, theUpanisad does resemble the epic in presenting Rudra as a bowman and mountain-dweller (3.5-6), features that, according to Hermann Oldenberg (1988:113), belonged to the original Vedic Rudra. Moreover, just as the Upanisadic

poet prays that Rudra will show himself in a body that is kindly (Siva; 3.5), soArjuna prays to the god for mercy after he has been defeated in the duel.

If we only had the three Sanskrit texts, we might here be tempted to pause andthink about their relations. Does the soteriological darsana derive from the epic;or has the epic been molded by the soteriology; or should we think of a two-waytraffic? But given that this part of the epic story goes back to the proto-narrative,the deeper question iswhether the latter was in any sense yogic. Now we knowthe sort ofthing to look for, are there any hints of yoga in theGreek?

ODYSSEV-PATANJALI

As Poseidon realizes (5.288-89), once Odysseus reaches Scheria, fate hasdecreed his ultimate release from sufferings. Thus, up to a point, the hero'svoluntarily undertaken, lengthy, solo ordeal at sea resembles the yogin9 s lonelyausterities on land: both experiences ultimately lead to salvation. But thesimilarity is too general to be very interesting.

Let us look instead at the structure of the ordeal, recalling that the yogin9sundertaking starts with the five outer anga which correspond to the five stagesof Arjuna's dealings with Siva. Odysseus' ordeal opens with the storm sent byPoseidon, and if we look at his conveyances or modes of progression from thispoint onwards, we find precisely five of them.

1.The threatened raft. Poseidon has seen the raft and gathers the storm.2. The hulk. The first great wave strikes, and the raft loses mast, sail, and

steering.3. The plank. When the next great wave strikes and shatters the hulk,

Odysseus bestrides a single plank.4. The veil. During stage 2 the goddess Ino gave Odysseus her veil. The heronow strips, dives from the plank with arms stretched out, and swims buoyed upby the veil.

5. Walk on earth. On landing he returns the veil and staggers up a hillock on


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foot.

The four stages on water form a clearly organized sequence. Starting offcomfortably on a well-made raft, generously supplied by Calypso with food,drink, and fine clothes, the hero is progressively stripped of all such externalsupports and reduced in the end to his naked humanity.9If the five stages in the hero's ordeal correspond in number to the five outerlimbs, does anything correspond to the three inner ones plus kaivalyal Theanswer was foreshadowed in comparison 19. In the Sanskrit epic the three-plus

one structure was provided by the three subordinate Lokap?las plus Indra, and inthe Greek this corresponded to the three wind gods who were quieted plusBoreus, the north wind, who was not. The three-plus-one wind gods enter thestory at an earlier stage than the Lokap?las and differ also in their minimalindividualization; moreover, Boreus lacks a role in Scheria corresponding to thatof Indra in heaven. Nevertheless, the abstract pattern is present.There are also more concrete similarities.

1.When the first wave strikes, Odysseus is thrown into the sea, and it is onlywith difficulty that he surfaces and regains the hulk of his raft. The latter istossed hither and thither like thistle plants (akanthas) 'which an autumnal northwind blows across a plain, and they adhere to each other in a ball' (5.328-29).For the yogin who masters the ud?na or upward breath, there is 'no adhesion towater, mud, thorns (kantaka), or the like' (3.39). The notion of adhesion isworthnoting, even though it is expressed and used quite differently in the two cases.Somewhat later the wave sent by Poseidon shatters the hulk 'aswhen a strongwind tosses a heap of dry chafF (5.368). As for the yogin, 'either by controllingthe relations between his body and ether (?k?Sa) or by the coincidence (ofconsciousness) with light (objects) such as cotton (tula),9 he is able to traversethe ether (3.42). In both passages a simile refers to dry light vegetable matterthat can seem to float in the air.

Taken individually, the resemblances are slight, but they need to be seen as apair (and neither text offers more than two such images): the Greek thistles andchaff parallel the Sanskrit thorns and cotton fibers.

2. On Nausicaa's encouragement Odysseus washes the brine from his shoulders and back and the foam from his head, and Athene then makes him taller,stronger, and more admirable; his head and shoulders radiate beauty and grace(6.230-32). Similarly, the yogin who masters sam?na (one of the five breaths)becomes radiant, gaining beauty, grace, and power (3.40, 3.46). Surprisingly,

perhaps the Sanskrit for grace, l?vanya, comes from lavana, 'salt.'3. Odysseus makes the last part of his journey to the palace enveloped in a


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mist (akhlus, 7.41; air, 7.143), so that he is invisible to the populace. In thecontext of sam?dhi, very close to the end of the yogic undertaking, Pata?jalimentions the dharma-megha (4.29). Whatever the meaning of dharma here(Feuerstein 1980: 100), megha means a cloud. One might also recall the yogin''sinvisibility (3.21).10

ODYSSEY-?VET??VATARA UPANI?AD

The following four points bear on successive verses of the Sanskrit (2.8-11).

1.Raft. Odysseus crosses the lonely ocean on a raft (even if the account of itsconstruction makes it sound like a boat). The Upanisad tells the wise man tocrossover fear-bringing streams in his brahman-rail (some translators renderudupa as boat).

2. Wheeled vehicle. We have already compared the mule-cart that Nausicaaborrows from Alcinous with the celestial chariot thatM?tali drives on behalf ofIndra (comparison 21), but we now see that it also corresponds to the chariotimage in the Upanisad (2.9).n

3. Location. The place where Odysseus lands seems to him excellent (aristos)since it is smooth of stones and sheltered from the wind (5.442-43). It must beessentially the same spot as the idyllic water meadow close to the shore, whereNausicaa's maidens wash the clothes in abundant fresh water (6.85-95), andwhere Odysseus washes in fresh water, sheltered from the wind (6.210). But theplace recommended for the practice of yoga is pure and level; free from pebblesand gravel; agreeable for its running water and other reasons; sheltered from thewind.

4. Mist. Odysseus travels in a mist (cf. point 3 in the preceding section); theyogin sees amist (nth?ra).12

Presumably the rapprochements between the Odyssey and the non-epicSanskrit texts, like those between the two epics, also indicate features of theproto-narrative.

CONCLUDING DISCUSSION

A minimal and conservative conclusion would be that the proto-narrative lying


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behind the two epics contained a good number of the features thatwere taken upand elaborated into the ritual and philosophy of yoga when the Indo-Europeanspeakers reached India. But the argument can be taken further.

Apart from the proto-narrative, we have discussed three typologically contrasting journeys. That of Odysseus, although it involved the gods, was presumablyunderstood by Homer and his audience primarily as one of a series of adventuressuch as a hero of old might be expected to undergo?a story that, even if itwasperhaps open toreligious or spiritual interpretation, was in no sense a charter forcurrent ritual practice. The yogin9s 'journey,' in contrast, is a spiritual undertaking that is presented as lying within the scope of current human beings.

Arjuna's journey is typologically intermediate. On the one hand, it is an epicadventure set towards the end of the era immediately preceding our own, and itis not presented as an undertaking that ordinary humanity could or shouldattempt to emulate. On the other hand, as Indra-yoga, it is akin to other yogicundertakings such as are constantly recommended in the epic for those withspiritual ambitions, and as we saw in the 'Mah?bh?rata-Palanjali9 and the"Svet?Svatara Upanisad-Mah?bh?rata9 sections, it has much else in common

with those undertakings. The problem ishow to relate this typology to a fourth

journey, namely, that of the proto-hero.Let us return to the two scenarios sketched at the start of the paper. One

possibility is that the proto-narrative was more like the Greek than the Sanskrit?essentially an adventure story, a sailor's yarn, albeit one in which gods

intervened from time to time (comparisons 11, 15-19, 23). Itwould follow that,in the East, the story was sucked into the ambiance of one among the various

philosophico-religious movements later codified as darSanas and that it acquiredits yogic aspects in the process. In short, the proto-narrative was spiritualized bythe Sanskrit speakers or their ancestors.According to the other hypothesis, the proto-narrative was typologically closerto the Sanskrit. In that case the physical journey of a (fictional) hero wasconceived as a spiritual ascent within the cosmos such as could be acted out bycontemporaries in a ritual journey of some kind. Such a journey would morenaturally be called shamanic than yogic since (like Arjuna's) itwould have beenundertaken primarily for the benefit of others rather than for the traveler andsince it would have been thought of as traversing the external space of thecosmos rather than the inner mental space of the yogin. This second hypothesisassumes that, in the absence of adequate support from mainstream religiousinstitutions, the narrative tradition leading to the Greek epic tended to become

more earth-bound and more secular. In short, the proto-narrative was despiritualized.

A compromise hypothesis is logically possible (a half-way spiritual proto


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narrative was developed in one direction by the Greeks, in the other by theIndians), but I see nothing to recommend it. The second hypothesis?secularization by the Greeks?will probably seem to most readers intuitively moreplausible, but it is not clear tome how best to formulate or weight the explicitarguments that are needed to prove it.What follows is a first attempt.

Approaches to the question might be distinguished into atomistic and global.Atomistic arguments focus on particular narrative motifs, which themselves mayor may not be demonstrably part of the proto-narrative. Let us take one of theformer types: at the end of his journey the hero sits on or by a royal throne(comparison 22). One can now ask three sorts of question. Is the motif well

motivated and well integrated in the Greek narrative as it stands, or would itmake better sense in a less secular story? Similarly for the Sanskrit: is the motifpuzzling or problematic as it stands, or would itmake better sense in a moresecular story? And, thirdly, is it easier to imagine something like the Greekturning into something like the Sanskrit, or vice versa? In this case, firstly, it is alittle odd for Alcinous to displace his favorite son in favor of a completestranger, secondly, itmakes perfect sense for Indra to share his throne with hisown son, whose journey was from the start directed towards him; and, thirdly,

itdoes seem more likely that the king of the gods should be naturalized to a protoAlcinous than that the latter should be promoted to cosmic supremacy. Similarly

?to take other examples?is it not more likely that a bout of wrestling with agod should be naturalized into grappling with a rock (comparison 12) than viceversa? That the supreme god's chariot should be demoted to a mule-cart(comparison 21) than the converse? All judgments about how oral narratives canchange are liable to the charge of being tendentious and subjective, but theatomistic arguments seem to point collectively towards a cosmic and exemplarycharacter for the proto-narrative.Global arguments too come in various forms. One line of thought focuses onthe structure and degree of integration of the two narratives taken as wholes. TheSanskrit, in spite of various minor discrepancies, has a clear overall structurelinked to the sequence of five gods with whom the hero has dealings, all of

whom are mentioned in advance by Vy?sa in his instructions for the journey.The Greek is in this respect definitely less integrated. One thing after anotherbefalls the hero, and although the reader expects him to arrive safely, no outlineof the trip is given in advance. Instead of a neat set of five well-known namedmale gods, the hero has dealings with Poseidon, the four wind gods, the relatively obscure Ino, Athene, and the nameless river god. Is it not more likely thatGreek tradition has seen the clear structure of the proto-narrative give way to a

less structured sequence than that India has forced a disorganized string ofadventures into its favored fivefold framework?


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The Indo-European prehistory of yoga I M

Another global argument focuses not on the epic but on the yogic tradition.Suppose that yoga developed from scratch among Sanskrit (or Indo-Iranian)speakers and lacked any relevant precursor contemporary with the protonarrative. The rapprochements of 'Mahabharata-Patanjal? and 'Svet?svataraUpanisad-Mah?bh?rata9 would then be due to the influence of yoga on theSanskrit epic. But what about the rapprochements of 'Odyssey-PatanjaYi9 and'Odyssey-Svet?Svatara Upanisad9! They would have to be due to borrowings bythe yogic tradition from the epic. In other words, we have to postulate that thephilosophico-ritual tradition both borrowed from the epic and gave to it. Somesuch process of give and take is not impossible, but it is much simpler tosuppose that the proto-narrative was already linked with a ritual and spiritualpraxis.

This would be in line too with general anthropological expectation. The protonarrative involved gods and could well be called amyth, but myth and ritual arevery commonly intertwined?indeed a ritual very often seems to be the raisond'?tre of amyth. Thus, independent of all the other arguments, it is a priori quitelikely that the account of the proto-hero's journey served as a myth explainingand justifying ritual practices ancestral

to yoga as we know it. If it did so thenthe journey becomes comparable with those other stretches of the proto-narrativethat served, I think, as charters, respectively, for different types of marriageritual and for the horse sacrifice (Allen 1995, 1996a).13

Notes

1. 'By practices of asceticism and exercises of spiritual concentration, connectedperhaps with bodily techniques, especially with the cessation of respiration, they [the

Magi] claimed to collect up and unite the psychic powers scattered throughout thewholeindividual, to deliberately separate from the body the soul that had been isolated andrecentered in this way, to return it for a moment to its original home so that it couldrecover its divine nature, and, finally, tomake it descend again and chain itself anew withthe bonds of the body* (Vemant 1990: 368-69, cf. 388-89; my translation). Since thispaper focuses specifically on yoga, I avoid discussion of Greek and Indian shamanism.Jeffrey Gold (1996) explicitly avoids thehistorical questions that Ifind so fascinating.2. The relevant section of narrative is chapters 37-45 (critical edition).3. A few of the comparisons have already appeared inAllen 1996b, of which this paperis in a sense a development.

4. Precise references will not usually be given since they can readily be found byfollowing each story as it unwinds.5. This detail of the story is omitted from themain text of the critical edition.6. This episode too is omitted from themain text of the critical edition (cf. comparison16).


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18 / N.J.Allen

7. The passage is not discussed in the substantial article by Edward Hopkins (1901). J.Van Buitenen (1973-78, 2: 822) suggests plausibly that Tndra's yoga' is the spell orsecret knowledge thatVy?sa leaves forArjuna at the same time as he leaves instructions.8.M?tali congratulates Arjuna on the astonishing firmness with which he withstandsthe shock of takeoff (3.164.37-38), amotif thatmay relate to the term dh?ran? (fromdhr; cf. dhrtu 'firmness, resolution*). Compare also the stability (sthairyam) included inPata?jali's account of siddhis (2.31).

9. An alternative analysis, focusing less on conveyances than on denudation, wouldidentify the fifth phase with the brief period when the hero grapples with the rock and isstripped even of part of his skin.10.Comparisons can also be made between theGreek epic and the didactic accounts ofyoga in the Sanskrit epic. Odysseus remains sleepless for seventeen nights (comparison8), and patient meditation can enable one to abandon sleep (Mah?bh?rata 12.232.5). Thesimile of the octopus with damaged tentacles (comparison 13)might recall the comparison of theyogin with the tortoisewho retracts his limbs (Bhagavad G?ta 2.58).

11. The chariot simile also occurs in didactic epic: 'As a heedful charioteer, havingyoked good steeds, quickly takes thewarrior to the spot he wishes, so the yogin, heedfulin dh?ran?, soon attains the highest spot* (Mah?bh?rata 12.289.36-37).

12. One might also compare Odysseus with ascetics from traditions other than mainstream Hindu yoga. When he sleeps in his pile of leaves, the Greek hero is likened to afirebrand (dalon) carefully kept alight under a heap of ashes (5.487). In a series ofSvet?mbara Jaina scriptural stories a king-turned-ascetic undertakes intense austeritiesand is likened to 'a fire confined within a heap of ashes,* huy?sane viva bh?sa-r?sipalicchanne (Barnett 1907: 57,118, 133, cited inDundas 1992: 142). If it is accepted, therapprochement bears on the history of the notion of tapas (literally 'heat').13. This paper, which reflects an old interest (Allen 1974), has benefited frompresentation in several forums, including the Oriental Institute, Oxford (1993) and theSpalding Symposium on Indian Religions (1997). I also thank Joanna Pfaff for criticalcomments.

References citedAllen, N. J. 1974. The ritual journey: A pattern underlying certain Nepalese rituals. In

Christoph von F?rer-Haimendorf, ed., Contributions to the anthropology of Nepal, 622.Warminster: Aris and Phillips.Allen, N. J. 1991. Some gods of pre-lslamic Nuristan. Revue de l'histoire des religions

208,2: 141-68.Allen, N. J. 1995.Why did Odysseus become a horse? Journal of theAnthropologicalSociety of Oxford 26, 2: 143-54.Allen, N. J. 1996a. The hero's five relationships: A proto-Indo-European story. In Julia

Leslie, ed., Myth and myth-making, 1-20. London: Curzon.Allen, N. J. 1996b. Homer's simile, Vyasa's story. Journal of Mediterranean studies 6:


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The Indo-European prehistory of yoga I 19206-18.

Allen, N. J. 1996c. Romulus and the fourth function. In Edgar Polom?, ed., IndoEuropean religion after Dum?zil, 13-36. Washington: Institute for the Study of Man.

Allen, N. J. n.d. Imra, pentads, and catastrophes. In Jean-Henri Michel and ClaudeSterckx, eds., Georges Dum?zil (1898-1986): Dix ans apr?s. T?moignages, bilans,perspectives. Brussels: Institutdes Hautes ?tudes de Belgique.

Barnett, Lionel D. 1907. The antagada-das?o and anuttarovav?iya-das?o. London:Royal Asiatic Society.

Bhagavad Git?. 1981. The Bhagavadgita in the Mah?bh?rata (trans. J. A. B vanBuitenen). Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Biardeau, Madeleine. 1981. L'hindouisme: Anthropologie d'une civilisation. Paris:Librairie Ernest Flammarion.

Blaise, Fr?d?ric. 1995. Introduction ? la mythologie compar?e des peuples indoeurop?ens. Arras: Kom.

Dundas, Paul. 1992. The Jains. London: Routledge.Feuerstein, Georg. 1980. The philosophy of classical yoga. Manchester: ManchesterUniversity Press.

Feuerstein, Georg. 1989 [1979]. The Yoga-s?tra of Pata?jali: A new translation andcommentary. Folkestone: Dawson.

Filliozat, Jean. 1991. Religion, philosophy, yoga: A selection of articles (trans. MauriceShukla). Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass.

Gold, Jeffrey. 1996. Plato in the lightof yoga. Philosophy East and West 46, 1: 17-32.Goudriaan, Teun. 1990. The ?tman as charioteer: Treatment of a Vedic allegory in the

Kul?lik?mn?ya. In Teun Goudriaan, ed., The Sanskrit tradition and Tantrism, 43-55.Leiden: E. J.Brill.Hauer, JacobW. 1958.Der Yoga: Ein indischeWeg zumSelbst. Stuttgart:Kohlhammer.Hopkins, EdwardW. 1901. Yoga-technique in the Great Epic. Journal of theAmericanOriental Society 22: 333-79.Macdonell, Arthur A. 1974 [1897]. Vedic mythology. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass.Mah?bh?rata. 1933-60. Mah?bh?rata (ed. V. S. Sukthankar). Critical edition. 19 vols.

Pune: Bhandarkar Oriental Institute.McEvilley, Thomas. 1981. An archaeology of yoga. Res 1: 44-77.Odyssey. 1976 [1919]. Homer: The Odyssey (trans.A. T. Murray). Cambridge: Harvard

University Press.Oldenberg, Hermann. 1988 [1916], The religion of the Veda (trans. S. B. Shrotri). Delhi:

Motilal Banarsidass.Pata?jali. 1940. Pata?jali darsana, with the commentary of Vy?sa and the gloss of

V?caspati Misra (ed. J. Vidyasagara). Calcutta: J. Vidyasagara.Pindar. 1937 (1915]. The Odes of Pindar (tram. John Sandys). Cambridge: Harvard

University Press.Scheuer, Jacques. 1982. Siva dans le Mah?bh?rata. Paris: Presses Universitaires de

France.Sergent, Bernard. 1997. Gen?se de Vlnde. Paris: ?ditions Payot.


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20 / N.J.AllenSvet?svatara Upanisad. 1953. The principal Upanisads (ed. S. Radhakrishnan). London:

George Allen and Unwin.Van Buitenen, J. A. B., trans. 1973-78. The Mah?bh?rata. 3 vols. Chicago: University of

Chicago Press.Vernant, Jean-Pierre. 1990 [1965]. Mythe et pens?e chez les grecs. Paris: ?ditions La

D?couverte.Woods, James H., trans. 1988 [1914]. The yoga-system of Pata?jali. Delhi: Motilal

Banarsidass.

N. J. ALLEN is Reader in the Social Anthropology of South Asia at theUniversity of Oxford.

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The Indo-European Prehistory of Yoga N.J. Allen

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