Académique Documents
Professionnel Documents
Culture Documents
MATHEMATICS, MUSIC,
AND RITUAL
FRITS STAAL
INTRODUCTORY NOTE
The Agnicayana, a 3,000 year old Vedic ritual, was performed in
1975 in a village in southwest India by Nambudiri brahmans. The
ceremonies, which lasted twelve days, were filmed, photographed,
recorded, and extensively documented. Robert Gardner and I
produced a 45-minute film entitled "Altar of Fire." A definitive
account was prepared in collaboration with the chief Nambudiri
ritualists and other scholars, and was published in two illustrated
volumes entitled Agni- The Vedic Ritual 01 the Fire Altar (Staal
1983a).
While I was engaged in the preparation of Agni, itself primarily
an empirical account, I became involved in methodological and
theoretical issues and problems. I consulted the Indian Brhmal).a
literature, which has engaged in the interpretation of Vedic ritual on
an extensive scale, albeit haphazardly. However, the structure of the
ceremonies, which to me had become intriguing, was not explained or
elucidated by the Brhmal).as, just as it had not been explained or
elucidated by the Nambudiri brahmans themselves. Since I found
nothing I could use in the works of modern scholars-whether they
were anthropologists, psychologists, or phenomenologists of religion
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Go and parcel up; parcel up a package for your parents and give
them to eat
Parcel up a package for us relatives to carry
Parcel up a package for your brothers
Parcel up a package for your sisters
There they have eaten completely
There have eaten completely the relatives, and I have eaten of the
package
Go and roast, there it is cooked
Give to eat, there I am filled
And distribute then to the relatives
There they have eaten completely
Go and give to your grand-parents; go and give to your fathers;
go give a package to your mother; go and give a package to
your brothers.
Then if there is one left, go and give a package to your brother
There we have eaten of your food-procuring.
(Firth 1967, 53-55)
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~gveda,
1.24.3)
Great heaven and earth must mix this ritual for us;
assist us with their support!
(RV 1.22.13)
Atharvan churched you, Agni, from the lotus;
priests from the head of the universe.
(RV 6.16.13)
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When fire flares up, the Adhvaryu speaks to the Hot again:
Address Agni who is born!
The Hot recites:
And people will say: Agni, killer of the demon, has arisen,
who in each fight wins booty.
(RV 1.74.3)
When fire is about to be installed on the altar, the Adhvaryu says to
the Hota:
Address Agni who is thrust forward!
and the Hot recites:
Agni whom they carry like a ring on their hand,
like a new born baby; who performs successfully
rites for the clans!
(RV 6.16.40)
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3. MATHEMATICS
The preceding sections have demonstrated that aIl is not weIl with
the study of ritual. If the situation is as unsatisfactory as it appears to
be, it can do no harm to look in entirely different directions. From
now on let us assume, not only for the sake of argument, but also on
methodological grounds, that ritual is not part of religion and that it is
not symbolic. Then, let us try to conceive of it in more general and
abstract terms. It stands to reason to begin by invoking the assistance
of the most general science of symbols, viz., mathematics.
One difficulty that schoolchildren often experience when they are
introduced to algebra is that its letter symbols are devoid of specific
meaning. They are "abstract." This applies not only to the x, which
stands for the unknown answer of a problem, and to other so-caIled
"variables," but also to "constants," such as a and b, in terms of
which the problems themselves are formulated. For example, the
expression:
(1)
or also:
ab
ab
a
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In this figure, the total area of the square is (a + b)2, which consists,
as mere visual inspection shows, of four areas: a 2, b 2, and twice ab.
Such wide and flexible applications of the symbols of algebra are
characteristic of all of mathematics, and explain why it is at the same
time abstract and powerful.
Now let us consider a general symbolic expression, not confining
ourselves to algebra, for example:
ABC B A.
(2)
There are two different ways of looking at this: the semantic and the
syntactic. In the semantic approach, the symbols A, B, and C are
interpreted as meaning something or referring to something. In the
syntactic approach we pay no attention to such possible meanings or
interpretations, but study the configurations of the letter symbols
only.
Adopting first the semantic approach, (2) may be understood in
many different ways, for example:
I.
11.
111.
IV.
V.
I I
II
I
referring to algebraic symbols, e.g.: (a + a).8
referring to words, e.g.: found sleepy on sleepy found.
referring to tones, e.g.:
VI.
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I.
11.
111.
IV.
V.
(3)
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4. MUSIC 9
In medias res: without beating about the bush, I shall give seven
examples of musical structures described in syntactic terms. All are
taken from classical Western music. The units range over a wide area,
from single tones, motives, and phrases ("approximating to what one
could sing in a single breath": Schoenberg 1970, 3) to Sonatas or
Symphonies. These examples are of different kinds also in other
respects.
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(4)
Music differs from poetry in that the refrain frequently occurs at the
beginning as weH as at the end. In Gregorian chant, the variable
elements A, B, C, ... are often sung as a solo, and the refrain R by a
chorus. In church music, the refrain may be Amen or Alleluia, the
latter closing with the jubilus, a long vocalization on the final -a.
Medieval and Renaissance music is known for its formes fixes such as
rondeau, ballatta, and virelai. In the virelai, the refrain occurs at the
beginning and serves each time as the opening of the next unit, as in:
RAR B R C R.
(5)
In aH these forms, the refrains are each time exactly the same. After
the Renaissance, refrains tend to be varied in many ways, making
them musically more interesting. I shall express a variation of a form
"R" as: "R'''. In the foHowing example, the second Nocturne for
Piano by Erik Satie, the refrain consists of four measures. It occurs at
the beginning, and recurs twice in a varied form (where the score says:
"Reprendre"):
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(6)
11. CYCLE. I shall use this term, which is very general, to refer to a
structural property that is equally general, viz., one that begins and
ends with the same element, as:
ABC D ... A.
(7)
Se
vuol baI -
IR. -
re,
Larger compositions often begin and end in the same key. For
compositions to begin and end with exactly the same phrase is actually
rather rare: the Harvard Dictionary 0/ Music refers to two seventeenth
century examples, from Giovanni Maria Trabaci and Steffano Landi
(ApeI1970, 218a referring to Davison and Apel, 1974, Nos. 191 and
208).
It is nearly universal, on the other hand, for musical
compositions to return to their point of departure at the end by means
of a variation of the opening theme, viz., adopting a structure of the
form:
ABC D ... A'.
(8)
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and ends:
(9)
(2)
(3)
or its generalization:
The simplest example is ascending and descending a scale (or the other
way round). In a musical composition there is generally some kind of
variation. In classical Indian music, when the scale is introduced by an
ascent (roha1)a) followed by adescent (avarohaf)a) , the latter uses
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.- -
I~"
__1*'a_
rW1
Ie)
..
a-
......
---
--
rJ --
.........
---
_._-
----- -
....
..
---- -
..........
__ "1"'a _
l_
IW
"."..."",
- I
,
~CoI
C' A'"
B"
A""
(10)
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Bach's motet Jesu, meine Freude consists of eleven parts: the music of
No. 11 (a 4-part Chorale) is identical with that of No. 1, and No. 10
(a 5-part Chorus) is a shortened version of No. 2 (Steinitz 1978, 34), so
that the structure is:
AB
B' A.
(11)
(12)
,r------.. . . .
Allegro moderato
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(9)
(13)
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century, the principle was simple: if someone was around who was
able to play the part on his instrument, he was welcome to do it.
VII. SYMPHONY. The symphony started tripartite, in the Sonata
form, with more instruments and performers: a Sonata for orchestra.
Soon a fourth part was added, chiefly for entertainment: the Scherzo.
The two middle movements, Andante and Scherzo, are frequently of
the form (13), whereas the first and last movement are more often of
the form (9). The form was perfected by Haydn and Mozart, and
enlarged and extended by Beethoven. Beethoven lengthened the coda,
a final piece following A', and the development, introduced
numerous variations and added introductions to the various pieces.
The increasing complexity of symphonies after Beethoven has from
time to time been counterbalanced by simplification of the thematic
structure. In Berlioz' first two symphonies, for example, a single
theme (the "idee fixe") appears in each movement. The opening
theme of the first movement returns in the final movement in Brahms'
Third Symphony (the same return is found in his Clarinet Quintet).
The finale of Bruckner's Eighth Symphony includes a simultaneous
statement of the principal themes of the three preceding movements
(Green 1965, 176). (Some recurrences are incidental, or have the
character of reminiscences or quotations, as in Beethoven's Fifth and
Ninth Symphonies, and in his Piano Sonata, Op. 101.)
To express these structures adequately more complex mathematical expressions than the linear are required (for other formalizations
see Ruwet 1966, reprinted in Ruwet 1972, 100-134). Although the
expression A - B - A (13) is linear, the expression A - B - A' (9) is only
apparently so: it has an inner or underlying structure that is not linear.
The variation A' depends on the original statement A, and therefore
on the context. However, it does not depend on the immediately
preceding context, in which case it would have been possible to express
it with the help of a context-sensitive rule of the form:
B A
BA'.
(14)
~
=9
B
A
~
B
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(15)
A'
This expresses at the same time that the variation is a variation of the
first movement, and that it occurs only in the finale.
1 have purposely provided a medley of musical forms in order to
illustrate the considerable variety of possible musical structures.
Whenever such a structure is given, it is possible to define a notion of
"structural meaning" that depends entirely on structure. The
"structural meaning" of the entire structure is that structure itself,
and the "structural meaning" of an element within the structure is
defined in terms of the position the element occupies in that structure.
For example, part of the structural meaning of a phrase may be that it
is a refrain because it occurs as arefrain. The notion of structural
meaning adds nothing to the existing structures themselves.
Another type of structural meaning that is typical of classical
Western music may be defined in terms of the notions of consonant
and dissonant intervals. Consonant intervals are intervals such as the
fourth and fifth that "sound stable and complete" (Piston 1962, 6).
Dissonant intervals deviate from these and require aresolution into
consonant intervals. Such resolutions operate on the harmonie as weIl
as on the melodie level. The musicologist Schenker and the composer
Hindemith have used the terms "tension" and "release" to
characterize this fundamental opposition between the formation of
dissonance and its resolution into consonance.
The resolution is only rarely introduced by a single move. It is
more often reached through intermediate steps that introduce new
dissonances and resQlutions. An example occurs at the end of the first
Prelude of Das Wohltemperierte Clavier:
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5. RITUAL
I shall again begin with seven examples described in syntactic
terms, this time of ritual structures. The first five correspond in a
straightforward manner with the first five musical examples discussed
in the preceding section. In the case of the latter two, the
correspondence is equally significant but more roundabout. The
correspondences between musical and ritual structures will subsequently be discussed and placed in a wider perspective.
All ritual structures to which I shall refer are taken from Vedic
ritual, and are described in greater detail and within a fuller context in
Agni I. The structural elements range over units of different size, from
small elements of single rites that take less than aminute to perform,
to larger rituals that take several days or more to execute. The
examples are of different kinds also in other respects.
Most of these ritual structures involve recitations or chants. In
the discussion of Tikopia ceremonies (above pages 10-12) we have had
----------------------- -
--
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APQ-BPQ-CPQ-DPQ
(4')
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Hirn whom we hate and who hates us
I place in your jaws!
svhii!
sviih!
- A4 svh!
svh!
- A s - A 6 - svh!
svh!
- A, - Al - svhii!
Al - A 2
A2
A3
A4
As
A6
A,
A3
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The Yajamana and some of the priests frequently begin their recitations with the so-called vyhrti: BHUR-BHUVAij-SVAR ("EarthSky-Heaven!"). Many larger units are subdivided into three, though
four is also met with (see the structure discussed below, VI and VII).
Each of the bricks is consecrated with three mantras, as we have
seen. All these are structural threesomes and are different from
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39
(18)
From the point of view of the Adhvaryu, who issues a command three
times, it is:
R A -
R' B -
R" A' .
(19)
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Element 1. The Hot (or one of the other priests) recites a piece called
"prior light" (puroruc). Without making any pause, in
fact, without taking breath, this leads into:
Element 2. the main recitation. This is marked by tripie repetition of
the first and last verse, taking breath only at certain
junctions, etc. There are other insertions by the reciter
(e.g., "Let us both recite!") and by the Adhvaryu. The
latter, called "salutation" (pratigara) are inserted when
the reciter produces his lengthened "0" 'So - Caland and
Henry (1906, I, 232, note 8), generally dauntless, referred
to these as "bizarres contorsions liturgiques."
Element 3. The Hot adds a piece called "Recital Strength"
(ukthavirya).
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present context. Some Soma sequences are more complicated than the
type outlined here, others are simpler. Some deviate considerably,
e.g., the sixteenth.
All such patterns and deviations are provided with fanciful and
contradictory explanations in the BrahmaJ)a literature. Often
alternatives are given, thus indicating their arbitrariness. Here is a
typical example. In the praga recitation or recitation "of the frontal
part of the chariot shafts," the "prior light" (puroruc) immediately
preceeds each of its seven triplets, so that the reciter's insertions and
Adhvaryu's "salutations" should come before the "prior light." The
Kau~rtaki BrhmaQa explains this in such slovenly terms, that I shall
reproduce them not in my own translation, lest the reader suspects
that I am tampering with the data: "Now, the puroruc is he yonder
who gives out light (viz., the sun); for he shines in (from the) front.
Now, the puroruc is the vital breath, the hymn the body (tmii, the
person hirnself). (Or) the puroruc is the body, the hymn offspring and
cattle" (Gonda 1981, 63, note 9 = Sreekrishna Sarma in: Agni 11,
679).
Anyone who has spent any time with the Brhmal).a literature will
agree that this passage is quite representative. The fact that such
interpretations are arbitrary need not prevent them from constituting
a systenl within themselves. Mylius (1976) has shown that many
identifications given in the same Kau~itaki BrhmaI].a can in fact be
systematically interpreted in social, psychological, or ideological
terms. But even if such interpretations refer to reality, they still faH to
elucidate rites, and throw no light on the Vedic ritual.
So let us revert to structure. Some of the variations of Soma
sequences exhibit dependencies that may be described as thematic. In
many Soma sequences, the chant of the first episode is composed by
putting to music three verses fronl the ~gveda. The recitation of the
second episode begins with the same three verses, the first repeated
three times. In the nocturnal rounds of the Atirtra, there is an
additional refinement: in the first nocturnal round, the first quarter
verse of each of these three verses (that occur both in the chant and in
the recitation) is repeated; in the second nocturnal round, the second
quarter verse of each of these three verses is repeated; and in the third
nocturnal round, the third quarter verse is similarly repeated (see Agni
I, 663-680).
Now let us return to our old question: what does all of this mean?
I hope it has become clear by this time that this question, with respect
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Ito the structures we have discussed, does not make sense. These
Istructures do not mean anything apart from and beyond the structural
complexity they display. They do not "refer" to specific aims or
deities, and although their names (insofar as they have names) may
seem to hint at their longforgotten origins, these names do not evoke
anything. The complexities inherent in these structures have to be
learned and practised, and can be expressed with the help of precise
rules-but they are not symbolizations of anything else and do not
point to arealm beyond themselves.
In all these respects, there is considerable similarity between the
musical and ritual categories we have considered. The similarities are
not only structural, but also circumstantial. Just like Sonatas and
Symphonies, i~!is are performed on different occasions (providing
ample evidence in support of van Gennep;s and Durkheim's
observations, quoted above, pages 3-5) and have different names (like
the intichiuma and mbatja/katiuma rites referred to by Durkheim).
Even the fact that a Soma sequence ends with drinking Soma is reminiscent of what may happen to music: smoking and drinking of
coffee and beer was quite common during musical performances
throughout the nineteenth century. In Amsterdam it took strong
conductors like Willem Kes and Willem Mengelberg to get rid of the
cups, glasses and ashtrays, and introduce the musical puritanism that
assimilated concert performances further to church services. 1 1
To dissociate rituals from religious services and group them
together with music performances is only a small part of a general
reclassification of the ritual phenomena. This becomes clear only at a
level of abstraction sufficiently high to enable us to abstract from, or
disregard, certain dissimilarities in order to detect certain similarities.
Of course, there are dissimilarities as weIl as similarities between
Sonatas, Symphonies, i~tis, and Soma sequences. But all four
structures are also different from many other things, e.g., poems,
epics, laws, theories, stories, cults, commercial transactions,
educational projects, etc.-and similar to many others, e.g., dances,
games, and certain sports.
There is a certain rigidity in ritual that is absent from many kinds
of music. This is partly characteristic, 12 and partly due to the nature of
our evidence, as I shall show in the next section. Western classical
music is comparatively rigid in the sense that it shuns improvisation.
The cadenzas in concertos are exceptional, and many are written
down. A parallel occurs in the larger Soma rituals. A lecture in the
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6. CONCLUSIONS
Before we draw any general conclusions we should have a close
look at the quality and characteristics of our supporting evidence. In
Section 2 (above, pages 16-17), I compared the data brought back by
anthropologists with those made available by Orientalists . It is now
incumbent upon me to compare the data in sections 4 and 5. Even if
we assurne that all available evidence is set out systematically and
exhaustively, there would be important differences between data on
music from roughly the second millenium A.D. in Europe and data on
ritual from roughly the second millenium B.C. in India. The
European data, for example, are much more complete in historical
terms. We can trace the development of classical Western music step
by step. The Indian data are relatively exhaustive only for the period
during which the classical ritual was codified, Le., approximately
from the 8th to the 6th century B.C., when the Srauta Stras were
composed. There is much less information on the pre-classical ritual,
though there are hints in the ~gveda and scholars like Heesterman
have been able to reconstruct some of its general features. About the
post-classical development of Vedic ritual we are informed to some
extent, but unevenly. These later developments show mainly that the
structures of the rites have not changed; but some ritual substances
have been abandoned (e.g., the original Soma; some of the sacrificial
animals; an occasional human head) , and there have been new flurries
of interpretation, from time to time. All this supports my main thesis,
viz., that the most important feature of ritual is structure, and not
substance or interpretation. Finally, the fact that we know Vedic ritual
in a relatively codified form, and Western music throughout aperiod
of dynamic and often revolutionary development explain in part that
our ritual data appear to be more rigid than our musical data.
The structural similarities we have found between Indian ritual of
the second millenium B.C. and Western music of the second
millenium A.D. are surprising, and certainly more interesting and
signifieant than would be such similarities found between Indian ritual
and music at different periods, or between European music and ritual
at different periods of time. The similarities we have discussed are
obviously not due to influences and are independent of historieal
relationships. The relations are purely structural, exhibit intrinsic
similarities, and entitle us therefore to use the kind of synchronie
treatment that the syntactic approach presupposes and demands. At
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comparable to the gods, and music itself the supreme mystery of
the sciences of man, a mystery that all the varous disciplines come
up against and which holds the key to their progress"
(Levi-Strauss 1964, 26; English translation 1969, 18; also in
Leach 1970, 115).
Levi-Strauss often uses concepts taken from linguistics or communication theory. A distinctive feature of human language is that it
possesses, in addition to phonological and syntactic components, a
third component which is semantic and which enables language to
convey meaning or "transmit messages." This semantic component is
linked in a precise and intricate manner to the other two components,
so that meaning is systematically expressed by the speaker and
understood by the hearer when structured sounds are transmitted
through the air. Misunderstandings between users of a language
occur, of course, but on account of this system, combined with
redundancy and other communicative devices, these are kept to a
minimum. Otherwise language could not function.
M usic and ritual are not languages in this sense precisely because
they lack the corresponding third component. Music can convey so
many different things because it has no meaning: there is no
systematic relationship between its structured sounds and these many
things. Systems of music differ not only between cultures (which is
true of language); it is also patent within a culture that music means
different things to different people who are equally familiar with it
(which is not true of language). The only features of music that can be
universally perceived are either the purely structural and physical
(corresponding to syntax and phonology in language), or nonmusical
accessories such as names or titles, provided of course they are
explicitly attached. For this reason, Debussy's piece called after a
cathedral does not convey the meaning cathedral in the systematic
manner in which the word "cathedral" of a naturallanguage such as
English refers to a cathedral (see above, page 33).
Music, then, conveys no message. It is intelligible only in two
respects: objectively with reference to its structure and physical
properties, including labels arbitrarily attached to it; and subjectively
with reference to ev.erything else it may or may not convey to various
individuals, depending not only on their imagination, but also on their
individual past experience ("La musique est un fait de memoire" as
the French proverb says). Music is untranslatable because _there i~
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If you want to understand the invisible,
look carefully at the visible.
NOTES
1. "One feature of description that has contributed to the development of ritual and
grammar in India is the formal nature of these disciplines. Emphasis on form is a
general characteristic of Indian civilization. The Vedas refer more to the form of
language and rites, than to their meanings or function. The BrhmaI}.as introduce
large-scale interpretations of ritual, but these can often be shown to be failures.
Language is of course concerned with nleaning, and semantics is basic to PI}.ini's
grammar; however, once the derivations start, they are fully explicit and formal. The
Srauta Stras do not provide the rites with any meaning. This inherent formality has
contributed significantly to the scientific character of the study of ritual in India": Staal
1982b, 33.
2. The complete sentence is: "Diese Einheit, Vershnung, Wiederherstellung des
Subjekts und seines Selbstbewusstseins, das positive Gefhl des Teilhabens, der
Teilnahme an jenem Absoluten und die Einheit mit demselben sich auch wirkllch zu
geben, diese Aufhebung der Entzweiung macht die Sphre des Kultus aus": G. W. F.
Hegel, Vorlesungen ber die Philosophie der Religion, Smmtliche Werke XI, 67,
quoted in Cassirer 1925, 11 271, together with the passage from E. o. James.
3. Here is an example: initiation ceremonies bring about death and rebirth, which are,
according to Durkheim (1915, 39) "not understood in a merely symbolic sense, but
taken literally."
4. Originally part of Wirtschaft und Gesellschaft: Grundriss der verstehenden
Soziologie, this was also published separately as Religionssoziologie (Tbingen 1922),
and translated into English as The Sociology of Religion (Boston 1963).
5. Hammel and Simmons 1970, 329: the quote from Weber occurs in a contribution to
this volume by Clifford Geertz, who gives no source.
6. See the sections on ritual in Renou 1931 and Dandekar 1946, 1961, and 1973.
7. Cf. Staal 1982a, Preface, v: "... we need a science of ritual if we wish to
understand man in all his manifold activities. I ... claim that such a science already
existed in ancient India. The Indian science of ritual was a thoroughly rational discipline
with a great respect for facts. Though the ritualists who developed this science believed
in the efficacy of ritual, their belief did in no way affect or interfere with their scientific enterprise. I hope that the claim that it did exist may add substance to the argument that
we need such a science."
8. Opening and closing parentheses, and unlocking and locking a box, are in both
cases regarded as representing the same single category, A; and opening and closing,
similarly, B.
9. The musical examples in this section are mostly taken from Apel (1970), Green
(1965), Piston (1947 and 1962), Schoenberg (1970), and Steinitz (1978), alliisted in the
Bibliography.
10. Lowe-Porter's translation, generally superb, errs in translating the original
"(trgt) auch die ganze Geschichte in sich" as "(carries) the whole story in itself."
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11. See Noske 1969,34: "De disciplinering van het Amsterdamse publiek is een zwaar
karwei geweest voor de puristen van het concertleven. Tot diep in de vorige eeuw
handhaafden onze stadgenoten hun atavistische voorkeur voor de combinatie van
materiele, sociale en esthetische genoegens. Maar tenslotte verdreef Mengelberg's
voorganger Willem Kes de laatste kopjes koffie en glazen bier, benevens de sigarenrook
uit de zaal en kreeg de autonomisering van de muziek ook in Amsterdam haar beslag."
12. "Rituals are always guarded jealously and with extreme conservatism. This is
directly explained by the theory that ritual has no meaning. A useful institution is open;
it may undergo change, because efforts are made to render it more (or less) useful. A
useless institution is closed; it is not understood and therefore can only be abandoned or
preserved. There are paralleis to this situation from outside the realm of ritual. In India,
during the last 3,000 years, the Vedic language gave way to classical Sanskrit which was
in due course replaced by Middle and Modern Indo-Aryan languages. During all these
changes the Vedic mantras were orally transmitted without any change. Why? Because
they had become meaningless. Languages change because they express meaning, are
functional and constantly used. Meaningless sounds do not change; they can only be
remembered or forgotten": Staa11979, 11-12.
13. See note 12. It is known in India that professional reciters of the Veda preserve the
texts in much purer form than scholars who know the meaning and can afford to neglect
the form.
14. In the case of the Upani~ads this is obvious. In the case of Buddhism, see, e.g.,
Silburn 1955 and Bhattacharya 1973. For the Mlmarpsa see, e.g., Renou 1960, 60-75.
15. Professor Minoru Hara, personal communication.
16. Steiner 1965,249, reprinted in: Hayes and Hayes 1970, 182. H. Stuart Hughes says
about the Mythologiques in the same Anthology (page 35): "The work was quite
unnecessarily precious in tone, and the first volume was organized around a labored
(and frequently inappropriate) analogy with musical composition.... "
17. It would seem ungracious to criticize Levi-Strauss without emphasizing that he
was the first anthropologist to realize the importance of music for the understanding of
man. This is a giant step forward, for example, from Weber who regarded music as a
narcotic, originally used for orgiastic purposes (Weber 1963, 3, 157, 242, etc.). Without
Levi-Strauss' vision there would be nothing to criticize. Similarly, Cassirer's view of
man as a symbolizing animal can only be criticized because it was expressed so clearly
and rationally, and with so much supporting evidence. Many other German
philosophers, especially those that came after hirn, abandoned clarity, rationality, and
empirical evidence. There is no point in trying to criticize them since there is no way to
come to grips with them.
18. Firth and Levi-Strauss are not the only anthropologists who have written widely
on ritual without elucidating it; their American counterpart is Victor Turner (cf. Staal
1980b). But while anthropologists have at least provided us with valuable data,
historians and phenomenologists of religion have offered precious Httle. The reason that
philosophers have neglected the ancient religions of Asia is that they have generally
ignored everything Asian, and when they have not, seen only mysticism. The neglect by
sociologists and anthropologists is partly due to their peculiar way of cutting up the
world: sociologists are supposed to deal with Western and Westernized (Le., literary
and advanced) societies, and anthropologists with non-Western (Le., nonliterary and
nonadvanced) societies. Neither are motivated or equipped to deal with the civilizations
of Asia, which are therefore len to philologists who deal almost exclusively with texts.
54
FRITS STAAL
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