Jamison Stephanie W. The ravenous hyenas and the wounded sun: myth and ritual in ancient India

Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press, 1991. — xix, 335 p. — ISBN: 9780801477324.Foreword, by Gregory NagyAbbreviationsA. “Vedic”
B. The Texts
The Vedas
The Yajur Veda and the Brahmanas
The Sutras
C. Vedic Ritual
D. Vedic Mythology
E. The Case StudiesPart I. Indra and the Yatis
1 The Texts
2 The Participants
The Yatis
Ritualists or Shamans?
Death at the Ritual
The Yatis’ Killing: A Sin of Indra’s?
The Salavrkeyas
Hyenas and Their Young
Indra and the Mother Hyena
3 The Ritual in the Myth
The Yatis’ Ritual Flaws
The Yatis’ Place on the Ritual Ground: The Uttaravedi
The Uttaravedi: A Dangerous Place
Some Fierce Transformations
Why Is the Uttaravedi Dangerous?
The Yatis’ Ritual Successes
The Sautramani
The Pasubandha
The Varunapraghasa and the Kartri isti
4 The Episode of the Survivors
Syumarasmi and the Horse
A Clever Escape and a Second Birth
The Sniff-Kiss
What the Horse Did
Indra as Father
Appendix. On Two Recent Treatments of the Yati MythPart II. SvarbhAnu and the Wounded Sun5 The Texts and the Myth
The Texts
Overview of the Myth
6 The Remedies—Skin Diseases, Hair, and Fertility
Apala: A Parallel to Svarbhanu
Apala’s Story
Apala, Akupara, and Svarbhanu
The Tortoise Akupara
Apala as Ritualist
Apala’s Objectives
Indra, Pusan, and Marriage?
Ritual and Magic Reflections of the Myth
Skin Diseases and the Sun: Samala
The Rite for Splendor
Charm against Skin Disease
7 Rescuing the Sun—Failed Birth and Rebirth
Atri and Company: The Rescuers of the Sun
The Rebirth and Failed Birth of the Sun
The Rebirth of the Sun
Other Mythic Descriptions of Birth
The Fourth Sheep
Some Other Failed Births of the Sun
Saving the Sun from Miscarriage
Martanda/Vivasvant
Agni and Surya in the Womb
8 Failed Birth and Rebirth of Atri
Atri and Miscarriage
The Atreyi
The Atreyi in Legal Texts
Legal Reflections in the Brahmanas
The Atreyi in Atri’s Mythology
Atri as Symbol of Abortion in the Srauta Sutras
Atri’s Second Birth
Atri’s Kettle in the RV
A Disguised Parallel in the JB
Wombs and Their Substitutes
9 Atri’s Qualifications and Means for Rescuing the Sun
The Rescue of the Sun: Why Atri?
Atri’s Parentage
Atri’s Means
The Ritual
‘Mere’ Reverence and the Fourth Formulation
The Fourth (Part of) Speech
Creative Imperfection
Pied Beauty
10 The Wounding of the Sun
Who Is Svarbhanu?
What Did Svarbhanu Do to the Sun?
The Piercing of the Sun
The Maya of Svarbhanu
Smoke in the Skin-Disease Charm?
The Svarbhanu Myth as Reflecting the Physical World
Catastrophic Events
Cyclical Events
What Did the Sun Say? RV V.40.7
What Did the Sun Do Wrong?
Prajapati’s Incest
The Participants
Verbal Parallels between the Myths
Why Heal the Sun?
Glossary of Technical Terms in Vedic Ritual and Religion
A Note on Sanskrit Pronunciation