Vedic Ritual Personhood: Śrauta Rituals and the Reconstitution of the Post-mortem Person

ABSTRACT

[Objective] This study aims to explore the mechanisms through which Vedic personhood is deconstructed and reintegrated within the Śrauta ritual system. While the modern self is often conceptualized as a singular and enclosed agent, the Vedic person is characterized by a dividual personhood formed through the dispersion and synthesis of cosmic elements. Ultimately, the Vedic person is established as a ritual subject that secures its continuity and undergoes reconstitution through the sophisticated practical processes of the Śrauta rituals in the face of ontological deconstruction by death.[Contents] The study consists of three parts. First, it analyzes Vedic conceptions of the person as a composite of vital and bodily elements, with death understood as their dispersion. Second, it argues that the sacrificer(祭主) sought to retrieve dispersed corporeality(tanū after death and realize it as ātman in complete integration, thereby sustaining an “enjoyable divine life” in heaven. Third, focusing on the Agnicayana, it demonstrates how Śauta ritual functions as a practical means of securing personal unity and post-mortem continuity.[Conclusions] Śrauta ritual operates as a system for reintegrating the person after death. Vedic personhood is not a fixed substance but a processual formation constituted through ritual practice. This study thus proposes a perspective that understands Śrauta ritual as a ritual technology for constructing and completing personhood.