Scribd Logo
Upload

Welcome to Scribd!

  • The Stakes of The Warrior

    Uploaded by

    Florian Schumacher
    11 views86 pages

    Original Title

    The Stakes of the Warrior

    Copyright

    © © All Rights Reserved

    Available Formats

    PDF or read online from Scribd

    Did you find this document useful?

    Is this content inappropriate?

    Report this Document

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF or read online from Scribd
    Flag for inappropriate content
    11 views86 pages

    The Stakes of The Warrior

    Uploaded by

    Florian Schumacher

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF or read online from Scribd
    Flag for inappropriate content
    of 86
    The Stakes of the Warrior Georges Dumézil Translated by David Weeks Edited, with an Introduction, ‘by Jaan Pubvel UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA PRESS Berkeley Los Angeles London Bi O60 5/3 L270072 Contents rovtow’s meerace vil rotron’s nmopucrion bc rsrxopverion 1 ' 1, Starkade 1, The Tews 9 rivers af aor Press 2, The Birth, Fate, and First ech Le Ars, alria ‘Crime of Starkatr, 12 3, Odin, Thor and Starke in ‘University of Calfornia Press, Li. i ‘the Gautrekssaga and in ‘London, Eegland } Saxo 19 } 4 The Facing, Starches Copy © 388 by The apn ch ive of aoa snd 3 5, Theend of starters, ery of Cong Casaire in Paton Data ; Starcathers and Haters 38 or Hbe a8 Dana eer 288- “seo te mato 1, Siupala “Trash Lin eo es dora rn 1. The Bh ad Destiny of (woth bp. 2 Tyo fpr apes supa 5 Wom xan ut ef be ope 2. Rudray Krna and “vey, ni rope Pe sipala ] uti 3. The Dilensey 59 | Bisiadmssis ism 2Lasemse 0 4, Sbupala and thy Kings 61 Binomooese? Ed of Supa: | ; isupala and Kren 69 Pid ine Unie Sate of Aria 4 i I, Starkade and Ssupala raaaseres 1. Comparison ofthe Legends fof Starkate and Ssupala 71 Contents 2. Common Inheritance? 74 3:"Rudra and Visnu 78 “4 Osin and Thor 83 5. The Roles of the Gods in the Twe Legencs 91 IV, Jarasandha 1. Odin, Rudra Siva and the 4, Masculine Rivalries 113 2, Reinearnated Demon and Grandson of a Giant 119 VI. Herakles| 1. The Failing, of erakles "123 2, Hera, Athena and Herekles “128 3, The End of Herakles; Fieraes 9nd Hera 128 AC HeraklesStarkabe and upila 131 simetany 135 paeexoe 15 Editor's Preface Georges Duméeil's three-volume opus Mythe et épopee (1968, 1971, 1973) hae become, for beter or wore, a kindof quarry, sub- ject fo piecemeal extractions int the English language. start was rade with The Destiny of a King (University of Chicago Press, 1973), covering the last hird of ME 1. Subsequently the bull of ME LUT hae been made available as Camillus by the University of California Press (1980). The editor of the latter, Udo Strutynski, anticipated the presnt undertaking by formulating a desideratum aefollows ip. 261):”... surly the next order of busines should be to make Dum’ latest—and presumably fnal—word on the war- sor complex available by bringing outa translation ofthe ist par ff Mythe et épopée Ul... This theoretical dsquistion on the heroic predicament constittesa tightly kat monograph ints own right a6 It takes the argument besun in Destiny of the Warrior ‘hough uncharted waters and launches a new perspective on the problem. Its sel-eviden that without a full understanding ofthe tensions and contrasts at work between the earlier an later studies no further progress on the warrior question ean occu.” With the precentation below of “Lenjew du jeu des dieu: un bso,” intodaced by a critical essay, all but the central thied of [ME Il (concerning the Indi sorcerer KBvya Usanas of Indo-tranian rather than Indo-European relevance) snow available in vernac tla to what the Freach are wont 10 call “le mende anglo-saxon.” “This leaves inthe main only the monumental fist volume, Dum ais summa on the Mahabharata, Roman “history,” the Ossetic pie, and “eplea minora," asa future agendum, ors Pita For most quotations from Saxo Grammaticus the new English translation by Peter Fsher (1972) i used in preference to Oliver Elton old version, except that the Latin forms of proper names Ihave been retained, The renderings of certain of Saxo’s quoted Latin poems, however, as well as all quoted passages from Old Ieelandic, are of the translator's and editor's making and based direlly on the original For the Mahabharata Duméall uses interchangeably the Cal- cutta and Poona editions, Whenever the latter occurs in extensive ‘quotations, the English version given is normally thet of J... van Buitenen's Chicago translation (1973); where the two editions run parallel, with no or insignificant variations, van Buitenen'sren ering (with occasional slight corrections) leo serves for Dumézils tse ofthe Calcutta edition; but in cases of significant divergence or ‘inaccuracy, the Calcutta passages are translated directly from the Sans and the sme i tre in glossing ll short snatches of Sen- sit in the cunning text (Quoted passages from Diedorus Siculss are given im the ‘wansltion of C.H. Olfather (Loeb Clasial Library, 1935), with some changes inthe speling of proper names, (Of the appendices to ME I, only the tracts from de Plier’: Mythologie des Indous which relate to Jarisandha and Siupala (pp. 381-386) have been included; appendix I (pp. 382-402 text and French translation of Saxo's seventy Sapphic stanzas contain ing Storcather's torent of invective against Ingelis) is un- necessary in English, given the available renderings by both Elton and Fisher. Editor's Introduction With Aspects dela fonction guerriére chez tes Indo-europens (1956; German edition 1964) and its revamped version Hleur et ‘mallow du gucrier = The Destiny ofthe Warrior (1970), Georges Durméil inaugurated a systematic investigation of the Indo-Euro- [pean warrior type by matching the Roman “epic” of Tulles Hosti- Tius with Vedic myths surrounding Indra, more specifically the ‘combined “third vs. triple” and kiling-of-kin themes (Horat vs Crit, Teta Aptya vs, Tiras) andthe episode ofthe treacher- cous ally (Namuci, Mettius) over whom the hero prevails with the tid of succorous deities (Sarasvat-ASvins, Quisinus-Ops) ard whom he slays in the end by cruel and unusual, thus “sinful” ‘means, Dumél also stressed the “solitude and liberty" character- iatics of the Indo-European warrior, as exemplified by Indra’ epithet fk, ‘one, alone, unique his avyayibhava adverb vathar ‘atdm, “se one Will’ and his noun soadhé, ‘one's own law, autonomy.’ The latter's cognate celationship with Latin sodas, “anember of a secret eociety’ pointed up the warriors ambivalent role as single chamnpion or part of a sl-centred comps or coterie, both society’s external defender and its potential interal menace ‘As symptomatic of such a mythic warriors “life story” Duc riz singled out “negative peaks” or perhaps nadir-episodes, a structured eat of misdeeds or failings in which the hero compro ties his career by oflending all three levels of society by murder- fuslsscrlegious, cowardly/ unwarriorike, and venal/ adulterous acis respectively, Thus inde, spared censure in Vedic hyms for Elta Intoduction the simple reason that one doesnot dell on the seamy side of one's ‘object of celebration, has his antisocial proclvitis fall aired in Beahmanie, Epic, and Purdie texts, especially Book Five of the Markandeya-Puraya where Inda’s killing, of his fellow god ‘Trasta's son Trsiras and of Vitra (replacing Namuc), and sexual possession of Ahalya in the disguise of her husband Gautama, ‘cause him to be divested of his splendor, miaht, and looks (tjas, Dalam, rian) which are transfered to Dharma, Marta (= Vayu), and the Nasatya (= Aivin) tins respectively (and subse- quently deposited in the wombs of the qucens Kuni and Made engendering the Mahabharata heroes Yodhisthira, Bhima + Ar- juna, and Nakula + Sahadeva). Dumézil saw a parallel in the Avestan “frst king” and culture hero Vima who when sining lost bis regal glory (3"aranah in staggered portions which were suc- cesively celnvested in Mithra, Thraetadma, and Krsispa, Theee simular low points in the sagas of Stareatherus in Saxo Gram- smaticu (rescidal human sacrifice inspired by Odin, uncharacter i cowardice in bate, “contract” killing for gol ofa king in his bath) and of Herakles in Diodorus Siclus (defiance of Zeus lead- ing to madness resulting in the kiling of his own childven in zage brought on by Hera, ruseful defenstration of Iphitus, adl- tery with Tole) supplied Germanic and Greek reinforcements of the typology. ‘This work, attractively presented, closely reasoned, and fll of intciguing parallelisms, received further substantiation in Mythe et {aga provides. Chapter II recounts nothing abnormal: the giant, following the custom oF his ace, has abducted a young woman, 2p parently without her consent, Her father requests the help of Thor, who wipes out the abductor and retuens the victim to ber family, the victim who thereafter carries in her womb the father of the sagas hero. With good reason this vengeful action of Thor has been ‘compared with certain exploits attributed to him by the mythol ogy; more than one glant has succumbed under his hammer for having abducted or threatened to abduct a fair goddess, But in chapter Vl, when Thor states his grievance in the gods assembly, he speaks of something else: the girl has had to "choose," Kua, as tn an Indian soayamoara, and she has preferred (kaws «held fs. )the gant tothe god. And to what agod, to im, the “Thor ofthe sit" IE Thor has killed the gant, t was in punishment for ‘his presumptuousness; he has simply gone about it a litle lat, when the gir was already, so to speak, with the interpolation ofa son, pregnant with her grandson, the second Starkats. Thus Thor, toput an end to this evil brood, must above all condemn the young Starkaty, at the fixing of his fate, to have nether son nor daughter. hn elga son né cttur. This romantic rivalry between a giant and Thor, and generally the notion of "loves af Thor.” are extraor- inary, even if pre rather than sentiment seems to motivate the god here, Still we should avoid the too-hasty conclusion that this "omanesque element ithe Inte invention of a sagaynadr. Inany ease Jet us note that, thus imposed by Thor, the curse of the three mi- ‘ingsver: is comprehensible, Sine Odin has granted the hero three lives, Thor, with nothing realy specific In mind, ordains three

    You might also like