In a mediation on the wisdom of the Vedas, Roberto Calasso
brings ritual and sacrifice to bear on the modern world
In this revelatory volume, Roberto Calasso, whom "The Paris
Review "has called "a literary institution," explores the ancient
texts known as the Vedas. Little is known about the Vedic people
who lived more than three thousand years ago in northern India:
they left behind almost no objects, images, or ruins. They created
no empires. Even the hallucinogenic plant the "soma," which appears
at the center of some of their rituals, has not been identified
with any certainty. Only a "Parthenon of words" remains: verses and
formulations suggesting a daring understanding of life.
"If the Vedic people had been asked why they did not build
cities," writes Calasso, "they could have replied: we did not seek
power, but rapture." This is the ardor of the Vedic world, a
burning intensity that is always present, both in the mind and in
the cosmos.
With his signature erudition and profound sense of the past,
Calasso explores the enigmatic web of ritual and myth that defines
the Vedas. Often at odds with modern thought, these texts
illuminate the nature of consciousness more than anybody else has
managed up to now. Following the "hundred paths" of the "Śatapatha
Brāhma""ņ""a," an impressive exegesis of Vedic ritual, "Ardor
"indicates that it may be possible to reach what is closest to us
by passing through that which is most remote, as "the whole of
Vedic India was an attempt to "think further.""
General
Is the information for this product incomplete, wrong or inappropriate?
Let us know about it.
Does this product have an incorrect or missing image?
Send us a new image.
Is this product missing categories?
Add more categories.
Review This Product
No reviews yet - be the first to create one!