“In the Vedic religion the gods are often represented as attaining their ends by magical means; in particular the god Brhaspati, ‘the creator of all prayers,’ is regarded as ‘the heavenly embodiment of the priesthood, in so far as the priesthood is invested with the power, and charged with the task, of influencing the course of things by prayers and spells’; in short, he is ‘the possessor of the magical power of the holy word.’”
—James George Frazer, The Golden Bough: A Study in Magic and Religion (1890)
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
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