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The Magical Power of Words
Author(s): S. J. TambiahReviewed work(s):Source: Man, New Series, Vol. 3, No. 2 (Jun., 1968), pp. 175-208Published by: Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and IrelandStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2798500 .
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THE
MAGICAL
POWER
OF
WORDS*
S.J.
AMBIAH
University
f
Cambridge
Wordsn ritual
Contemporary
nthropology
as n recent
ears ecome
wareof
therelevance
f
linguisticsor
ts heoretical
dvance,
nd t
s remarkable
hat
Malinowski, erhaps
morefar-sighted
hanmany
f his uccessors,
ot only aw
this elevance
utalso
put
forward
n ethnographical
heory
f
anguage
which
prang irectly
rom
is
fieldwork,
articularly
rom is mmersion
n
Trobriand
magic.'
Malinowski rgued
hat
he
potency
f Trobriandmagic
was felt
y
the
Tro-
brianders
o
ie
n words
spells).
n
many
f his
works, articularly
n Volume
of
Coralgardens
nd
theirmagic,
e
provided
an unusual
amountof
supporting
linguistic
ata.
This evidence
has had
some
nfluence
n
linguists,
otably .
R.
Firth, ut
it
has
never been
critically
xamined
by anthropologists.
an an
anthropologistet
more
out ofthe vidence
hanMalinowski
imself
managed
o
do,either yresort ocomparative aterialrom ther ulturesrbycloser tten-
tion o
Malinowski's
wn material?
Although
Malinowski'smmediate
uccessors ho
worked n
the
ame r nearby
regions
onfirmed
hat
he verbalcomponent
n
ritual
was
importantFortune
I963;
R. Firth967),
theorthodox
nthropologicalpproach
evalued he
role
of
words
n ritualwhich
was seen s
stereotyped
ehaviour
onsisting
f
sequence
f
non-verbal
cts
nd
manipulation
f
objects.
However,
ecent iterature
as again
shown ppreciation
f
the
oleofwords and
no-one
oday
thinkwilldisputehis
statement
y
Leach
I966:
407):
'Ritual
as one observest
n
primitive
ommuni-
ties
s
a complex
fwords nd
actions
..
it s notthe asethatwords reone thing
andtherite nother. he utteringf thewords tselfsa ritual.'
One
virtue
t east
f
defining
itual
s
consisting
ftheword
nd the
deed s that
this
ormula
olves
he dilemma
osedby
Goethe's
aust-whethern
the
begin-
ning
here
was the
wordor thedeed.Freud oncluded
isTotemnd aboo
with he
rhetorical
tatement
hat
n
the beginning
was the
deed. According
o Gellner
(I959:
22), linguistic
hilosophy
asunsuccessfully
ried
o solvethe
puzzle by
saying
hat
the word
is
a
deed'. What
I
find nterestingboutFaust
s thathe
progressed
rom he
word,
to
thought,
hen o
the
notion f power, nd
ended
with
he
deed.
These
four erms re
n
fact he
ngredients
f
most
itual ystemsn
which
here
s
a
reciprocal
elation
etween heword and thedeed,with
heother
two termsntervening.he formula aises ne question hat s quantitativen
nature:
heratio
f words o actions
may
varybetween ituals
nthe ame
ociety
*
The MalinowskiMemorial
ecture,
elivered
t
the
London
Schoolof Economics nd
Political cience n 2o February968. Extramaterial asbeen
added
to
the text of the
lecture: uture alinowskiectures
ill,however,
e
published
s
delivered.
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I76
S. J. TAMBIAH
(orevenbetween
ocieties).
t one extreme
s the case of rituals erformed
ith
words alone
and at the other
hecase where
actionsdominate
hough
perhaps
words renot excluded.Mostrituals all n between ut yetmayshow distinct
differences
n
theproportion
fwords o acts.
Thusa healing
itual ran nitiation
ritemay emphasise
ordswhile collective
ite n
which heres
massparticipa-
tion mayrely ess
on auditoryommunication
nd more on
the display f
con-
spicuous
isible
materialymbols.
In most ases
t would
appear hat
itualwords
re at east s important
s
other
kinds
f
ritual ct;
butbesides hat,
nd this
san intriguing
oint, ery ften
but
not
always) if the
ethnographeruestions
his informants
Why is this
ritual
effective?'he
reply akes he
form f a formally
xpressed
elief hat
hepower s
in
the words'
even
though hewords
onlybecome
effective
f
uttered
n a
very
special ontext fother ction.
In attemptingo solve this
puzzle
thefirst oint
want to
make
s that
ritual
words annot
e
treated
s
an undifferentiatedategory.
ituals
xploit
number
of
verbal forms
which
we loosely
refer o as prayers,
ongs, pells,
ddresses,
blessings,
tc. t
isnecessaryo study
whether
ritual
s
composed
f
suchrecog-
nised
ategoriesnd
to analyse heir
istinctive
eatures
n
terms
f
their nternal
form nd theirequence.
he fact hat
uch battery
f
verbal evices
may ppear
in
a single
ite houldnot only
giveus nsights
nto
he rt
of ritual utalso dispel
any
ingeringraces
f a
Frazerian angover.
ome
of
us
have
operated
withthe
concept f magic' as something ifferentrom religion';we havethought f
spell'as
acting
mechanically
nd as being
ntrinsicallyssociated ithmagic;
we
have
opposedspell'
to prayer'
whichwas
thought
o
connote
different
indof
communication ith
the divine.
Frazer
arried his
hinking
o an extreme
y
asserting
hat
magic
was thoroughly
pposed
to
religion
nd
in the nterest
f
preserving
his
distinctionismissed
alf he
globe
as
victims
f
the
confusion f
magicwith
eligion'.
It
is
possible
o question he general
validity
f
this
dichotomy y
demon-
strating
hat n
a
single
lass
fritualsractised
n
Ceylon
here re
used
variety
f
verbal
ormsn
a
particular
equence
nd that
he
very ogic
of theritual
epends
on thisorder nd distinction. Sinhalese ealing itual r exorcism eremony
exploits
hreemain
kinds
f
verbal
orm3
which
ccompany
ther
itual
cts
such
as
dancing,
miming,
ood
offerings
nd manipulation
f
objects).
They
are
called
mantra,
annalavva
nd
kaviya,
nd
they
re
arranged
n a
progression
f
four
sequences
eginning
nd
ending
with he
mantra.4
he mantra
orresponds
o
our
stereotype
otion
f
spell'.
It
s n
prose,
t has
no
poetic
tructure,
t hasa
charac-
teristicpening
ndendinge.g. 'om
namo'
nd
hring').
The mantra
s
muttered
by
the xorcist
nd t
s not
meant
o be
heard or
t
constitutes
ecret
nowledge.
The
ceremony egins
withthe recitation
f
mantra
hich
ummon
he
demons
responsible
or
the disease.
This summoning
s
phrased
n Sinhalese s
'hitting
with ound' anda ahanava),utthe anguage f commands alsoaccompaniedy
the
language
of
entreatynd persuasion.
hese
spells
lso
contain
bbreviated
allusions o
myths
nd
thus
repare
he
ground
or
he
next
equence.
This
sequence
s
thekannalavva hich
s
chanted
loud
n
rhythmic
rose
om-
posed
of
ordinaryntelligible
anguage
nd
is
meant
o be
heard
nd
understood
by
theparticipants.
he ritual
s a public eremony
may
be
said
to
begin
with
he
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THE
MAGICAL POWER OF WORDS
177
kannalavva.
t
stateswhy the ceremony
s
beingheld,describes he nature
f
the
patient's ffliction,nd
makes
plea to the gods to come and bless he
ceremony
and to the demonsto act benevolentlynd removethe disease.Typically he
pleas
re
ccompanied y
food
offerings.
The next n sequence re thekaviyaverses)which
akeup themajorpart f the
ceremony.Kaviya are composed n quatrains
with end (and sometimes lso
beginning) hymes. inhalesekaviya re highly yrical nd framed
n
literary
Sinhalese of the sixteentho eighteenthenturies),
erfectly
ntelligible
ut yet
distinct
rom
ontemporaryverydayanguage.
They are normally ecorded
n
texts. romthepointof view of the dramatic
resentationf theritual t
is
im-
portant hat hey re sung oudly o the
ccompanimentf music
nd mime.
The
semantic ontent f theversess a long and highly edundant
ecital
f the
origin
myths f gods and demons nd their ncounters,n whichthe demonsfinally
subject hemselveso the practice f conditional
vil, sanctioned y
the
deities
(varam), rovided hathumans eciprocate y appropriate ift iving.
n
the
rite
the myths re sung
n
order hat vil and disease an be defined, bjectified
r
personifiednd presentedealisticallyn the tage o that he ppropriate
ction f
changing heundesirableo thedesirable,n otherwords, he ct oftransferhich
changes he condition f thepatient, ithhisunequivocal articipation,an take
place. The redundancy,engthy ecital nd staging
re contrived o achieve hat
crucial nderstandingy thepatient f his llnesswhich s a necessary relude
o
and a condition f the ure.
The ceremonyogically nough oncludeswith mantra hichenacts heex-
pulsion
f
thedemon
tself. ypically his pell
oncludes hus: Just s god
so
and
so, by a certain ction ubdued uch nd such demon,by thatpower may the
patient vercome hedisease nd thedemonbesubdued'.The lexical nd semantic
contentsfthe pells resent special roblem
when compared o theother wo
forms
invocationnd praise ongs)which rereadily
ntelligiblend heard y
the
audience. ndologists ill be familiar ith the
iteraturen the ong history
f
charms nd
spells-mantra,haranT,nd
paritta-in
Hinduism nd Buddhism.
shall
digress
rom
my
main
heme
f
enter hat erritory
nd shall herefore
imit
myself
totheSinhaleseituation.
A
prevailingmisconception
s
thatSinhalesemantrare unintelligibler
even
nonsensical.5
redibilitys ent o this otion y the
fact hatmantrarereferredo
as
the languageof the demons' yaksa
asava)
s
opposed o human anguage.
A
linguisticnalysis f omerecorded ndpublishedinhalesemantra adebyWimal
Dissanayake
f
King's College, Cambridge, howsthattheyembody a subtle
design
which
uses
thenotion f a hierarchyf anguages.When Hindu gods
are
invoked nd their riginmyths eferredo, the pells ontain anskritxpressions,
no doubt
distorted rom hepointof view of thepurist.When theBuddhaand
Buddhistmythologicalvents re alluded o,Pali
words re mployed, nce again
portrayingyntacticalnfelicities. hen however he spell actually arratesn
originmyth, he anguage sed s that f the lassical
inhaleseiterary orms re-
valent
n
the ixteenthnd seventeenthenturies.
inally, hendemons redirectly
addressed
nd commanded, he words re a polyglotmixture nd therefore
n-
intelligible,eing compounded f Sinhalese,
amil, Pali, Sanskrit,
alayalam,
Telugu, Bengali and even Persian.This exotic and powerfulmixture s the
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178
S. J.
TAMBIAH
'demon
anguage'. omepoints anbe briefly
ade oncerning
hedesign f
these pells: he anguage
tratifications indicativef the
hierarchicalositions
ofgods nddemons: he demonanguage'sconsciouslyonstructedo connote
power, nd
thoughargelynintelligibles
neverthelessased n
the heoryf
languagehat
hedemons anunderstand.hus,
ar rom eing onsensicalnd
indiscriminatelyoncocted,he
pells how sophisticatedogic.
The logic of
constructionust f ourse e
separatedromhe roblemf
whetherhe xorcist
actually
nderstandsll thewords
ontainedn the pell. rom is,
s well s the
audience's,oint
f view, he pells avepower
y virtue fsecrecynd their
capacityocommunicateith
emonsnd herebynfluenceheir
ctions. ow-
ever,mantrao
notfall utsidehe equirementsf
anguages a
systemfcom-
munication,nd
theiriteralntelligibilityo
humanss not he riticalactorn
understandingheirogic.
What have
ndicated
n
this
xamples that
single inhaleseitual
rogresses
from
pells hich
ummonhe emonso
nvocationnd upplicationf he ods
and
demons,hen o
sung nddramatised yths
n verse orm,nd concludes
with
spell
which
ses he anguagefcommand
nd xorcism.ach
type
as
characteristicorm
nd
content
though his
hows
edundancy),
nd this
truc-
tured
equence
s
fundamental
o
the ogic
which as
dictated
he onstructionf
the
itual.
heverbal orms
nd
heirequenceave t east
wo
dimensions.n
the nehand
hey irectlyorrespondo the
pantheon,
he
heology
t
embodies,
including an's nteractionith hegodsandspirits;ndon theother, heysuggestnotherogicwhich elatesothe raftf ommunicationherebyatient
and
participantsuccessfullyxperiencehe
passage rom
llnesso the
promised
cure.
urthermore,
n
this
xample,
t is
difficult
o
see
where
magic
nds nd
religionegins.
I am of
course
ot suggestinghat his inhalese
xample rovides
cross-
cultural
epresentativecheme,ut am certainhat he
xploitation
f
different
verbal
orms
rranged
nordered
equence
s
true
f
many omplex
ituals.
et
me
very riefly
efer
o some
xamples.
he Stratherns
eportpersonal
ommuni-
cation)
hat
heMount
Hageners
istinguish
etween
rayer
atenga)
nd
spell
(m0n); othmay noccasions e combinedndifferentatternssfor xample
when
spellmay
e said o
remove
sickness,
ndthen
prayer
s
made
o the
ancestral
hosts
ccompaniedy
sacrifice. hile
prayer
s n
udible
nvocation
and a
supplication,
he
pells
re
muttered,
se
the
anguage
f command
nd
employ
series
f
metaphorical
magessee
trathern
Strathern
968
for
etails).
Dr
Audrey
ichards
personalommunication)
tates
hat
emba
ituals
ombine
prayers
nd
pells
hich re
distinguished
s are
praise
ongs
nd ther
ormal
ses
of
language. gain
Victor
urner
eportsI964)
that
n theNdembu
hamba
performance
here
s mass
articipation
n hunters'ult
ongs
which re
ung
o
'please hamba',
ollowed
y
a
spate
f
confessions
ndthe
iring
f
grievances,
then ythe everentrhortatoryrayers ade ythedoctornd he lders. e
comments
hat ll
these lementsonstitutedialectical
nd
dialogical
attern
f
activity,
ut edoes ot ocus is
ttention
n
this
articular
roblem
f
lternating
verbal ormsnd their tructured
rogression.
t thus
eems
o
me that here
s
scope
or
sing
his ramef
nalysis
o
provide
dditionalllumination
n
he
tudy
ofritual.
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THE MAGICAL
POWER
OF WORDS
179
Sacrednd
rofaneanguage
I
wantnow to
pursue urther
he
question
f
the
ntelligibility
f sacred
words
to bothofficiantndcongregation.fsacredwords rethoughtopossess special
kind
ofpower not
normally
ssociated ith
ordinary
anguage,
o
whatextent s
this ue to the
fact hat he acred
anguage
s
such
may
be
exclusive nd
different
from he ecular
rprofane
anguage?
The role of
language n ritual
mmediately
onfronts
roblems
f
placed
in
relationo a
primaryunctionf
anguage
which
s
that t sa vehicle
fcommunica-
tionbetween
ersons. y
definition,
he
persons
n
communication
ust
under-
stand ne
another.
n
ritual,anguage
ppears
o be used
n
ways
that
iolate
he
communication
unction.
or
instance,
t s
possible
o
distinguish
hree
ifferent
uses f
anguage
n
the
rituals f a
village
n
northeast
hailand.
I.
Firstly,here re rituals onducted yBuddhistmonksnwhich hesacred
words rechanted
loud,
.e.
they
re
meant
o be
heard,
ut
paradoxicallyhey
re
not
understood
y
the
majority
f
the
ongregationand
ome
of
the
monks
hem-
selves)
ecause
he
acred
anguage
s
thedead
Pali
anguage.
n
this ase
the
words
are
broadcast utnot understood.
2.
There
s a
second set
of
ritualswhere
again
the
major
features
the
oud
recitation f
texts,
but here
the
words
are
understood ecause
the
local
Lao
language
s used.
The
rituals n
question
re called ikhwan r
calling
he
spirit
essence.
hey
are
used
byvillage
elders
when
nstalling
embers f
the
unior
generationnvillage tatuses,r as inaugural r thresholdites eforendividuals
start ew
enterprises.
n this
nstance,hen,
words
re
broadcast
nd
understood.
3.
In a
third et
of rites
elating
o
the
exorcism f
demons
which
possess
nd
cause
mental
isorders,
he
nterrogation
f
the
patient
s n
the
ocal
anguage ut
spells re
ecretly
uttered
y
the xorcist
ver ubstancesike
water
which
reused
to cleanse nd
purify
he
patient.
ere
the virtue f
the
spells
esides n
the
fact
that
t
s secret
nowledge
imilar o theSinhalese
mantra.he
language
s
private
and
s
not
meant o be heard.
he
spells
which re
calledgathaverses)
re
aid
o
be
portions
f Buddhist
utra sacred
exts)
which re n this
ontext
sed
n
a
special
manner,
nd there s
some
evidence
or
aying
hat
he xorcists
an
inversion f
theBuddhistmonk.
It
is
not
necessary
or
me to
give
detailed
escriptions
f
the
econd
nd
third
types
f
ritual ecause
hey
epresent
orms
ell known
o
you.
The
spiritssence
rite hares he haracter
f
that lass f
healing
ituals hich re
constructed
n
the
therapeutic
heory
hat
messages
re to
be
transmittedo
and
understood
y the
celebrant
r
patient.
he words
ecited
nvoke nd
nvite hedivine
ngels
thewada),
paint he
ritual ituation
s a
grand
mythological
vent
n
which
he
participants
become
gods
themselves,
efine
tatus
equirements,
ind
person
o his
new
role
commitments,
voke
past xperience
especially
f
early
hildhood
nd
dependence
on
parents),
nd
anticipate
uturevents.
ycontrast,
he xorcism
itual
ses
hock
therapyn whichthepatients made to confront,ormulatendgiveobjective
form
o
his llnessn terms f
demonic
gent
which s
culturallyefined. ere
the
exorcist
s
protagonist
ust
ppear
more
terrible
nd
powerful
han he
demon
inside
he
patient,
nd the
ecretly
uttered
pells
ot
only onstitutehe
anguage
the
demons
an
understand,
ut more
mportantly,
ontributeo
the
mage
of
the
exorcist'swn
power.
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I80
S. J. TAMBIAH
It s thefirst
et, heBuddhist
ituals,
hat
want otake
up because
trepresents
a general
ut baffling
ituation. he majority
fvillagemonks
n northeast
hai-
land as nmany ther arts fthe ountry)reyoungmenwhoonlytemporarily
occupy
he tatus
fmonk, nd
their
most mportant
ole sto conduct
alendrical
temple ituals
or he ommunity
s a whole,
ndmortuary
itesnd certain
ther
threshold
nd
protection-giving
eremonies
or ndividual
amiliesnd groups
f
kin.
There
re some
conspicuous
aradoxes
n the
ommunication
ystem
fBud-
dhist itual.
he view
s
emphatic
hat
hePali chants
hould
be recitedloud
and
that hroughistening
o them
he
congregation
ains
merit, lessings
ndpro-
tection.
et the acred
ali words
s such
re not understood.6
he chants
reof
course
not
nonsensical-they
xpound
matters
f
Buddhist
octrine,
he noble
truthsfdetachment
nd conquest
f ife, ictorious
pisodes
n theBuddha's ife,
whichhaveno direct elationo theeverydayoncernsfvillage ife.Yet at the
conclusion
f the
chants,
specially
hose
designated
s
parittachants
f
blessing
andprotection),
he
blessings
ransferred
y
the
monk o the
ayman
re
ong
ife,
good
health
nd fair
omplexion.
he
intriguingaradox
sthat he
conquests
f
the
Buddha
which
relate o thewithdrawal
rom
ife re n the
process
f trans-
ferenceransmuted
o an affirmation
f life.Between
herecitation
f
the acred
words
suitra)
nd the
final
pay
off'to the
ayman
ntervenes
mechanism
f
transfer
hich
s notfar emoved
rom
hat mplied
n the Sinhalese
mantra.
or
instance,
he
chayamangalagdtha,
he
victory
lessing
o
oftenheard
n
Buddhist
rites,
tates
n each
of the tanzas
victory
on
by
theBuddha nd
concludesBy
this
ower,
mayyoube endowedwith onquestsndblessings'. hemechanism
oftransfer
epends
ot
only
on
the
emantic
tructure
fthewords
ndtheritual
acts
hat
ccompany
hem
e.g.
transmission
f
grace
hrough
sacred
ordor
by
sprinkling
ustral
ater)
butalso
on
a
particular
ocialrelation etween
monk
nd
layman,
hich
onnotes
n
nter-generational
eciprocity.
illage
ons
emporarily
renounce
heir
irility
nd
sexuality
nd transfer
o
elderly
ouseholders
ong
ife
and
ethical
merit;
he
attern
turn
ponsor
heir
rdination,
aintain
hemn
the
temple
nd
afterwards,
hen
hey ive
up
their
obes,
nstallhem
s their
ucces-
sors
Tambiah
968).
Thefact hat heBuddhisthants
re couched
n
Pali s
representative
f a
more
general
eature
f most f
the
o-called
world
religions,
hich
lso show
the ame
remarkable isjunction
etween
religious
nd
profane
anguage:
Latin
in
the
occidental
atholic
Church,
Hebrew
for
Jews,
Vedic
Sanskrit
or
Hindus
and
Arabic
for
Muslims,
re
sacred
anguages
hat
re different
rom he
anguage
f
ordinary
se. But
thenature
f the
uthority
ttached
o the acred
anguage
nd
its
range
of
exclusiveness
hows
complex
variations. he Muslims
ake
up
the
extreme
osition
hat
heKoran
sefficacious
nly
n
ts
original
rabic
nd that t
will
cease
to be the
Book
bybeing
ranslated.
he
Jewish
ttitude
o the
Biblical
texts
s the
ame-the
word
of Godis n Hebrew.
On the
other and he
Catholics
havenevermaintainedhat nypart f theBiblewas originally rittennLatin,
but
t
s
the
case
that heofficial
ersion,
he
Vulgate,
was authorised
y
the
Pope
as
Vicar
of God
in
I546
at the Council
of Trent.
Thistext
went
through
ertain
revisions
n the
econd'half
f the ixteenth
entury
o reach definitive
ersion.
But
more
nterestingly,
atin
had
by 250
A.D.
supplanted
reek
nd become
the
language
of
church
government
nd
worship
n Rome
and for
the entire
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THE
MAGICAL
POWER OF
WORDS
western orld,
nd was
explicitly
onsidered he
holy
anguage f the occidental
church.
In Islam,Hinduism, uddhismndJudaism heviewhas beenstrictlyeldthat
in religious eremonies
he acredwordsrecited
hould
be inthe
anguage
f the
authorisedacred
exts.
he
problem
whether heir
ongregations
nderstoodhe
words
or
not
was
not
a
major
consideration
ffecting
ither
he efficacyf the
ritual r thechange
n
the
moral condition
f the
worshippers.
he Catholic
Churchmaintainedhe
same view
in
respect
f Latin
iturgy
ntil ast
year.
tis
interestinghat
many eformist
ovements
hich ttackedhe xtreme ormalism
andritualismf he stablished
hurch ttempted
o
destroy
he
xclusiveness
f
the
sacred anguagen an attempto
ncreaseccessibility
nd
understandingmong
he
faithful;utherans,
alvinists,
Waldensians
re cases
n
point.
But
note that
hey
also attacked heLatin Bible on thegrounds hattherewere older and more
genuineGreekversions. here
s
an
important
esson o
be
learnedhere.Evan-
gelical
Protestantnglishmen
ften
get passionately
ommitted o the
precise
wording
f
the
Biblical
ext,
s it
appears
n
the
English
f the
uthorised
ersion
of
i6ii, even though
t was authorised,llogically erhaps,
y
the
King.
The
Buddha used a local
dialectn contrasto the
Sanskrit f theBrahmans o
preach
his
message,
utPali
tself
as
ater o
become he
nshrined
anguage
f
Theravada
Buddhism.Andbreakaway hurches
n turn ome to have their rue ersions nd
first ditions f
doctrine
roundwhichproblems
f
orthodoxy
entre
nd which
generate he
familiar ctivities
f textual
riticism
nd commentaryhatprovide
the
bread nd
butter
or
heologians
nd
scholars.
hus
n all
these
ases
t could
be
said that exts endto acquire
uthority ecausethey
reancient, ut that t is
authority
hat
matters
ore
han
ntiquity.
The question hen s: how important
s it
in unravellinghe problem f the
power of sacred
wordsthat he
sacred anguagebe differentrom he ordinary
language?
s
there vital
difference
n
thefact
hat
he
Koran s in
Arabic nd the
Trobriand acredwords re n
Trobriand? think he distinctions not absolute
but
only
relative. t
is
true
that
n
many
of
these
higher
religions
he
sacred
language
s thought
o be that
anguage
n
which the
saviour,
r
prophet r
saint irst evealed hemessage or in the caseofCatholicism o be the anguage
authorised
y
the
Papacy).
But
this
rgument
n
terms f
revelation r
authority
s
just
as
applicable
o the
Trobrianders
ho
believed hat heir pells amewith heir
firstncestors,nd thereforerovides
o
distinguishing
riterion etweenhigher
and
primitive eligion.
ylor'sdistinction
etween evealed nd natural eligion
is
false.
A
more
onvincing
eason
may
be that
he acred
words f
slam, uddhism, nd
the
Jewish
nd
Christian
aiths
t some
point ame
to
be written own, and that
writing
s a
revolutionaryechnology
hat ixes
nd freezes
eligious ogma
n
a
manner hat
s
different
rom he
dogma
of oral
tradition hich s inevitably
flexible nd adaptive, venthough t believes n an unchangingradition. ut
again
s
this fundamental
r a relative ifference?or
the
problem hat am
dealing
with-whence
he
magicalpower
of
sacred
words-this distinctiongain
is
by
itselfnsufficient.
he
sharpdisjunction
etween
he
case of a written oly
language
nd a
secularanguage
n
higher eligion
s
paralleled
ntheTrobriands
by
a
weaker
disjunction,
evertheless
f
the ame
kind,
between
he elements
f
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I 82
S.
J.
TAMBIAH
archaic r esoteric
anguage n the orally
ransmitted
pells nd the anguage
f
ordinary
se. Many primitive' eoples
who recite
heir eligiousmythology
n
sagaform o so in an archaic'form f speechwhich s onlybarely omprehen-
sible o
contemporary
peakers,.g. this s
the ase mong heKachin.
he point s
that
s
long
as
religionboth
n
literate
r pre-literate
ocieties arksback
to a
periodof
revelationnd nsists n the uthority
f properlyransmitted
rue
exts
either rally
rinwritten orm,
ts
acredanguage
will contain n archaic
om-
ponent,
hetherhis
s
represented
y
a
totally
ifferentanguage
r older lements
of the
ame
anguage.
It
s
perhaps
elevanto
note,
whenever
e meet uch ormalised
ralor written
texts,
hat heirarchaicness'may lsobe related
o the
fact hat hey recomposed
in a
special
tyle,
hich
uses
highly ymbolic evices,
pecially oined
words, nd
wordswithoutmeaning ofill ngaps Vansina
965).
Furthermoreritinger e,
made
possible y
the
lphabet,
y giving physical
xistenceowords,may
end
addedveneration
o written exts. hus
t snotat all accidental
hat hepresent
day
term or he
major lphabet
n ndia s
Devanagari the
bode
of
the
Gods).
Another
criterion-that
f the
degree
of
specialisation
nd training
nd
differentiation
f
religious ersonnel-is
gain
of
little alue
in
accounting
or
the
belief
n
the
power
of sacredwords. t
is
frequently
rue hat he
ocieties
n
which
he
higher eligions
xist
re
stratified,
hat
iteracy
tselfs
specialised
nd
the
astbulk
of he
population epends
n
specially
rained
ntermediaries,
nd
that
the
professional
riesthood
s
separated
rom
ay
occupationsnd
modes of
life.
But specialised
kills, ubjection
o
taboos,
ndexclusive nowledge f sacredore
are
n
varying egree
haracteristic
f
the
religious
xperts
f
simpler on-literate
societies
s
well.
Finally
hefact
hat hePali
chants
f
Buddhism
re
normally
ot
trictly
nder-
stood
by
the
aity
ut that he
anguage
f
Trobriand
pells
s
largely
ntelligible
to
the
Trobrianders
as not
producedny
ignificant
ifference
n the attitudeo-
wards
acred
words.
This s so because
or
heBuddhist
ayman
he act
hat e does
not
understand
oes not
mean
forhim that he
chants
re
mumbo-jumbo.
e
believes
quite rightly
hatfor
those
who know Pali the words contain
great
wisdom nd ense;his gnorancesa reflectionfhisunworthinessnd nvolvement
in an
nferior
odeof ife
ompared
ith hat fthe
monk. have hus ome
o
the
negative
onclusion
hat he remarkable
isjunction
etween acred
nd
profane
language
which
exists s
a
general
fact s not
necessarily
inked
o
the need to
embody
acred
words
n an
exclusive
anguage7
r in
writingnd, econdly,
hat
both higher
nd lower
religions
ortray
o
qualitative
ifferences
n
respect
f
their
eliefsnrevelation
nd true
nowledge,pecialisation
f
religiousffice,
nd
attitudes
o
sacred
anguages
whetherhose
anguages
re
understood
r
not.
It
therefore
ppears
ecessary
o
try
oformulate
general
tatementboutthe
widespread
eliefn
the
magical ower
f acred
words.
No bookon
religion
rthe
originsf anguage ails o refero this ncient elief nthecreative owerof the
word.
t
would
be
possible
o confirm
hisbelief n the classical
iterature.he
Vedic
hymns peculated
n
vac
(the
word)
and asserted
hat he
gods
ruled
he
world
hroughmagical
ormulae;
he arsi
eligion
tates hat
n thebattle
etween
good
and
evil t was
through
he
poken
wordthat
haoswas transformed
nto
cosmos;
ancient
gypt
believed
n a God
of the
Word;
the Semites
nd
the
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THE MAGICAL
POWER OF WORDS I
8
3
Sumerians ave heldthat heworld and its
objectswere created ythe
word of
God; and theGreekdoctrine f ogos ostulated
hat he oul
or
essence
f
things
residedn their ames. ut commentatorsave ntangled hemselvesn the ome-
what
barren ebate bout
whetheruchdeas ssertedhat he
word
n ts wn
right
was
powerful, r whether
t acted hrough he
participation
f the
upernatural
r
through he gency
f theLord's nointed.What has not been een
s
that
within
any ingle eligiousystemmultiple alues re
given o the haracter
nd
role
ofthe
sacred anguage, ndthat hese alues aken ogether
orm set
of
three
ostulates
in
mutual ension.
The Bible can convenientlyerve o illustrate
his rinityf deas:
i.
The firstdea is
thatGod created he
worldby assigning ames. And God
calledthe ightDay, and the darkness e calledNight' (Genesis
.5).
(Together
with
his
oes
the dea n certain eligionshat heCreator
God
created
imself
y
uttering
is
own name.)
2.
The Bible
also asserts he directly ppositedea that
fterGod
had
created
heaven nd earth,man
assumed henaming
unctionhroughpeech.
And out
of
theground he
Lord God
formed very east
of thefield,
nd
every
owlof
the
air; and brought hem nto he
man
to
see whathe would
call them:
nd whatso-
ever heman called very iving reature,hat
was thenamethereof. .' (Genesis
2.
I9-20).
3.
There s
yet
third haracterssigned otheword: that
t
s
anentity
hich
s
able to act and produce ffectsn its own right. hus we read n Isaiah
55.II):
'. .
.
So
shall
my
word be that
goeth
forth
ut
of
my mouth:
t
shallnot
return
untome
void,
but
t shall
ccomplishhatwhich please, nd
t shall
rosper
n
the
thing
whereto
sent
t.'
TheseBiblical otionsxpress ebrew oncepts
nd think ometogether
n the
first
ines
of
the Gospelaccording o St John
which lso explicitlyefers o the
Greeknotion f
logos:
hewordwas in thebeginning ith God, the
wordwas
madefleshn
Jesus hrist, nd those
who received hrist ecame he onsof God
and theword dwelt
with hem.
It
is these hreenotions hat re also reflected
n Buddhismwhichconstantly
affirmsts hree ems:theBuddha, he ll-enlightenedne,was the ource fthe
sacredwords;theDhamma, hedoctrines reached
y
the
Buddha,
nd nscribed
in
the exts
re
themselvesolyobjects
n
their
wn
right,
nd
can transmit
irtue
and
dispelevil;
and
the Sangha, he
monastic rder
whose ordained
members
practise ood
conduct, s the mostappropriate
gentfor a recital f the sacred
words.
Thesenotions re lso representedn Trobriand
hought. onsider he ollowing
Trobriand
ropositions:
i.
Magic appeared
with he
firstncestors
nd culture eroes, ogether
ith he
gardensnd naturalhenomena hey reated.Magic is a thing evernventednd
never
ampered
ith, yman
or
anyother gency' Malinowski960:
402). Itwas
handed ver to
man
whose descendantsave nheritedt n unbrokenuccession.
2. At the ame
ime
he
Trobriands
onceived f magic s an essentially
uman
possession specially
f
the
ccredited
magicians.Malinowski sserted
hat
or
he
nativemagic
was 'not a force
f
nature,
aptured y man . . and
put to his
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184
S. J.
TAMBIAH
service; t
s
essentially
he ssertion
f man's ntrinsic
ower
over
nature'. twas
the human
belly hat
was
the
tabernacle
f
magicalknowledge
nd the
force f
magicresidednmanandcould escapeonly hrough isvoice'
I960:
409).
3. Finally, heTrobrianderslso had the notion hat
magical
formulae,
nce
voiced, acted
nd
influenced
he course f events.Hence their
nsistence
hat he
spell
was themost
mportantomponent
f
magic,
view
also held
firmly y
the
Dobuans Fortune963:
IOI).
Thus t s clear hatwe
are
dealingwith hree
otions hich
orm n nterrelated
set:deities r
first
ncestors r their
quivalents
nstituted
peech
nd the
classi-
fying ctivity;
man himself
s
the creator
nd
user of this
propensity;
inally,
language as
such
has an
independentxistence nd
has
thepowerto influence
reality.
I would
suggest hat t s theperceptionfthese haracteristicsf
anguage hat
has
perhaps rought
bouttheelevation f theword as
supremely
ndowed
with
mystical ower.
Let
me
explain.
There
s a
sense
n
which
t is
true o
say
that
language
s
outside
s
and
given
to us as a
part
of
our cultural nd historical
heritage;
t
the ame ime
anguage
s within
s,
t
moves
us
and we
generate
t
as
active
agents.
Since words exist nd
are in a
sense
gents
n
themselves
hich
establish
onnexions nd
relations
etween
oth
man
and
man,
nd
man
and
the
world,
nd
are
capable
of
acting' upon
them, hey
re
one
of the
mostrealistic
representationse
have
of the
concept
of forcewhich
s eithernot
directly
observable ris a metaphysicalotionwhichwe find ecessaryouse.
In
respect
f
religion
nd
ritual,
he threenotions n their
widestextension
correspond
o the
following
evels f behaviour hich
we meet ime nd
again
n
many
ocieties:
i. The domainof mythwhichrelates tories
bout the doingsofsaviours r
prophets
r ancestorsnd the rrival f the
message,
e it
doctrine r
magic.
2.
The ritual
r magical ystemtself,
.e.
the inguistictructuref
the sacred
words
nd the
grammar
f thenon-verbalcts hat
go
with
hem.
3.
The
present
ay
human
priests
r
magicians,
heir
acred tatus,
heir
inks
with he aviours r ancestorsnd their pecial ehaviour nd
preparations
hich
make their itual
ractices
ffective.
Any
exhaustive
tudy
f
religion
nd
ritual
eeds o
study
ot
only hose evels
but also
the
functionalelations etween hem.
But there s
again
anothermajor
relationship
o
be
unravelled,relationship
hat s
difficulto
establish
n
a
meaning-
ful
sense,
nd
is
least
well-established
n
anthropology.
his
s
the inkbetween
religion
nd
ritual
nd
the
domains f social
nd
practical ctivitiesnto
which t
penetrates
nd
which
t influences
ut
s
also
at the
same
time
eparated
rom n
some
fashion.8
To
return o
my major
themewhich
s
the
basisfor
he belief n themagical
powerof words: have taken he nquiry p to a certain oint,butthehardest
part
f the xercise
s
yet
o come. four
definitionf
rituals
that t s
a
complex f
words
and
actions
including
he
manipulation
f
objects)
hen
t remains
o be
shown
what
precisely
s
the nterconnexion
etween
he
words
ndthe
ctions. his
shall
ttempt
o
show
n
respect
f
theTrobriand
magical ystem,aying articular
attention
o
the
verbal
omponent.
efore
can
do
this,t snecessaryo
clear he
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THE MAGICAL
POWER OF WORDS
decks
y critically
eviewing
oth he
heory
f
anguage
which
Malinowski im-
self ropounded o explain
Trobriand
magic,
nd
also
certain ther ttemptsy
philosophersnd inguistso account or hebeliefnverbalmagic.
Theoriesfmagicalanguage
Malinowski's iews
on language
can
be roughlydivided
nto
two
related
theories,
ne
pertainingo whathe called
n
ethnographic
heory
f
anguage'
n
general,
nd theother o the
anguage
f
magic
n
particular.
The chief eature f
his
general heory as the
pragmaticharacter
f anguage.
Languagewas
not
o
much vehicle
or
xpressing
deas, oncepts
r
categories,
s
for
chieving ractical
ffects. e recognise
n
this
tand self-consciousttack
n
the
mentalistic
heories f
language
urrent
n his
time,
uchas thoseheld
by
Sweetand Sapir
I92I).
Malinowski's pproach o language orresponded ith
his
approach
o
myth
nd
magic: anti-intellectualistic,on-explanatory,
eeing
them
imply
s
hard-worked
oolsfor
practicaliving.
Malinowski
made no
distinction
etween
langue'
and
parole', anguage
nd
speech.
His
analysis
as
specifically
elated
o the
peech
ontext.
peech
was
a
part
of concertedctivity,
ike
gesture
nd
motion,
an
adjunct
o
bodily
ctivities'.
Words
were
part
f action
nd
were
equivalents
o actions
i965b: 9).
It
is
from
this
perspective
hathe
developed
his contextual
heory
f
meaning'
nd the
notion
f
the
pragmatic
etting
f
utterances'.he role
of
anguage
ould
only
be
understoodn relation o other ctivities;anguageregulated oncertedwork,
transmitted
nowledge
nd set in motion
series f tribal
ctivities,
nd
'the
effective
orce f suchverbal cts ies n
directly
eproducing
heir
onsequences'
(i965b: 49).
His
definition
f
meaning'
was a
logical
derivative romhis
pragmatic ers-
pective: Meaning
s
the
ffectf
words
n
humanminds nd
bodies
nd
through
these
on the
environmental
eality
s created
r
conceived
n a
given
culture'
(i965b:
53). Compare
his ormulation
ith hat
f
structural
inguistics
orwhich
the
speaker
nd
the
istener
re
contingent
nd
belong
to
'la
parole',
whereas
meaning
s
the
relation etween
ign
nd
the
thing ignified,
etween
significant'
and signifie',whichbelongto theengraphic ystemf la langue'.9,
Linguistsave
criticised
alinowski
or
onfusing
he
ontext
f
situation
ith
other
evels
f
analysis
ertaining
o
anguage ua anguageJ.
R. Firth
957).
It was
his
passion
or
iewing
words
s
a
part
faction hat
made
Malinowski
rgue
with
excessive
lourishhatwords
had no existence
nd
that exts
ivorced
rom
ontext
were
meaningless.
hese
rguments
ere
directly
ontravened
y
him
because
his
exposition
n
Coral
ardens
nd heir
agic
as
n
terms fa
wordfor
word
transla-
tion
nd
a
commentary
n recorded
exts.t was the
ame
histrionic
alent
hat
ed
himto dwell
on the
problem
f
meaningless
ords nd
the
coefficientf
weird-
ness'
n
magical anguage.
n
fact
his translation
as
excellent
nd
he concluded
that he coefficientf ntelligibility'nthe pellswashigh.Hisstrategyfteasing
the
credulous
eader nd
taking
im
on a
circuitousnd
repetitiousoute,
trewn
with
his
sins f
commission
nd
omission,
as
adopted
o
that
dramatic
nswer
could be
produced
n
the
end,
which
was
that
magical anguagewas eminently
intelligible.
nd he
graciously
onceded hat he
untranslatableordswere
un-
translatable
ecause
he failed
o
get
the ervices f a
'competent ommentator'.
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i86
S. J.
TAMBIAH
Malinowski hose
not to
follow
the
perspectives
ffered
y
this
inding
nd
maintainedhatmagical
anguage
worked
differently
rom
rdinary
peech.The
difference as thatmagicalutterances erebelievedby thenatives o produce
supernatural
ffects hich hey
did
not
expect
rdinarypeech o
produce.The
very
asis
fverbal
magic
was the creative
metaphor
f
magic',
which
uggestive
phrase e
nterpreted
s the belief hat he
repetitive
tatementf certain
ords s
believed
o
produce
he
reality
tated'
I965b:
238).
This
belief
gain,that
he
knowledge
f a name
or
the correct
epetition
f a
formula
roducedmystical
effects,
alinowski raced o
mythological
ssociations
r,
s
he
put t,
some
other
aspect
f Frazer's
rinciple
f
sympathy'
i965b: 232).
The
implication
s
that
he
laws
of association hat
pply
o
ordinary
peech
o not hold
for
magical
peech,
an inferencehat
nevitably
ed Malinowski
o thebarren
onclusion
hat
magical
languagesobjectivelydelusionnd irrationalnnature'. The essence fverbal
magic,
hen,
onsists
n
a statement hich
s
untrue nd
which
tands n
direct
opposition
o the ontext f
reality.
.'
(i965b:
235).
He thus
earched or
nother
kind
frational eason
rounded
n ndividual
sychology
or
he
objectively
alse
use
of
magical
anguage.
There
was however
nother trand
n
Malinowski's
hought
hich
ed himto
posit
a
rather ifferentelation etween
magical
and
ordinary
anguage.
The
question
was,
how
did man
come
to believe n
thefirst
lace
n
the
mysticalower
ofwords?
He
argued
rom is
pragmatist
nd
behaviourist
remisses
hat here
was
a real asis o thehuman
elief nthe
mystic
nd
binding ower
f
words.
anguage
gaveman the ense fpoweroverhisenvironment.The belief hat oknowthe
name
of
a
thing
s to
get
a hold on it s thus
mpirically
rue'
I965b:
233).
Thus
although
e saw
in
magical anguage
bvious
distortions
f
ordinary
anguage
n
the
direction
f
mysticism,
oth
engendered
he belief
n
the
creative
orce
nd
pragmatic
ower
of words
which
he
traced o
childhood
xperience. baby
reacts
o
bodily
discomfort
ith crieswhich
ttract he
mother's
ttention,nd
later
he
hild
earns hat he
utterances
the
ssence
fwelfare
ndthat
t acts
pon
the
nvironment
o
satisfy
tsneeds.Here iesthe
earlymagical
ttitudeo
words,
that
name
ufficiently
ften
epeated
an
mraterialise
he
hing.
Now
this
iographical
heory
s
subject
o the ame
criticisms
hich
have been
directed
gainst
Malinowski's
ttempt
oaccount or
he
lassificatory
ategories
f
kinship
n terms f
ego-centred
xtensions.
urthermore,
his
heory
s
question-
begging
because
the notionof
language
s
prior
o a
child's
comprehension
f
language.
t
s
because dults
espond
o
the
ries s
meaningful,
nd
direct child's
efforts
t
communication,
hat
child
earns
he
concept
nd
use of
language.
Finally,
he
random ctsof a
baby
are
susceptible
f
diametricallypposed nter-
pretations:
Malinowski aw
the child's
physical
grasping
movements s the
beginnings
f ts belief
n
the
power
to
control he
environment,
hile
Cassirer
(I966: i8i)
saw
the
displacement
f
the
grasp
o
a
pointing
r
indicative esture
as thegenesis fsymbolic ehaviour.
I
tumnow
to certain
ther heoristsf
anguage
who
have
tried o account or
the
primitive's
magical
attitude o
words'. I
shall
briefly
mention
he deas of
Ogden
& Richards
I923),
Izutsu
(I956)
and
Cassirer
I953).
Ogden and
Richards's
inguistic
nd
philosophicalrguments
n
The
meaningf
meaningfor
which
Malinowski
wrotehis classic
upplement)
appily onverged
with
Malin-
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THE MAGICAL POWER
OF
WORDS
187
owski's arguments ased on anthropological ield experience.Unlike those
theoristsf todaywho hold the elevated iew of language hat t is thebasisof
categorical nowledge, gden and Richardswere mpressed ith the delusions
producedn manby anguage,a medium eveloped o meet heneeds farboreal
man' and thereforecumbersomenstrument
or
ontemporary
eeds.
They saw
theroots f themistaken elief n themagical owers f words
n
the uperstition
that herewas a direct, ven causal, elation etween he word
and the
thing
t
referredo,between ymbol nd ts eferent.he denotative allacyxplainedman's
logophobia.
There
s
one simple etort o this heory.t s perfectlyonceivable
hat
peakers
of
a
language, specially hosewho are unaware hat here re
other
anguages
n
existence,may
think
hatwords
are
not
arbitrary
nd conventional
ut
truly
representheobjects hey tand or.But surely,fmany ontemporaryesterners
whomaybevictims fthis allacy o not hereby
hink
hat y saying
word
they
can
conjure
up
a
thing
nto
existence,
t
is
amazing
thatwe can
contemplate
attributinghismagical utlook otheprimitive.
his
cavalier
ttitude
f
nvesting
the
savage
with
inguistic athology
s
portrayed y
anotherwriterwho
has
advanceda connotative heory f the origins
f
verbal magic. Izutsu I956)
describes ith
great erceptiveness
he
capacity
f
words
s
symbols
o evoke
n
our minds
eferencesnd mages. xtra-verbally,
ords nable
s to
re-experience
past events, ntra-verballyhey voke the associative etworks etween
words
within he
anguage ystem.
ll this s
impeccable,
ut what warrant
s
there
o
speculate
hat
rimitive
an
believes hat
words
roduce mages
s
concrete
eality?
Cassirer1953) propounded philosophical
um
inguisticheory o
account or
thebasis nd
origin
f
theword venerationeflected idely n religious hought.
He
opposedmythic houghto theoreticaliscursiveogical hought,he wo poles
in an
evolutionaryontinuum,nd directlyinked he volution f religiousdeas
to the evolution f
inguistic
otions. ince t
was languagewhich ctually ro-
duced the
organisation
f
reality
nd
shaped
heforms
f predication,he
con-
trastingharactersf mythic hought
nd
logical thought, e argued,would
be
reflectedn man's
attitude
o
language.
Cassirer
elated he phenomenon
f
the
hypostatisationftheword which mplied henotion hat hename f a thing nd
its essence ear a necessarynd internal elation o each other) o the mythic
consciousness
nd
magination
f
early
man
who
first
rasped is xperience
f
the
world
through eparatemythical mages. Mythic maginationtends towards
concentration,elescoping,eparate haracterization'f images. n the sphere
f
language
t
results
n
the
belief
n
word
magic,
n
attributingphysico-magical
power
o
theword, nd
n
a
relation f dentitynd substantialnity etween ame
and
thing. ogical thought
which
s a
later
developmentn man has an entirely
differentttitudeo
the
word,
which s
seen
s a
symbol ndvehiclewhich
mediates
between he mmediate ata
of
sense
mpressionsnd ideation. eing theoretical
anddiscursive,ogical thoughttendstowards xpansion,mplicationnd syste-
matic
onnection',
nd towards
he
stablishmentf relationsetween henomena
which re alike'
according
o some
co-ordinatingaw.
Cassirer's
heory,
hich
ppeals
o
shaky thnography,s in fact n imaginary
and
speculativevolutionary
cheme
f
religiousdeas and language. n so far s
Levi-Strauss
as
demonstratedhe logical and relational haracter f mythic
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i
8
8
S. J.
TAMBIAH
thought, assirer's asic
dichotomy f modesof
thought isappears. nd f tcan
be demonstrated
hatprimitivemagic s based on
truerelationalmetaphorical
thinking e shall xplode he lassical heorywhichpostulateshatmagic sbased
on the
belief
n
a real identity
etweenword and thing.The basic fallacy
f
linguists
nd philosophers ho search or he origins
f the magical ttitude o
words
s their
rior ssumption
nd
accceptancehat he
primitive as n fact
uch
an attitude. his axiom
they
have derivedprincipallyromFrazer, nd
indeed
fromMalinowskiwho had
affirmedhe ruth f this lassical ssertionn the
basis
of
his
fieldwork.
t
would
perhaps ave been safer or he inguistso have
held
fast
o
their nowledge f how languageworks nd to
have questioned hether
anthropologists
ad
correctlyeported rimitive
hought.
Before conclude his urvey
should efer o another eature f thetheory
f
languageformulatedy Ogden and Richardswhichdid not appeal to man's
evolution
ut
to
a
synchronic
cheme
which
fitted eautifully ith
Malinowski's
assertions.
hey postulated wousesofspeech: he
scientificse n whichwords
symbolised
reference
hich ould
be verifiednrelation o external eality;
nd
the
evocative
r
emotive
se n
which
words
imply ecame igns
or
motions r
attitudes,
heir eferential
ower
being econdary.
. A.
Richards
193 8) argued
hat
poetry
made
ts
mpact hroughhe
emotiveuse
of
language.Malinowski,
oo,
asserted hat
magical anguage
was
an
emotive se
of
language, hatmagicwas
born
of the motional ension f
particular
ituationsnd
that he
pells,
itual cts
and
gesturesxpressed spontaneous
low f emotions.
When carried
way by
his
own emotive se oflanguage,he evenargued hat heparaphernaliand ritual
substances
fTrobriand
magic
wereused s
they appened
o bear
on
the
purpose
of
the
ct
through
motional
ssociation
Malinowski948: 53).
These
tatements
do
not
do
ustice
o
the
highly
ormalised
ature f
Trobriand
ituals.
nd
as
for
emotive
se
of
words,
Richards's
iews
find
heir
match
nd
corrective
n Leach
(I964)
who
has demonstrated
hat ven the
most
motive
words
of
abuse have
a
referential
nd structuralasis.
A
re-analysisf
Trobrianditual
If amcriticalfthese heories should ry ndprovide n alternativeiewof
how the
anguage
f
ritualworks. shall
ttempt
brief
e-analysis
f
ome
spects
of
Trobriand
magic
n
order o
demonstrate
y point
f
view.
But
first should
outline he
cheme
nd
assumptions
hat
uidemy nalysis.
Trobriand
magical anguage
s
intelligibleanguage,
ot
mumbo-jumbo
hot
through
with
mystical
deas
not
amenable
o
rational xamination.
t
is
not
qualitatively
different'
rom
rdinaryanguage,
ut
s
a
heightened
se
of t.
The
same
aws
of ssociationhat
pply
o
ordinaryanguagepply
o
magical anguage.
Trobriand
magic
s a
clear ase
of
a
system
hat
ombines,
moreoften han
not,
word
and
deed, anguage
nd action.Therefore ather han
analyse
he words
separatelyrom he ctionswe should ind wayof inkinghem.
This difficult
nquiry
call
the innerframe'
f
Trobriand
magic,
nd
it
deals
with
he
echnique
f
ransfer,
hemanner
n
which
pells
re
constructed,
he
ogic
of choice
of
the
substances
sed,
nd
the
mode
of
synchronisation
f
linguistic
devices
with hose
f
non-verbal
ction
n
a
structured
equence.
We
may
call this
perspective
he
semantics'
f
Trobriand itual.
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THE
MAGICAL
POWER
OF WORDS
I89
I use the term outer frame' o refer o another evel of meaning.Here
the
ritual omplex s a whole s regarded s an activity ngaged n by individualsr
groups n pursuit f their nstitutionalims.This perspective e may call prag-
matics', nd t correspondsn somewaysto whatMalinowski
alled
he
context
of situation'.t nvestigatesow ritual elates o other ctivities,n whatcontexts
and situationst is practised nd what consequencest may produceforvarious
segmentsf the ociety.
At the ostof oversimplifyingne could saythat here re two perspectives
or
viewing his elationshipetween itual nd other ctivities: itual an be seen
s
a
stimulus r signal or ctivitieshat ollow n time, .g.
in
thecase of
prospective
magicexemplifiedy Trobriand griculturalnd canoe magic, nd as
a
response
to preceding vents, .g. in the case of retrospective'itual, good example
f
which switchcraft.
In investigatingow language nd action resynchronised
n
Trobriand
magic
I
have found t useful o elaborate suggestion ade byJakobsonI956). Having
discussed wo devices r operationsn language, hemetaphoric
nd
metonymic,
which re
based
n
the
rinciples
f
imilarity
nd
contiguity,
e ndicated
formal
correspondenceetween hem nd Frazer's ivision
f
magic nto imitative'
nd
'contagious' kinds also based on the principles
f
similarity
nd
contiguity.
Frazer, ou willrecall, sed hese rinciples ot n relation o thewords ut o
the
objects sed and actions nacted n magical ites.
In
respect f inguisticperationshe oncept f metaphor resents
o
problem.
The dictionary eaning s that t is a figure f speech
n which name or des-
criptive erm s transferredo some object o which t s not properly pplicable.
The implicationsf metaphorwhich s a shorthandxpression use to include
simile
nd analogy) re that t is a surrogate hichhas a dual referenceo the
original bject and to the object for which t now stands. very metaphor r
symbol
ontains
othtruth nd fiction: f t
s taken
iterally
t
misrepresents,
ut
it
is
more
than a conventional ign because
t
highlights
resemblance. he
metaphor
s
a mode of reflectionnd enables
bstract
hought
n
the
basis of
analogical redicationUrban 939). In terms fJakobson'sormulation,he
meta-
phoricuse of language xploits he proceduresf selectionnd substitutiony
which
words r
deasreplace ne another
n terms
f emantic
imilarity.
Contemplate hat mplicationshis evicemay
have
for
itual,
hichhasfor
ts
aim the actual ransferf an attributeo the recipient.he spellcanexploit he
metaphorical
se of
anguage,whichverbally nd
n
thought
makes
he
transfer.
There
s no trick ere; t is a normaluse of language.
The
verbal ransfer
s
an
example
f
whatwas called n traditionalheologyheanalogy
f
attribution.
The
dictionary eaning f metonymys
a
'figure
f
speech
which
consists
n
substitutingor he name of a thing he name ofan attributer partof t', e.g.
when
sceptre'
tands
or authority'. his
sa
case
f he
art tanding
or
he
whole
basedon thecontiguity rinciple.fa metaphors a substitute, metonyms a
complement; oth nvolve erbal ransfer.akobson xpands henotion
f
meto-
nymy
o discuss
inguistic perations, ased on the principles
f
contiguity
nd
contexture, hich enable the formulationf complex
forms
f linguistic nits
according
o
syntactic
ules:
herulesby which
words re combined nd
strung
together
o
form
entencesnd sentencesombined
o
form
tterances.
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190 S.
J. TAMBIAH
Now metonymys traditionallynderstoodnd expanded yJakobson heds
lighton the structurefTrobriand pells.Frequentlyhe variousparts r con-
stituentnits fthe ecipientfthemagic,whethertbea canoeor a human eing,
are
enumerated
nd the
magical ransfer
ade
to each of them.Thus we get
a
realisticicturefthewholebuilt p from he arts, ndthismetonymicechnique
has
several
mplications
or
ending
ealism o the
rite,
or
ransmittingmessage
through edundancy,
or
toring italtechnologicalnowledge n an oral
culture,
and for
he
onstructionf the
pell
tself
s a
lengthy erbal orm.
Both linguistic rocedures,metaphorical hrough ubstitution ermitting
abstractions,
nd
metonymichrough uilding
n
organic
whole
through etails,
are
accompanied
n
Trobriand
magicby
action.
Objects
and
substances
re used as
agents nd vehiclesof transferhrough
contagious ction. n thesevehicles f transfere find xpressed razer's ub-
stitution
or similarity)
nd
contiguityrinciples,
mitativend
contagiousmagic,
but never
n an
exclusivemanner.
A close
analysis
f
Trobriand itual hows
that
it
actively xploits
the
expressive roperties
f
language,
the
sensory
qualities
of
objects,
nd the instrumental
roperties
f
action
simultaneously
in
a
number
of
ways.
The
semantics
f ritual re
more
complex
than
sug-
gestedby Frazer's rinciples
hich ead to absurd nferences
bout the ogic
of
magic.
Now we
are n
a position
o see how these
ropositions old in detail
n
the
Trobriand
ase.
Malinowski onsideredhespell yopa)as the most mportant onstituentf
Trobriand
magic.
The
magical
ites
ook two
forms. n
one, spells
were uttered
without
concomitant
ite
i.e. manipulation
f
objects),
ut his
bbreviated
orm
was
not
practised
n
the
major
ituals.
n
the
other,
hichwas the
more
mportant,
the
spells
were
accompanied y simple
ites f
impregnation'
r
transference',
which shared
common
grammar.I'Typically,
ertain
ubstances
e.g. leaves)
were
brought
nto ontact
ith
n
object
uch
s an
adze,
or a
lashing reeper,
r
a
pregnancyloak,
nd
pells
wereuttered
lose o
them o that
hey
ecame
harged;
these
bjects
n turn
ransferredheir
irtue
o
the
inal
ecipient
f
he
magic.
Thus
thewayugoreeper, hich
was usedfor
ashing ogether
he
parts,mpartedpeed
to the inished
anoe,
nd the harmedmedicationsf
kula
beautymagic onveyed
beauty
nd attractiveness
o the
voyager.
The
most laborate
robriand
pells
had
three
onsecutive
arts: heu'ula, he
tapwana
nd the
dogina.
he
meanings
ssociatedwith u'ula
are
'foundation',
'
cause',
beginning',
first
ossessor',
reason';
the
apwana
ad
a
similar
oherent
range
of
meanings:surface', skin', body', 'trunk',
middle
part',
and main
part';
the
dogina
meant
tip', end', 'tail',
or final
art'.
The
three arts ppear o
present
he
following rogression.
he
u'ula,
which s
brief, tates he basison
which
he
pell
s
constructed,irstly
he
major
heme r
metaphoricaldea which
is elaboratedn thespelland secondly hemythical eroes nd ancestors ho
wielded the
magicalpowers
n
question
nd
with whom
the
magicianhimself
becomes
dentified.
his
secondfeature
s
the
portion
f
the
pell
hat elates
he
magic
o
myth,
which do not
discuss. he
tapwana
s
the
ongestnd mainpart
on whichwe have
to
concentrate
n
order
o
see
how
the
pell
s
constructedndto
unravel
he
ogic
and
technique
f
the
rite.
The
dogina, hich s also brief,s a
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THE MAGICAL POWER
OF WORDS I9t
statementhat he ntended ffect as beenachieved. t is clear hat heTrobriand
spell s constructeds an ordered rogression.
Malinowski escribed he
tapwana
as a 'continuous tream f utterance'nd,
importantor s,he stated hat hismainpart ftheformula as easier o translate
than heu'ula because t was expressed
n
a
less
condensed orm
nd
in
words
approximatingrdinaryanguage.We are thus acedherewithdescriptiveefer-
ential anguage
ather hanuntranslatable
anguage.
In the impler ind f pell list fwords s repeatedn sequencewith hanges
n
key xpressions.
he
list s an
enumeration
f
the
onstituentarts
f
a
canoe,
ra
yam house,
or
the anatomy
f
the
performer.
hese
wordswe may oosely
all
'
substance ords'.The key xpression
s
an
action
wordor
a
verb.The ogic
ofthe
recitation
s
that ach
part
numerated
ndergoes
n
event
r
process y
which
t
acquires hedesiredttributerquality. Examples and3 indiagram illustrate
this onstruction.)lternativelysingle
ubstance ord
or
noun
may
be attached
in
succession
o
a
series
f
verbs
which
represent range
f related tates
r
pro-
cesses see example
a in
diagram).
A more
complex
tructure
onsists f
theuse
of
two series
f
key expressions,
one consisting
f the
bodyparts
f
therecipient,
o
each
of
which re transferred
energies epresentedy
another
eries f verbs
see example b).
DIAGRAM
I. The structuref Trobriand
pells with pecial eferenceo
the
tapwana)
Example
.
The
striking
f the
oil.
Formula in
Coral
ardens
nd heir
agic.
a. Thebelly f mygarden - leavens
rises
reclines
grows
o the izeof
a
bushhen's
nest
grows
ike
n
anthill
rises nd sboweddown
rises
ike he
ronwood alm
lies
down
swells
swells
s
with child
b. List
(garden ests)
List
the
grubs
-->I
sweep way
the nsects I blow
the
beetlewith he
harp
ooth I drive
ff
the
beetle hat ores I
send ff
thebeetle hat
estroys
he aro
underground
I chase
way
the
white
light
n
taro
eaves
the
marking light
the
blight
hat hines
Example
.
Anchoring
he
ardenafterlanting
nd
rectingosts).
ormula
O n Coral arden
and
heir
agic.
Parts f the
garden
amed:
soil 'shallbe anchored'
magical rismkamkokola)
yampole kavatam)
branchingole kaysalu)
stem
aved
rom
he
uttingkamtuya)
training
tick
kaybudi)
uncharmed
rismkaynutatala)
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I92
S. J.
TAMBIAH
partition
tock tula)
slender
upportyeye'i)
boundaryine tuklumwala)
boundary
rianglekarivisi)
light ampole tamkwaluma)
tabooing
tickkaytuvatova)
great ampole kayvalituwa)
Example .Post-harvestagic fprosperity-the
econd ctof
vilamatia
agic anchoringhe
yamhouse ndvillage). ormula 9 in Coral
ardensnd heir agic.
Parts ftheyam
housenamed:
corner toneulilaguva)
'slhall e anchored'
floor
bubukwa)
log house
liku)
compartmentskabisivisi)
young prout f
taytu am sobula)
sticks hat
ivide he og cabin teta)
decorated rontoard bisiya'i)
gableboardskavalapu)
supportsfthatchkiluma)
roof attenkavala)
rafterskaliguvasi)
thatch attenskivi)
lowerridge ole kakulumwala)
thatch
katuva)
upper idge
ole vataulo)
ornamentednd ofridge ole mwamwala)
Other
examples,
which
show the
same
regularity
f
structure, re:
i.
The kayikuna
ulumwoya
pell n kulabeauty
mwasila)magic
I960:
439).
In
this
pellfirst man'skula bjects re enumeratednd
each
s
said
to
boil'; next he
performer'swn headpartsre enumeratednd each
n turnboils' 'to boil', tofoam',
'to stir'
re
frequently
sedto
represent
ctivation):
Inventory
f
kula
objects
My
mint
lant boils); my
herb
rnament,y
ime
patula,my
ime
pot,my
omb,
my mat,
my presentationoods,mypersonal lanket,my magical
undle.
Head
partsnumerated
My
head
(boils); mynose,myocciput,my ongue,my arynx,my peaking
rgan,
mymouth.
2. The renowned
wayugolashing reeper) pell
used
n
canoe
buildingmagic
ransfers
speed
o
the canoeunder onstruction
I960:
43I).
We
should
notethat
echnically
he
lashing reeper
maintains
he cohesion
f
the various
parts
f
the canoe.
Here is
an
enumeration
f the
constituents
f the
canoe,
ach of which
s
followed
y
the verb
'might
eel
over'
i.e. overtake):
Inventory
f
anoe
arts
I
(might
eel
over); mykeel,my
canoe
bottom,my prow,my rib,my
threading
stick,my
prowboard, y
transverse
oard,my
canoe ide.
There re
ome
readily omprehensible
eatures
n
the
pells
onstructedn such
simpleprinciples. uch permutations ith wordsallow fora greatdeal of
repetitiveness
hich
Malinowski
eferred
o as
the
prosaic edantry
f Trobriand
magic. Today
in
the
light
of communication
heory
we
would
say
that the
redundancy
s a deviceused
n ritual o transmitts
messageCherry
96I),
a
point
thathas
already
een
argued y
Leach
I966).
Another
mplication
f
the
epetitiveattern,
hich
n
contemporaryjargon
e
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THE MAGICAL
POWER
OF
WORDS
I93
would
call storeof information'
r 'memory
bank' in the absence
fwritten
language,was
notedcasually
y
Malinowski.Commenting
pon
theKudayuri
canoe mythwhich ontained detailed ccount fcanoeparts nd their uilding
sequence,Malinowski
wrote: lHe thenative]
s quiteusedto recite
ne
after
he
otherhe arious
tages f ustomary
roceedingsn
his wnnarratives,
ndhe does
itwith
n almost edantic
ccuracy
nd completeness,
nd t
s an easytask
orhim
to transferhese
ualities o
the ccounts
whichhe is called
upon
to make n
the
service
fethnography'
I960:
3I8). It
is clear hat he spells
nd myths
ontain
information,
hich
s nottheremains
farchaic
eliefs, ut a living
knowledge
related o technological
nd
social
activities.
Furthermore,
nd this
would emphasise,
he spells have
citedportray
metonymic
se of
anguage,.e.
linguistic
perations
n terms
f
combination
nd
context, asedoncontiguityrinciples. ll theparts f a canoe,ora humanhead
or a
yam
house, omprise
configuration
r a
set
byvirtue
fcontiguous
ssocia-
tion
whichwhen ystematically
ariedwith
ctionwords reates
long
utterance.
Metonymy
o used ends
'realistic'
olouring
o the
description.
Now
each utterance
ounds s
if
t
states n imperative
ransference,
.g.
The
belly
f
mygarden
wells'
or The floor
f
my yam
house hallbe anchored'.
t
is a common
view,
also
shared
y
Malinowski,hat
magical pell
s identifiable
by
its nsistent
se
of
imperatives
nd
that
his
provides
he
evidence
or
aying
that
rimitives
elieve hatwords
reate heir ffects
y
their eryutterance.
his
however
s not he
ase.The verbal
ssertion
s
mediated
y
a
middle
ermwhich
s
the ubstance
or
materia
edica)
nto
which
he
pells
re
uttered;
nd these ub-
stances
n
turn
onvey
he
ttribute
o the
final
ecipient.
t is
thereforeecessary
to
nvestigate
herole
of
these
mediating
ubstances.
Let us
take
as
our
example he substances
sed n two
contrasting
itesn the
gardening
ycle.
The
inaugural
ite
f thefirst
utting
f the oil, he
first
n
the
cycle,
asfor ts
purpose
he
onferring
f
fertility
n
the
oil;
thevilamalia hich
comes
at the end
is enacted fter hestoring f the yams,
nd seeks
o confer
durability
nd
permanence
n the
yam
stocks.
DIAGRAM
2.
The
metaphorical
ssociationsf substances
sed
n
tworites
n
Omarakana
gardenmagic
(compiled
rom oral ardensnd
heir agic,ols.
and
2 and
The exual
Ife
f avages).
Substances
sed
n
the
naugural
ite
first
uttingf
he
oil).
A.
Leaves, lants
nd
creepers.
i. Yoyu:
coconuteaves;
they
are
of
the dark
green
olour
which
he
taytusmallyam)
leaves
hould ave
f
they
reto be
strong
nd
healthy'.
2.
Arecanuteaves:
ame ssociation
s
I).
3.
Ubwara:
ild
plant
with
ong
ubers
hich
re
white nd
beautiful;
sed o thatthe taytu
in
the
garden
will also
produce
eautiful hite ubers'.The
white olour s
associated
with
ertility
nd
purity
n
the
pregnancy
itual.)
4. Kaybwibwi:hitepetals fthefragrantandanus; sed so that he taytuhouldhavea
pleasant
mell . .'
(Here
gain
he
ymbolism
f
whiteness'
sed npregnancyitual
s
relevant.)
5.
Kubila:
plant
with
cented
lowers;
ame ssociation
s
4).
6.
Sasoka:
reewith
ig
round
ulky ruit;
sed o nfluencehe izeof the aytu am.
7. Wakaya:
argest ariety
f
banana;
t
has a
massive runk
welling
ut
near he
ground;
same
ssociation
s
6).
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I94
S. J.
TAMBIAH
8. Youla'ula: reeper ithwhite lowers
nd uxuriant
oliage esemblingaytuoliage;
sed
so that he aytu
ill
have
he ame
uxuriantoliage; lso whiteness'
s
associated
ith
'pregnancy'.
9. a) Ipikwanada creeper ith uxuriantoliage,
b) Yokunukwanadasame ssociation
s
8).
B. Earthyubstances.
IO. Ge'u: enormousmounds craped
ogethery thebushhenforbreedingurposes;
used
so that he aytu aygrow nd swell
up,
ikeone
ofthese
mounds'.
ii.
Kaybu'a:
halk rom
argeboulders;
ssociationame s
io). Also note he ymbolism
f
'whiteness'.
I2.
Kabwabu:arge
ound
nestswhich
hornetsmake n
theground; thetaytuhould
be as
bulging
nd
arge
s
one of these ests'.
Substancessed n
Vilamalia
prosperityf
he
illagemagic).
A. Trees nd
plants;
hematerials
-5
figure
n
the
woacts f
vilamalia
agic
which anchor'
theyamhouse nd thevillage. hemetaphoricalssociationftheobjects s regards
'anchoring'
s clear.
i. Kakema: warf
ree
with owerful oots sed
n
the
firstct of
vilamalia.
2. Lewo: stuntedree eaching
o
very
ld
age,
used
n
the
econd
ct.
3. Setagava: ough
weed with
trong
oots
sed n
thefirstct.
4. Kayaulo:
n
extremelyough
reewhosewood cannot e broken ut anbe
cutwith
n
axe
or knife.
5.
Leya:
wild
ginger
sed n the
econd
ct;
associated ith iercenessnd
toughness.
B. Other ubstances.
Binabina:
tone
r
volcanic ock
mported
rom he
outh;
t s
heavier, ardiernd ess
brittlehan
he
ocal
dead
coral;
he wo stones sed
n
the
itual re alled the
pressers
of
the
floor'which
mpart
heir
ualities
o the tored
ood.
The contrast
n the
meanings
f the
material
ymbols
used
s
clear-cut
see
diagram ).
In the
naugural
ite he
ubstances
rought
nto ontact
with
n
adze
or
ritually lanted
while
the
spell
s
recited re
uxuriant
reen eaves,
wild
plants
which
roduce arge ubers, lants
which
roduce
cented hite
lowersnd
tubers
(the
white
onnoting ertility
nd sexual
purity),
oil
scraped
rom
he
enormous
mounds
made
by
the bush
hen,
tc.
n
the
vilamalia he
ubstances sed connote
hardness
nd
durability; ough
weeds with
trong oots,
wood
of
stunted
ong-
lived
trees,
hard volcanic
rock,
etc.
The
logic guiding
the
selection
f these
articles
s not ome
mysterious
agical
orce hat
nheres
n
them; hey
re
elected
onthebasis ftheirpatio-temporalharactersike ize ndshape ndtheir ensible
properties
ikecolour
nd
hardness hich re
bstract
onceptsndwhich re
given
metaphorical
alues
n
theTrobriand
cheme
f
ymboliclassification.
What then
s
the
gardenmagician
p
to
when
he
scrapes
ome
soil
from bush
hen's
nest, rings
t nto ontactwith n
adze,
nd recites
The
belly
f
my
garden
grows
o
the
ize
ofa bush
hen's
nest'?
s
this
case
of
mysticalontagion
etween
bush
henmound
nd the izeofthe
yam,
r s t
imply metaphoricalquivalence
set
up verbally
etween
he
property
f
size
portrayedy
the
bushhen'snest
with
the
desired ame
property
n the
yam,
nd
ending
he
mental
omparison
n air
of
operational eality y using
the soil of
the
bush
hen's nestas a
mediumof
transfer?he rite of transferortrays metaphoricalse of language verbal
substitution) hereby
n attributes
transferredo
the
recipient
ia a
material
symbol
which
s used
metonymically
s a
transformer.
razer
would
simply
ave
described
he
procedure
s
contagiousmagic.
The
technique ains
ts
realism y
clothing metaphoricalrocedure
n
the
operational
r
manipulative
mode of
practical ction;
t unites oth
concept
nd
action,
word
and deed.
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THE
MAGICAL
POWER
OP
WORDS
195
Confirmation
s ent o this rgument hen
we scrutinisehe
pells
sedwithout
themediation f
material
ubstances,pellswhichthe Trobrianders
all mouth
magic' (o wadola).A good exampleof this categorys themagicof growth
performed
n the middlephase
of
gardening.
he
natives re aware
thatnature
must o itswork
ndthat he
ropshave to sprout
nd
grow
by
themselves.
he
magician's
unction
s
described y
Malinowski
hus: In
a
rapid
succession
f
rites, e hasto
anticipate
ach tagen the
growthf thegardens,
nd timulate
he
various
rucial hases n
thedevelopment
f the
plant . .'
(I96Sa:
I39).
Inthefollowing xamples,
aken rom
ormulae
3, I7 and 8 in
The
magic
f
growth'
I96Sa:
ch. 4), I state
ome suggestiveines nd
then
n
parenthesis
he
native ommentary
ponthem.
Formula 3.
'O
dadeda
ree hat prouts
gain nd
again'. Thenative
ommentary
isthat he dadeda sa plant fextremelyankgrowth;we cut t,alreadyt has
sprouted'.)
The same
formula ontains
thermetaphors
uggesting
peed
of
growth:
'Thy
shoots re s quick s the
yes f
thekapapita,he uick
bird,
Thyshoots re as quick
s the
kababasi'a,hequick
black nts'.
Formula 7.
'Thy head,
0
taytu,
hoots
long as the
millipede hoots long'.
(The
natives ay that he millipede
s notedfor
tsrapidity
f movement.)
Formula8. 'Thy open
space, heopen
spacebetween
hy ranches,
taytu,
he
spider overs
p'. ('The natives
oldme' reports
Malinowski
that
s
the
pider
spinshis web,
so slhouldhe
taytu lantproduce
many
branches'.)
It s obvious hat hemouthmagicdependsntirelynsuggestive etaphorsnd
simileswhich
heTrobrianders
hemselves
ecognises such.
t is puzzling
ndeed
why
Malinowski ho
compiled
otes nnative xegesis
hould ave
nsisted
n the
'pragmatic
unctionf
words'and in the
amebreaththe
mystical
ssociations'
ofmagic.Thus, when
n the
wind-blown ardens
he Trobrianders
nvokethe
imageof a dolphin
laying
n the water,
Malinowskinterprets
heact as
por-
traying
the
mysticalssociation
etween he undulating
movements
f the
dol-
phin
nd the
windings
nd weavings f
thevine . .'
(I96Sa:
I70).I2
Because
of his
commitment
ohis emotional
nd
pragmatic iew
of anguage,
Malinowski
ailed o connecthe
ymbolism
f the naugural
ardenmagic
with
the
pregnancy
itual
whichhe described
n The
sexual ife f avages
I929).
The
gardening
agic onstantlyefers
o thebelly f
mygarden'.
Malinowski
enied
that his mplied
nymetaphorical
llusion
o animalor
humanfertility,ut
he
disarminglyenton to
say: My informants,
s
a matterf fact,
ommented
n
it n
this ense
. . taytus the hild
fthe
garden '
I96Sb:
262-3).
Let
me consider hepregnancy
itual, or t succinctly
lluminates
he nner
orm
of
Trobriand
magic nd
also someof the
behaviour f the
garden
magician.
When a
womanachieves
er
first onceptionhe
abuguwomen
of the
father's
matrilineage,
hiefof whom
is the father's
wn sister)
re charged
with the
conduct f thepregnancyitual. hey preparewofibrekirts ndtwo mantles,
white n
colour;one set
s
worn
by thepregnant
oman t
the elebration
f her
firstregnancy
about he
ifth onth) nd
the econd et fter
hildbirth
hen he
emerges
rom eclusionnd returns
o her
conjugalhousehold.
he mantles
re
the
garments
f pecial mportance
n which
he aykeulo
agic sperformed.
hey
are
placed
on
a mat, hefleshyower
parts f the
creamywhite eaves
of the
ily
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I96
S.
J. TAMBIAH
plantwhich ears
snowywhite lower)re ut nd trewnver
hem nd he
tabuguhrustheir aces
lose nd ay pells.
The ymbolismf hese bjectsnd perations,swell sthosef he ubsequent
rituals,annot eunderstoodithoutaying
lose ttentionothewords fthe
spell
see 929: i8i). Theu'ula, he tem f
he pell, eferso the
waytuva,bird
of
white lumagesimilaro the eef eron)
which s nvitedo
hover ver he
bathinglace ndthe
rincipalocations
f
watern thevillage.
he white ird
is
themajor ymbolnd
heres no doubt
hat he regnancyloak tandsor he
bird's
lumage. he
tapwana,hemainpart f the pell, hows
hefollowing
patterni:
hewhite ird ssaid o make
esplendenthedifferentarts fthe obe
(thetop, fringe,tc.) which
re named
n
turn;nextthe bird makes es-
plendenthe ariousarts f he ody f he
regnantoman rom ead ofoot
(head, ose, heeks,hest, elly, roins,uttocks,highs,nees, alvesndfeet).
The
dogina,
he
onclusionfthe pell, tates
hat he regnantoman asbeen
whitened;metaphoricalquivalence
s
tatedetweenhe
ead f hewoman nd
the
allor eforeawn, er ace
nd
he
whiteproutsf he reca lantI929: I82).
It
s
clear hat he obewhichmaterially
epresentshe ird)
nd ts harming
havefor heir
bjective
he ransference
f
whiteness'
o
the
pregnant
oman.
This s also he
mphasis
n the eremonytwhich woman s
actuallynvested
by
he
abugu
ith he obe fter
ivemonths
f
pregnancy.
he
s
carried
nto
he
water
n
a 'queen's hair'
ormedfhumanrms, leansednd
bathed,solated
fromhe arthndmade o stand n a mat,ubjectedo anelaborateoilet hich
smoothesut nd
whitenser ody, ressedn a robe, ifted p,
carriedndde-
posited
n a
small
latform
n her
ather'sr mother'srother'souse. here
he
remains
levated,acred nd
separated:
he hould ot
speak,
he
s
fed
by
her
tabugu
ecause
he annotouchood,nd he
washes requently
obecome
hite,
and
keeps
ndoors
way
rom
he
un.
Thus
the whiteness' hich s
conveyed
o the
woman tselftands
or
he
attributes
f
elevation,
exual
urityby whitening
she doesnot think
bout
adultery'
nd he
must lso
henceforth
efrainrom exual ntercourseith er
husband)
nd
beauty
f
motherhood.he
bathingeremony,part
rom
itually
cleansinger,oosenshe hildnthewomb.
The
pregnant
oman
s
subjected
o
certainood aboos: he voids
elicacies,
mainly
ruit
kavaylu'a)
or
f
he ats ruithe hildwillhave
big
belly,
t
will
be
full
f
xcrement
nddie.
he
lso
voids ish hative
n ubmarine
oles,
nd
ish
with
harp-pointed
nd
poisonous
ins. he
ogic
f hese
aboos
s
a
metaphorical
similarity
nd
difference
rinciple
hich
s thefirst
ule f Trobriandood aboos:
e.g.
normally
dible
hings
hat
uggest
n
analogy
o
the ondition
f
hemother
in
some espectfruitf he
ree,
ndfishn holes re ike
he hild
n
the
womb)
but re lso
ntagonistic
n certainther
espectsfruitot,
ndfish
n
submarine
holes o
not
easily
merge, ut
childmust e
delivered
asily
nd
whole)
re
tabooed.
One more et ffacts
equires
o be
brought
nto ocus efore e returno the
garden agician.
n the
regnancyitual,
he
oncept
f whiteness'
s
opposed
o
the
oncept
f
blackness'
fblack
magic.
hefatherf he
regnant
oman
as
to
give art
f
he
agali
istribution
o
women
ho
possess
lack
magic,
o
ppease
them,
for
y ddressing
he
mwanitablackmillipede:
he
ymbol
pposite
o the
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THE MAGICAL
POWER OF WORDS
I97
white ird],
he orceresss ableto make
pregnant
oman's kin
lack,
s
black
as
theworm
tself'
1929: I90). If
woman's
kin s
black
he
hasmen
on hermind.
Now the ustoms fmourningfter eath,speciallyhose mposed nawidow,
show
precise
eversal
f
hose
ssociated ith
regnancy.
he
colour f
mourning
is black and
the widow's mourning ehaviour
s
concordant
ith
the idea of
ugliness. he widow's hair s
shaved, he wears
oiled clothes, hecannotwear
ornaments,er
body
s
thickly
meared
with
oot and
grease
whichwill not
be
washed ff or
long time.
Her
bodyblackness
s
associated ith
he
blackness f
witchcrafthich he nd her
matrikin
ust
ublicly
isavow.
he s
confinedn a
small
age
and
relegated
o darknessnside hehouse.
But
herritual
ncleanliness
resulting
n
her
separateness
lso
shares
ome
aspects
f
the sacred tateof
the
pregnant oman, n that he
widow too shouldnotspeak
nd
cannot ouch
food
and thereforeasto be fed.
Some of
the
symbolism
f
the
naugural
ardening
ite nd the food
taboos
imposed nthe
gardenmagician ecome ntelligible
n
the
ight
f
hese acts.
oth
the
garden
nd
the
magician
re considered
pregnant'.
t
is
the
garden
hat
s
impregnated
nd activatedas indicated y theword
vatuvi,hefirst ord of
the
magic formula,
hich means to
make
rise'),
and
the
white scented
egetable
substance
nd coral chalk
used
n
the
rite
have the
same value as
thewhite
ub-
stancesn the
pregnancy
itual. ut it
s
the
magician
who simulateshe
woman
and
practises
er
food
taboos.Thus n
the act
of
striking
he
soil',
as
he inserts
a saplingnto theground, e assumes female itting ositionwhichno male
would
normally
dopt,
or
men
quat
nd
women itwith heir uttocks
ouching
the
ground
i965a: ioi).
The food taboos
he observes
re
the
following.
He
cannot
at
immature r
imperfectaytu
aken rom hesoil during he
thinning rocess,
orthey mply
imperfecthildren; nd the inabird
with
black
plumage, uttle ish
which quirt
black
fluid, nd
other
lack
fishwhich iveamong oralrocks
all associated ith
the
nauspiciousness
f
black)
re
forbidden. e alsoavoids
he lesh
f
he
ordinary
bush hen
and its
eggs,wakaya
ananas,
nd
tubers
f the
ubwara
reeper,
ll
of
which re
either
mentioned
n
the
pell
or
usedas
substance
n
the
naugural
ite:
the ogicofthese aboosbelongs oa second ule lucidatedelow.
One
last
xample
will
help
o
round
ff
ur discussionor
t ntroduces
he hird
primaryolour fred nd also
brings utother imensionsfthe
ogic
of
thefood
taboos.The
aim
of
the
beauty
magic'
of
kula
mwasila)
s to
make
each man
at-
tractivend
rresistibleo
his
kula
partner,
nd
the
magic
harks
ack to
the
myth
in
which an
ugly
old man is
transformednto a
radiant,
harmingyouth.
All the
voyagers
wash
in
sea
water,
rub
themselves ith
medicated
eaves,
apply coconut grease on
theirbodies,
tease
out their
hair
with
combs,paint
ornamental
esigns
n
theirfaces
n
red
and
black,
and
insert
n
theirwhite
armletsmint
lants
reserved
n
coconut il. In
the
pells
ecited
e.g. kaykakaya
andtalo pells,ee
960:
338-9)themaj r referencesto redcolour srepresented
by
certain
inds
f
redfish
e.g.
Red
paint,
ed
paint
f
the
udawada
ish')
which
are the foundation'
f
the
pell.
With
characteristic
egularity
he
pell ays
hat
thevarious
ula
ppurtenances
nd
the
parts
f
the
head
ofeachman
will
flare
p'
and
flash'.
It s clear
hat
his
magicdoes
not
ay
hat
he
men
becomeredfish
r
that here
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I98
S. J.
TAMBIAH
is a
substantial
dentity
etween
hem,
ut
t
simply
ostulates
comparison
between
he
edness
f the ish nd
the edpainting
n thehuman
ace,
edness
itselftandingor lashingnd rresistiblettractiveness.tthe ame ime he act
that
edfish
re
tabooed
ood n
the xpedition
'We
eat
bad
fish
ndwe
are
ugly')
eaves
s in
no doubt
hat he dentification
ith
edfish
y
physical
ingestion
srepudiated,
hat
he omparison
s
strictly etaphorical,
nd hat
he
'transfer'
ade
s that
f bstract
ualities
nd
notphysical
esemblance.
hus
we
can
nferhe econd
aw
ofTrobriand
ood
aboos: bjects
nvoked
s
metaphors
whose
bstract
ttributes
re
obe transferred
othe
ecipient
f
he itual
must
e
avoided
s food,
herebynambiguously
ejecting
ny hysical
dentification
ith
them.
Myelucidation
f
Trobriand agical
ymbolism,
ts nner
emanticrame,
s
thusuite ifferentromhat fMalinowskiho ttributedo this eautymagic
'an
exceedingly
bscure
nd
confused
oncatenation
f deas'
andsaid
thatt
expressed
one
ofthe
ypical
orms
f
magic
hought,
he ontagion
f deas'
s
propounded
y
Frazer. here
s much
more hat
anbe said
bout
Trobriand
colourymbolism
see ppendix)
hich gain
hows systematic
rganisation
ot
appreciated
y
Malinowski.
t would
ppear
hat
Malinowski
isunderstood
he
'semantics'
f the
magic
he
described,
ut
that e
hada
keen
ppreciation
f
another
eature
f hat
magic,
ts uter
rame.
The elationetweenagicnd echnicalctivity
The
final uestion
dealwith
s the uter
ramefTrobriand
agic,
tsprag-
matics,
hich
shall
hrase
s follows:
What
s
the
elation
etween
robriand
magic
nd
practical
ctivity?
must
mphasise
hat am
dealing
erewith
ro-
briand
rospective
agic
nd
shall
rgue
hat
he xamination
f
the
unctional
relationship
etween
agic
nd
echnicalctivity
eveals
refraction
f hemagical
prism
hat
as
not
yet
een
ullyppreciated.
A rite
s
never
onducted
n a
vacuum,
ut
n the ontext
fother ctivities
r
events
hich
recede
t nd ollow
t.Malinowski
nsisted
hat
heTrobrianders
id
not onfuse agic ith racticalork; orhemhe oad fmagicmegwaakeda)
was
distinct
rom
he oad
f
garden
ork
bagula
a
keda).
et
at the ame
ime,
magic
nd
practical
ork
were,
n nativedeas,
nseparable
romach
other,
though
hey
ere
ot
onfused.
From he
vidence
linguistic
nd
behavioural)
e
provided,
here
s
ittle
oubt
that
hewhole ycle
f
gardening
r
ofcanoe
uilding
ust e
seen
s one
ong
series
f
activities
hich
orm
regular
attern
f
M-*T,
M->.T,
M->-T,
M-*T;
where
M stands
or
he
magical
ite
ndT
for
he
echnical
peration
that
ucceedst.
We
could ubstitute
for where
social ctivity
s nvolved.)
Malinowski'sescriptions
learly
how hat
here
s a
long
hain
n
which
wo
distinguishableindsf ctivitiesere nitednanalternatingequence.t sonly
when
we
see
n canoe
uilding,
or
xample,
hat
irstly
he
equences
f
echnical
construction
re
punctuated
y
magical
ites
hich
recede
hem,
nd
econdly
that
or
he
Trobriander
he
uilding
f
he
eagoing
anoe
s
nextricably
ound
up
with he
general
roceedings
f
the
kula
that
n fact he
onstruction
f
the
canoe
sthe irst
ink n
the
hain
f he ula
xchanges),
hat
e can
ppreciate
he
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THE MAGICAL POWER OF WORDS
I99
semantic ontent f the magical
pells nd the functionalelation f
the rites o
their xtra-ritualontext.
Diagram3 is a summary fthe equences fmagical ites nd technicalctivities
in canoebuildingwhich ogether
orm single hain. shall elect
hree equences
in canoe building orparticularomment. he ligogu pell s uttered
n theory o
impartmagical virtue o the adze;
it is followedby the technical ctivity f
scooping ut the canoe
hull
andmaking he
canoe
parts;
he
pell
s such vokes
images f thefantasticpeedof thecanoe about to be built.Another
perations
the
fixing
f
the
ornamental
row
boards;
t s
mmediatelyreceded y
the
reci-
tation fkulabeauty mwasila)magicwhich
will make he anoeowner rresistibly
attractive
o his
kula artner.
ne
of
the
most
mportantpells,
he
wayugo
lashing
creeper),
n
tsverbal ontentmparts reat peed
o the anoe
while
he echnical
operation hatfollows s the fixing fgunwaleplanks ndribs, nd the ashing
together
f the
parts
with he ashing reeper.
DIAGRAM 3. The nter-relationfmagical M)
andtechnical
T) sequences
n
canoebuilding.
i. First hase all ritual equencesxcept he
first
reperformedy the anoe-building
xpert).
Mi Rite of offeringo wood-spirits
nd their xpulsion efore he ree,which
n anticipa-
4.
tion
s
referredo
as canoe'
waga),
s
cut.
Ti Felling fthe ree nd cuttingfthe og nto herough hape f the anoe.
M2
Rite
for
dispelling
he
heaviness
f the
og
and
for
giving
t
lightness;
he
pell
lso
l{. evokes
he
mage
f a
fast anoe.
T2
Carrying
f
the
og
to
thebeach.
M3 Chantingf he igugupell o mpartmagical irtue othe dze;the pelln fact vokes
images
f the
fantastic
peed
of the canoe and
itsparts which
re
enumeratednd
4-
charged
ith
peed).
T3 Scooping ut of the anoe
nd
making
f
the anoeparts.
M4 Rite
of final
etermination';
he
anoemakes p itsmind o run uickly.
2.
Secondphaseall
ritual
equences
re
performedy
theowner
f
he
anoetoliwaga)).
MS
Kula beautymwasila) agic
s
performedythe wner o nfluenceiskula artner.
Ts Fixing f ornamentalrow
boards.
M6
Chanting
f
wayugolashing
reeper) pell
o
give peed
o the
canoe.
T6
Fixing
f
gunwale lanks
ndribs
nd
ashing
f
the
artswith
he
reeper.
M7 Ritesofsmokingndfumigatingo cleanse he anoe ndtoimpart peed;chanting
4,
spellsver
he
aints.
T7 Painting
f the anoewith
black
primaryolour),
ed
and white olours.
M8
Kula
mwasila) agic
nd
staining
f the
red
mouth'
ochre pots
n bow
and
stern)
4.
performed.
T8
Launching
f the
anoe.
S
Proceedings
oncludedwith he
ceremonialnd
social ctivityfsagali ceremonial
distributionffood
by
the anoe wner o the
builders
ndhelpers).
It
is clear
hat he
chief ocus
f
the
canoe
magic
s
udged by the
words aid s
the
ubsequent
ula ctivities
n
which
reputation
s
gained hrough
he peed nd
seaworthinessf thecanoe whichgiverenown o the owner, nd thepersonal
success
f
each
man in his
dealings
with
his
partner. ut there ppears
o be a
discrepancy
n
that
hese
words
re
said
mmediatelyefore cooping
ut the og,
or
lashing
he
canoe,
or
fixing
he
prow-boards nd
are
ndeed ddressed
o the
implements
nd
parts
sed
n
these
perations. ence we maywellwonderhow
the dramatic
escription
f feats
f
sailing angive magicalvirtue o an adze
or
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200
S. J. TAMBIAH
what elation he
ixing
f
the
prow-boards
as
to thebeauty
f
the owner.Since
explanations
n
termsf rrational ysticalssociations
eem o me to be the efuge
ofthe iteral-minded,must eek differentnswer.
Surely here
s
another ay forward?We can ask thequestionwhether here s
not an
expansion ndoverflow
f
meaning rom he
mechanics f therite o the
humanparticipants
hemselves, ho, let us not forget,
re alwayspart of the
scene.
shall
presentlyxamine his uggestionmore
rigorously,ut et me here
pose the question
whether sharp dze is not an
extension nd partof thecanoe
builder,
nd theornamental
row-board
n
apt representation
f
thepainted ace
and
plumed
head of
the
canoe-owner
eading
n
expedition?More
importantly,
is not the expanded
meaning f the magicalritual n imaginative,rospective
and
creativenderstanding
f
hevery echnologicalperations
nd social ctivities
theTrobriandersrepreparingo enact?
It was precisely ecause
he
viewed
Trobriand
magic
n
terms f the context f
situation' hatMalinowski
lluminatinglyrgued hatmagic signals,naugurates
and
regulatesystematic
ork.But
he
subjectedhis ositive
ociological
unctional
statemento a negative
sychological
unction hichwas in direct
ontradiction
to the
first.
e
arguednarrowly
hat
magic
s
a
product
f man's
imitations
f
thought,
f
gaps
n his
empirical nowledge,
hat t is
objectively
bsurd
ut
has
a
subjective ragmatic
ationale
s an
anxiety-queller.e thus
reduced
highly
formalisednd structured
ystem
o the
pontaneousxpression
f
emotion
with
no intellectualontent. t would be more n linewithhisevidence o say that
Trobriand
magic
s a
testimony
o
the
creativity
f
thought,
hat
ts
ogic
is
an
anticipatory
ffect. am not
merely tating
hat he
magicprovides
ncentives
o
work-though
that s a
part
of
the matter.More
importantly
t
is
a
blue-print
and
a
self-fulfillingrophecy
nd
embodies
or
heTrobriander
n
understanding
of
the
technical,
esthetic
nd evaluative
roperties
f
his
activities,
n
a
manner
denied
o us
in
our
segmented
ivilisation.he
point
bout
gardening
s
not
that
it
s
uncertain utthat t
s
a
regularisedctivity epeated ear
fter
ear
nd with
which
s
associated
he
pride
of
matrilineal
alues
reflected
n
generous rigubu
payments;
he
point
boutthekula
s
not
so
much he
dangers
t carries ut
that
expeditionsreregularlymade to prove ndividual uccess hrough ompetitive
transactions
ith
neighbours
ast
n
therole
of
stereotyped
ierce
oreigners.
n a
sense robriand
magical
ituals
roduce
what
hey redict,
ot
n deal
or
fantastic
terms
s
painted
n
myths
ut n terms hat re in accordancewith
reality.
he
Trobrianders
egularlynjoygood
harvestsndkulauccesses.
Perhaps
can
make
my point obliquely hrough
he
words
of
Wittgenstein,
who
wrote:
'An
intention
s
embedded
n its
situation,
n
human ustoms
nd institutions.
If the
technique
f
the
game
of chessdid
not
exist,
could
not
ntend o
play
a
game
of
chess.
n so
far s do intend
he
onstruction
f
sentence
n
advance,
thatsmadepossible ythefact hat canspeak he anguagenquestion'
I953:
io8).
The Trobrianders
ractise rospectivemagic
because
they
have
engaged
n
systematicallyonceived
ctivities
n the
past
and
because
hey
ntend o engage
in
them n
thefuture.ut whenfate oeswithhold he
regularity
f
events,
hen
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THE
MAGICAL POWER
OF WORDS 20I
pigs
run
way
nto
the
bush,
when
drought
trikes r when canoes
prove
unsea-
worthy,hey
esort
o a
retrospectiveystem
f vil
magic bulubwalata)
ith
which
to re-orderheirxperiencendcometo terms ith ailure. swith ll classicypes
ofwitchcraft,heTrobriandystem ealswith misfortunes
x
post,
ot n
terms
of laws
of
nature' ut
n
terms
f
deviation rom
n deal order
f social
relations.
We can now return o the
question: o whom are rituals ddressed nd what
kinds
f
effects
o
they
eek
o
produce?
his
question
s
not
problematic
hen
he
rituals
n
question
re
directly
ddressed o human
beings
s in
healing ituals,
initiationites, eautymagic
nd the ike
e.g.
Levi-Strauss
963:
ch.
O;
Turner
I964).
But
what
about
agricultural
nd canoe
building
ites?
escriptions y an-
thropologists
f
these
lmost
ersuade
s that t is immaterial
bjects
uch s
the
adze and the
canoe
or the soil that re
addressed nd
that he
spells
nd
magical
substancesreused s causal gentsn direct ontraventionfknown hysicalaws.
The
Trobrianders
rovide
s with
revealing
asewhich
mystified
alinowski
and
which
hrows
ight
n our
problem.
efore nd after he
filling
f
the
cere-
monial
yam
houses
bwayma)hey erform
he vilamalia
magic:
the
ritual
words
anchor he
yam house,
nd hard
binabina
tones nd
tough
ubstancesre
placed
on the
floor
o
impart ualities
f
durability.
alinowski
hrased
is
ncompre-
hension
hus: Whereas he
bjective acts eveal o us that he
whole
performance
is directedt theyam-house,t thefood accumulatedhere, hecomments
f
the
native
make the human
organism he real subject-matter
f
magic
nfluence'
(i965a:
226).
While
therite
ays
hat
heyam house,yams nd
the
village
hould
endure,
he Trobrianders ave
not
theslightestoubt that
t does
not
directly
act
on
the food but
on
the human rganism,
pecificallyhehumanbelly.
f
the
vilamalia erenot
performed anand womanwould want o eatall the ime, ut
after
ts
performanceungerwould be reduced, nd the yamswould rot
n
the
storehouse.
Malinowskifound
this explanation stonishing nd wrote an unnecessary
harangue
n the
Trobrianders'
isunderstandingf the process f nutrition
nd
metabolism
matched y theirmisapprehensionf the fundamentalsf human
procreation).
What are thefacts? he natives ave postulated homology etween heyam
house and
the
human
belly.
A
man's ceremonial torehouse s filledwith
the
urigubuifts-the ams re usedprimarilyor eremonial istributionsr forwasi
(ceremonial arter). he yamsare the foundation f wealth nd a Trobriander
gloats
verhis
full torehouse. ne never eturns yam to the torehouser adds
to
its contents.
t
s
better o
ettheyamrot handeplete he tock.
While
the
yamhouse hould e full',thehuman tomachwhichdiminisheshe
yams houldbe 'empty'.The Trobriand deology n the midst f plenty s that
abstention
romfood s a virtue, nd to have little ood or to show hunger s
shameful.
here s
no greaternsult hanno foodthine' r thyhunger'.Now, in
Trobriandhought hebelly s notonly hereceptable ffood, t s also the eat f
emotions
nd
understandiingI965a:
io). It s the torehousef magical ormulaend
traditions,
.e.
it sthe eatof memory
I960:
409). Sincethebelly s the abernacle
of
magicalforce, ood taboosand restrictionsre ntimatelyonnected iththe
preparationsf themagician o achieve sacred tate efore erforming agic.
The
Trobriandogic s that rite onducted ealisticallyo make he torehouse
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202
S. 3.
TAMBIAH
endure
s really
metaphorical
nalogy rging
hehuman elly
o restrain
ts
hunger
ndgreed
or ood.
t sthe
belly hat
hears' nd understands'
he
ite
whichs externallyerformednan nanimatebject. heTrobriandersarryhe
metaphor
urther
o ts xacting
onclusion.
here
s
Trobriand
aboo n
cooking
imposed
nany
welling
hat
tandsn
thenner
ing
fthevillage
ear he
yam
houses.
n fact,
nly he
bachelor
ouse nd
he hief's welling
tandhere,
nd
cooking
s
prohibited
n them.
heTrobriand
hrasing
f he
aboo
s nterms
f
the
sensibility
f the
aytuyam)
o the
mell f
cooking'.
s
itso
difficult
o
understand
hatt
s the
humanelly
hats sensitive
o cooking
n the
icinity
f
theyamhouses?
Thust s
possible
oargue
hat
llritual,
hatever
he
diom,saddressed
o
the
human
articipants
nd
uses
technique
hich
ttempts
o
re-structure
nd
integratehemindsnd motionsf he ctors.he echniqueombineserbalnd
non-verbal
ehaviour
nd
xploits
heirpecial
roperties.
anguages
an
artificial
construct
nd ts
trength
s that
ts orm
wes
nothing
oexternal
eality:
t
thus
enjoys
he ower
o
nvoke
mages
nd
omparisons,
efer
o time ast
nd
future
andrelate
vents
hich
annot
erepresented
naction.
on-verbal
ction
nthe
other
and xcels
n
what
words
annot
asily o-it
cancodifynalogically
y
imitating
eal vents,
eproduce
echnical
cts
nd
express
ultiple
mplications
simultaneously.
ords
xcel
n expressive
nlargement,
hysical
ctions
n real-
istic
resentation.
It s a truerributeo the avagemind
o
ay
hat,
ather
han
eing
onfusedy
verbal allaciesr actingndefiancefknown hysicalaws,
t
ingeniouslyon-
joins
he
xpressive
nd
metaphorical
roperties
f
anguage
ith he perational
and mpirical
roperties
f echnical
ctivity.
t s this
which ivesmagical
pera-
tions
realistic'olouring
nd
llows
hem
o chieveheirxpressiveness
hrough
verbal ubstitution
nd transfer
ombined ith
n instrumental
echnique
hat
imitates
ractical
ction.
evi-Strauss
I963:
22I)
has ptly
aid
hatmagic
reats
certainumanctions
s
f
hey
re
art
f
physical
eterminism.
etme
mphasise
that
heres
only simulation
nvolved
ere,
nd
that hemechanics
re
also
accompanied
y
a 'humanisation
f natural
aws'
which
mplies
ot only
hat
materialbjectsndsensoryates regiven ymbolic eaningsutalsothat
supernatural
ntities
repostulated
nd mpersonated
y
human ctors.
anguage
figures
mportantly
n this ouble
elation
fritual
o
myth
n
the nehand
nd
instrumentalction
n
the ther.
This
perspective
llows s
notonly
o
retrieve
urselves
rom
he
Frazerian
absurdity
ut lso
o see
ertain
roblems
n Mauss's
ormulation.
auss
I902-3)
was urelyight
nhis iew hat
magical
deas
re
category
f ollective
hought.
He wasnot ensitive
o
the
ole
fwords
n
magic
nd oncentrated
rimarily
n
themanual
ct.
Taking
he otion
f
mana
shis oint
freference,
e ocated
he
concept
f
spiritual
orce s the
ssence
f
magic,
omparable
o our
oncept
f
'mechanicalorce',ndwasthusbleto assimilate agic o themoregeneral
theme
f
ausality.
agic
was
described
s a 'gigantic
ariation
n the
rinciple
of
causality'.
ut his heoretical
tep
lso ed
him
o assert
hat
magic
as
absurd
fromhe
tandpoint
fpure
eason'.
While erhaps
auss nderstood
ome
spects
of
the
nner
rame
f magical
ction,
specially
he
technique
f
transfer,
e
missedts
xpanded
eanings
ndrefractions.
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THE MAGICAL POWER
OF
WORDS 203
Levi-Strauss
as applaudedMauss's views
and has therefore
ot been able
to
extricate imself rom the
difficultiesontained
n them. n The
savage
mind
(I966
ch.
)
Levi-Straussacillatesn a series f equivocations henhe firstrgues
on the ines
of Mauss, thatmagic postulates
n all-embracingeterminism,
n
'unconsciouspprehensionf
he ruth fdeterminism',an act
offaith
n
a science
yet o
be
born',
.e. thatmagic
s ike cience; hen hifts isground
n theface
f
magic's ometimesllusory
esults o say that
o order s better
han
not to
order
and thereforetaxonomy'
as represented
n
magical deas has
eminentesthetic
value,
.e.
magic
s
like
art;and finally ays hat
he
analogy
etween
magic nd
science s merely ormal, ndthereforenstead
f contrastingagic
nd
science,
t
wouldbe betterto compare
hem s two parallel
modes
f
cquiring
nowledge'.
Thesevacillationsndicate
t east hat heprimitive
aswith ncomparable
it
nd
imagination osed for anthropologyn ingenious uzzle.Malinowskiwas by
comparison ore onsistent
nd ess quivocal nd n
somewaysremarkablylose
to Evans-Pritchard.13
alinowski
was quite
clear
n
his
mind that
Trobriand
magical deas
shouldnot be
confused ith deas
of
determinism
mplied
n
their
practical ctivities;
nd he was equally clear
thatmagic and practical
ctivity
were
oined
n
complementarity
n one
total
eries.
his
view
commendstself
o
serious onsideration.
APPENDIX:
Trobriand olour ymbolism
The Trobrianders
ppearto
have three rimaryolours-white,
ed and black-which
are
of aesthetic,
ymbolic nd ceremonial
mportance. hite
nd red have relativelynam-
biguousmeanings,lackhas positivend negativespects hifting ith ontext,lthought
too
has a dominantmeaning. erhaps
more mportant
han heir ingle alues s their on-
figurational
ignificancehen llthree olours recombined,
s for xamplen face nd canoe
painting.
summariseelow firstheconnotations
f each colour eparatelynd then f
all
threen combination.
Primaryolours
White.
set
fritualsn which
white ppears s thedominantolour
s that ssociated ith
pregnancyreferred
o n the ext). he dominantymbol
or he pell ndthe ite s thewhite
bird
bwaytuva,
r
the whitepigeon.
The fibre r
banana eaf cloaks nd skirts
hich he
pregnant oman
dons re white n colour. n therite
or harminghecloak creamywhite
leaves nd
white
lowersfthe ily reused.During
er oilet he ace ndbody
of
the
woman
are troked ith hemother fpearl hell nd she sdeckedwithwhite hell rnaments.Note
that
hekula aluablesrered necklaces)ndwhite armlets).)
n the regnancyitual hewhite
symbolisms
expressedn termsf whiteningnd smoothing
f the kin
nd body.Washing
and
cleansing
lso
achieve his bjective.
Whiteness ere tands or:beauty
f bodybutnot
of
an
erotic ind;fertilityr conception;
exualpurityn that hepregnant
oman mustnot
indulge
n
adulteryr even ntercourse
ithherhusband;levated tatus
ike hat fthe hief,
expressed y
sitting n a platformnd being off he
ground'. n the naugural gricultural
rite,
which
lso
connotesmpregnatingf the oil and
therising f thebelly f thegarden,
white
egetable
ndchalky ubstancesreused seetext).
Whitenessas lso certain eripheral
negative
onnotationss n the aseofthewhite light
hat ttacksheyam eaves nd lbinism
of
human
eings.
Black.Witchcraft
nd orceryre ssociated ith lack,
neof heir ominantymbols eing
mwanita,heblackmillipede. lacknessf skin s consideredgly nduiattractive; ith lack
skin
as opposed
o whitenedkin)go patchy kin, oils,
lcers, aldness,
eformitynd de-
fectivepeech.
lacknesslso connotesdulteryn women:
f woman's kin s black he
has
mnen
n hermind.
Blackness ets tsunambiguousmphatic
xpressionn mourningustoms
when he
widow
wears irty lothes,erbody s blackened
ith reasend
charcoal,
hedoes
not wash
nd
sprohibitedromwearing estivelothes,
rnamentsndscent. hus black
s
2-M.
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204
S. J.
TAMBIAH
associated
ithphysical
nd ritual
irt. aradoxically
y
shaving er
headhair
nd bybeing
blackened,
hewidow
and the ffmes)
howthat hey
re
nnocent f
witchcrafthich
may
have aused he eath. ut havingfhairwillbecomemore omprehensiblehenweexamine
Trobriand
onceptions
fbeautynd
headdecoration.
The garden
magician's
ood aboos
ncludehe
voidancefblack
ish.
lackness,
owever,
has
n certainontexts
ositive irtue.
child's ead
s smeared
ith harcoal
nd coconut
il
tomake
hehead trong.
blackheadof
hair
s
positively
eautiful.
lso,
black
olour
as
he
power
odispel
he
very
hingt s associated ith-sorcery,
itchcraft,
nd evil
ntentions.
Whenblack
s used n
combination
ith ther olours
t has
positive
onnotations.
Red.
Kula beauty
magicfor
ttracting
hekulapartner
uts mphasis
n
red.Red paint
s
called
alo,
which
s
also
thename
foneof
hemwasita
agic pellssee
Malinowski
960: 337,
339).
The major ymbol
n this
magic s the
red fish.
Red fishs also
theproper ood
for
ancestors,
resumably
n order o
'animate'them
r their ower.
Redness
on the
whole
connotes
adiance,
nimation,
rresistiblehysical
harm nd beauty.
The main
words
as-
sociated ith alo re kataflaresp) and namilaflashes)
I960:
449). n thebeauty itual er-
formed or
eremonialancing
nd courtship,edness
as
erotic alue.
Chewing
f
betel
nut
(which roduces
ed iquid)
s associated
ith excitement'.
overs hew
betel
nuttogether.
In
the
kula, etel
ut
s
given
o
the
artner
fter harming
t
with
seducing
pell.
Red
appears
ohaveno special
ssociation
ith lood,
xcept
hat heTrobriand
heory
f
conception
ays
hat hemother
ontributes
lesh nd
blood
to
the
hild.Nor does tappear
o
stand
onspicuously
or
matrilineal
alues
s
among
heNdembu.
The Trobriandersave
no
menstruation
aboos, or special
blutions
t first
menstruation,
nd
there s no pronounced
dislike r
dread f menstruous
lood' (Malinowski
929: I44-5).
Face
paintingsoba)
and
head rnamentation
Allthe olours ome ogethernthisctivity. alinowskit severaloints
otes
hat ll three
colours reused or ainting
f
he acewith racefulcrollsnddesigns,uthedoesnotbother
to
document
he ntricacies,
rimarily
ecause
eviews
hematters
simplyrnamental
nd
nothingmore.
But
he shows livelyppreciation
f Trobriand
rnamentation
ndceremonial
display,
nd
provides
nough
vidence or
s
tocompile
he
ymbolic
asis.
The
Trobrianders
arely aint
heir odies,
ut noint
hemwith romatic
il. The
wished-
for
tate
f
the
ody
nd ts
kin s whiteness'.he
shape
f the
deally
eautifulace s that
f
the ullmoon Malinowski
929:
249),
in which
mage
oundness
nd
whitenessre
xpressed.
The main roticnterest
ftheTrobriander
s
focused
n
the
head nd
face,
while he eat f
emotions
s
ocated
n the
owerpart
f
the
body,
n
the
breasts
nd
belly.
Face
painting
nd
head
ornamentation
re an
important
eature
f
beautymagic
n
general
ssociated
with
pregnancy
ituals,
ula
nd
ceremonial
ancing.
oth
men
nd women
ppear
o
practise
he
same oilet.
The three aints
re
manufactured
hus.Red
(talo)
aint
s
obtained
rom compound
f
crushed
etel
nut nd
ime;
red
ochre
s
also
used.
White
paint
was
traditionally
ade
from
certain
inds
fclay
mixedwith rushedoral,
ut
mported
hite
ead s
also
used.
There re
two
kinds f
black
paint-aromatic
aint sayyaku)
ade
from
harredoconut
ibre r
char-
coal
mixedwith centedoconut il,
nd
nowa
which
s the
rdinary
harcoal
lacking.
The individual
arts
f
the
face ndhead,
decorated ith
paints
nd
ornaments,
re
given
complex
esthetic
alues.
he
eyes
re
considered
he
gateways
f erotic
esire',
the seat f
desire nd
ust',
he ause
u'ula)
f
exual
assion
I929:
I4I)
with
ommunicating
ucts
o
the
lower
parts
f
the
body. Theeyes
we
may
note
re
combination
fblack
nd
white.)
How-
ever,
lack
hair
n
the ace s
not
ppreciated,
nd
the
yebrows
re
haved.
The
biting
ff f
the
yelashes
s
ndulged
n n sexual
lay.)
Nextto
the
yes
t s themouth
hat
s the ocus f
attention.hemagic f talotheredpaintmadeofbetelnut) susedtoredden he ips.The
vermilionips
re et
ff gainst
he eeth
which
reblackened
y
contact
ith
special
man-
grove
oot.
The ear
obes
re
pierced
nd the
holes
nlarged
nd
ornamented,
ormally
ith
earrings
f
turtle
hell nd
other
rnaments
ade
specially
ith
ed
pondylus
hell iscs.
he
proper lace
or
air
s the ead
and
not
n
any
ther
art
f
he
ody).
Black
hick
moppy
air
is
highlyppreciated,
rey
r
white
air
nd
baldness eing
onsideredgly.
The
Trobrianders
have
laborate
odes f
hair-dressing
nd
hairstyles,
uch
s
the
avourite
op gugwapo'u)
r
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THE MAGICAL POWER OF WORDS
205
the longatedylindrical
orm
bobobu);
hereare
eparate ourningtyles,ncluding
ull
having
of thehead oconveywithdrawalrom ormalife nd obligatoryssumptionf dirty
tate
(I929: 253).
In ceremonialttire heblackheadofhair scrownedwith lamingred)hibiscus
flowers.
he
ornaments
orn n
the
ody
rered
necklacesnd
white
rm
hells.
We have ittlenformationbout acial esigns: hite, hough sed, ppearso have
econ-
dary mphasisnd
red and black
paint
re
thedominant olours.
One
could guess
hat ed
stands or nimation
nd
erotic harm,
lack or
ower
o
dispel
he vil
forces
nd
ntentions
stemmingrom
ther
uman eings.
On the
whole
the
face
nd head
decorationsmphasise
red nd black,withwhite howing
n
the rmlets
nd
beinggiven
ts
value
mainly
n
relation
to
the
ody
nd
kin.
Festive ress orwomen
s described s a 'radiant ombinationf
crimson, urple
nd
golden
kirts'
with
lack
robably xcluded?).
ormal
ress
s
the
yellowish-white
r
golden
colour
f fibre r banana
eaf
kirts.
Canoe ainting
The canoe
waga)
s also
painted
n the hree
rimaryolours,
f
which
he
most
mportant
s
black
Malinowski
960:
I40).
It s clear hat he ominancefblack
s
expressive
f
he
anoe's
speed,
nd
thepower fdispelling
r
withstanding
he
dangers
f
sailing.
When
the
anoehas
been
onstructed,
hree
magical
ites f xorcism
re
onducted,
o smoke ndcleanset and
to
impart peed nd ightness.
his
sequence
s
followed
y
the
painting
f the
anoe.
Rites re
performedor
ach
paint:
he
kaykoulo
or
lack
paint,
he
malakava or red
paint
nd
the
pwaka
orwhite
aintI960: 4I6).
The firsts
compulsorythe
thers
eing ptional),
nd
the
substancessed
re
hewings
f he
at,
henest
f
small ird alled
osisiku
nddried
racken
leaves all blackbut here onnoting,
n
addition
o
dispellingower, ightnessnd therefore
speed)which
re harred ith oconut usk.
he
firsteremonialtrokesfblack re
madewith
this
mixture,
ollowed
y
a
watery
mixture
f
charred
oconut.
It is clear hat hemagicof blackpaint ndthe ymbolismfthecolour s relatedo the
Trobriand otion f
female
lying
itches
mulukwausi)
ho
in the
night
ake
heform f
flyingoxes r nightbirds,
tc. nd ttack
orpses
nd
hip-wreckedailors. utby an nversion
this ame
mage f
hewitch ecomes he
mage
fthemuch esired
flyinganoe' see Myth
of
Kayaduri'
n
Malinowski
960)
whichhas
great peed
nd
power
to
dispeldangers. he
substances
sed n
themagic
re witch's rew'.
The next
paintingequence
s
the
stainingf
thered
mouth'of
the
anoe:a cowrie hell
attachedo
the
row
oard
tabuyo)
s tained
t
ach nd
bow
nd
tern).
he
rite s a
component
of kula
magic,
nd the
red
may
be
said o
symbolise
he nimationnd
flashingeauty f the
canoe.Unfortunately
alinowski
rovides
o
data
n the
designs
n the
row oardsndhow
they
were
paintedhowever,
ee
plates
XXVI
and
XXVII
in
Malinowskii
960).
The reader
may
wish o relate he
ignificance
f
Trobriand
olour ymbolismothe sser-
tions ndhypothesisadebyTurner
I966).
There sconfirmationfhis hesisf basic olour
triad. ach colour
may
be
emphasisedeparately
n
particular
ituals
white
n
pregnancyites,
red
n
kulamwasilar
beautymagic,
lack
n
mortuaryites)
ut
they lsocometogethers a
configuration
n
face
painting
nd
canoe
painting. ut,
unlike
or he
Ndembu, ed for he
Trobrianders
oesnot
ppear
o be an ambivalent
olour.
hey
do not
hunt ordo they ear
menstruallood.White
s
positive,
nd
black
ominantlyegative,ut
t
too n ts roper lace
and
context anbe invertedo
produce ositive
irtues.
NOTES
I am
grateful
o Edmund each
for
eading
nd
critically
ommenting
n this
ecture hile
it
was n
preparation.
e is
of course
ot
responsible
or ts
imitationsnd
controversialtate-
ments. am also gratefulo M. EganandW. Dissanayakeor rovidingme withmost f the
information
n the
words sed
n
Sinhalese
ealing
ituals.
I
Malinowski's heoretical
oncemwith
anguage robably tarted
fter is firstrip o
Kiriwina
n 9I6.
In
Argonautsf he
westernacific
e
had
begun o state
he deas
whichwere
formalised
n
the lassic
upplemento
Ogden
and Richards
I923). Since
magicwasso per-
vasive n the
Trobriands
ll his
otherworks
e.g.
929)
contained
urther
laborationsfhis
views n
language.
e
attempted
is
most laborate tatementn
thetwo
volumes
f Coral
gardensnd
heir agic, hich e
considered
isbest
work.
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206
S. J. TAMBIAH
2
Recent iterature
n
one
way
or
another as been ensitive
o the
role
of
words n ritual.
FreedmanI967) has referredo thedidactic ature f the ongs
ungwhen Chinese ride
leavesherhome nd the ignificancef bawdy ongs efore he s
deflowered. oody I962)
hasreported odaga funeralpeeches nd chantswhich nterestinglyre argelympromptu
though hey lways
se
phrases f a proverbial ind).Middleton'sI960)
analysis f the ult
of
the
dead
mong
he
Lugbara, lludes
o
the
itual
ddressesadi)madeby elders.n the ites
of sacrifice
nd
purification,hich egitirnisehanges
n
the lignmentf ineage egments,he
addresses ecount raditionalore, genealogical istory,he animositiesnd quarrels f the
participantsndthemotive nd dentityfthe gent esponsibleor he llness. ore dramatic
is Spencer's escriptionI965) of the brainwashing' f Samburu
rides y nquisitoriallders.
Tumer I96I) has describedhe yberneticunctionfNdembu
divinations a form f social
analysis
nd a
mechanismf social
redress. ut
even
this
upreme
xponent
oncentratesn
major ymbolsTurner
962; I964;
I966)
to the xclusion fwords
aid:
t s preciselyecause
Tumer eeks
hemeanings f symbols
n
theverbal xplanationexegesis)f his nformants
thathe has
successfullyushed
ur
understandingf ritual way
from
ympatheticagic o
expressiveymbolism. ould not then n analysis f the words
used directlyn the ritual
advancehis ind f nterpretationurther?na way t sA. I. Richards'shisungu
I956)
which
shines
more rilliantly
n
this alaxy: or
n
herdescriptionfthe
nitiationeremony
or
irls
among
he
Bemba, ceremony hichwas explicitlyteaching evice, he
highlights
he
om-
plex inter-relationf songs,mimes, itual bjects nd actions, hich omprise system f
knowledge
nd
mnemonic
fthe oles o
be assumed.
he concludes
hat
he
mumbo-jumbo
was
one ofthe
rized
tems f
nformation
n
the
ociety.
thrown
for
ood
measure
uper's
description
f the
Royal ncwala eremonyI96I),
if
only
o
ndicate hatGluckman'sheory
of therituals
f
rebellion
I954),
rightly
r
wrongly onceived,
urns
ruciallyn the nter-
pretationf ongs ung uring he nstallation.
3
Theres also fourthseofwordswhich donotdiscuss, amely,
omic ialogues
n
prose
which
re
nterludes
n the
ritual.
4
The
account wesmuch o nformation
rovided y
M.
Egan
and
W. Dissanayake.gan's
study
f Sinhalese itual
will,
when t
s
published, ive more
orrect
nd
revealingnalysis
ofthe seofwords ndthekinds fverbal ormhat uild pthe eremony.
5
A
book written
n
SinhaleseAndris ppuhamy927) makes
cogent asefor hecom-
prehensibilitynd ntellectualtructure
f
mantra.
antrareusually ecordednd memorised
thoughomeof themmay
be
transmittedrally.
6
While the Buddhist ituationhows
disjunction
etween
he
sacred
anguage
nd
the
language
f
ordinaryiscourse,
e should e careful
n
drawingonclusions
bout
he
ack of
understanding
fPali chants
y
the
ongregation.illagers
an
recognisehants,
nowwhich
are
ppropriate
orwhich ccasion ndunderstandome fthe
keywords,
or
hey
ave ome
measure
fmoral
nstruction
hrough
ermons hich re
n full
r
n part
endered
n the ocal
language.
urthermorenumber f them avethemselveseen
monks
n the
past, lthough
this s countered
y
the
quick
bsolescencef
iturgicalearning
hat
as
no
direct
elevance
r
frequent
se n
ay
ife.
hus
he
disjunction
s neverthelesshere.
71
n
respect
f
the
first
onclusion
ome
eaders
may
feel hat
have
cheated
y gnoring
he
caseof heuseof mysticalounds' nd unintelligible'honemesnthe mantrasnd dhdranYs
of tantric
induism
nd
Buddhismand
the
Muslim
echnique
f dhikr
n
mystical ufism,
aboutwhich am
altogether
ninformed
xcept
o
say
that t
appears
o
resemblehe antric
technique).
he
theory
f the
haranr
s that he
honemes
re
supports'
or oncentrationnd
meditation.
he sounds s such re
not
meaningless';hey
will
reveal heir
meaning
o the
initiated
nlyduring
meditation
ccompanied y yogic
xercises. hus the
ounds re
secret
to
the
nitiatednd
unintelligible
o the
uninitiated.
urthermorehe
dharant
re
differentrom
ordinary
ecular
anguage nly
ecause
he
atter
s
considered
nadequate
o communicatehe
mysticalxperience;hey epresentlanguage
hat iscovershe
rimordial
onsciousness.his
theory
hen
quarely laces
he
anguage
f dhdranYithin he
confines
nd conventions
f
normal
anguage
s a
system
f
communication.
he
phonemes
nd distorted'words are
taken
rom
he
ecular
anguage
nd
put
o
special
se
by
the ects.
heyhardly
onstitute
full
blown
anguage
s
such.
My argument
n
any
aserelates
o
mass
eligions.
8
There rethus bout ixfunctionalelationso be analysed elatingothe ourevels:
i.
The relationfmythowhats enactednthe itual.
2. The
relation
f the
ersona
f
myth
o theritual
ractitioners
pedigree,
ecruitment,tc.).
3.
The relation
f
mythical
ime
o present ayreality.
4.
The relation
etween itual
as
a
symbolic orm)
nd
theofficiants
ho
enact t
which
n-
cludes hemodeof
training
f
the fficiantnd the aboos
nd
special
ules hat
pply
o
him).
S.
The
relation etween
itual nd the
socialor
practical ctivities
hich
t
is
supposed o
influence.
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THE MAGICAL
POWER OF WORDS
207
6. The relationetween itual ractitioners
ndnon-ritualctivitiesndoccupations.
9
There ppears
o be a
resemblance
etween
Malinowski's
ragmatist
ormulationnd
Wittgenstein'sft-quotedperationaliew
hatThe meaningfwords
ies n their
se'
I953:
8o,
09).
But this esemblances superficial,or lthoughWittgensteinlacedemphasisn
contextn thedeterminationf meaning,
e went n to argue
hat
meanings
re
best
stab-
lished y substituting
ords or
ach
other,nd thatanguage
s like
game
of
chess,which
brings
is
functionalheoryn inewith tructuralistiews Ullman
957).
I0
Malinowski istinguishedites f mpregnation
here hemediatingbjectwas n essential
componentf thefinal bject f magic either s an implementn themaking f
t, or as a
constituentart
f
t)
from
ites f
ransference
n
which
he
bject
hanted ver nd
then sed
as themedium f ransferf magical irtue
ad no intrinsiconnexion ith he inal bject
f
magic, .g. a pregnancyloak r a stone.
ut there s no realdistinctionetween he ites,nd
in myview hey ave he ame rrangement.he rite f
mpregnation
lso nvolves transfer.
II
Thenaming fthe arts ndthe ransferf ttributeshich
s
evident
n
Trobriand
pells
appear
n
identical orm n Dobuan magic
Fortune963), in some
of
the spells
ited
by
Skeat I900) and n Sinhalese antraWirz
954). One can see two ways n
which he
verbal
techniqueanbeexploited.herecipientfthe ransferaybedescribedn termsfhisbody
partsi.e.metonymically)nd he equired
ttributeresentnthe esirableymbol
r
metaphor
transferredo t.Theconverseswhere n unknown' isease
r
evil
s
given bjective
efinition
and
form
y describing
ts
parts
n termsf thecharacteristicsf known oncrete bjects r
persons,.g. thedescriptionf a demon. y thus escribingt metaphorically
ndmetonymi-
callyyou
are
ble
to
controlt,
or
by
thus
epresenting
t
to
a
patient,
e
s
made
toexpel
or
reject he
demon
nd
by mplication
he
disease.
I2
Thenative ommentaryndicateshatmany fthewords sed n
the
pells
re
polyvalent
in
meaningndhaveranges fmeaning,
s s the asewith urpoetic anguage nd ndeed
with
our
ordinary iscourse.Malinowski's
tartlingommentaryn thesephenomena,
hich
linguists iscuss nder he abels
of
synonymy,
olyvalencend homonymy
s
as
follows:
'It
is mportanto realise hat henative
ommentariesrenot oberegardeds correctrans-
lations, utrathers free ssociationsuggested
o
thenative y thewordmentioned
o
them.
We must ememberhathe ery haracterfmagical ordsmakestfutileoattributeo them
a
precisenddefiniteexicalmeaning. .'
(i965b:
26I). He misseshenative oint fviewwhen
he
reportsIt is themultifariousssociations,he motionalringef heword,which s
believed
by them
o
nfluence
he
ourse f nature,nd which hroughhis eallynfluences
heir wn
psychologyndthe rganisationf theirwork' i965b:
26I).
I3
Evans-Pritchardn
his
classic ontribution
I937),
while nalysing ande witchcraftnd
magic
s
a
coherentystem
n ts
own right,
elt t
necessary
o
askwhat
heir elation as to
Zande
empiricalctivity,nd alsohow magic,whichwas oriented o achieving ffects,
om-
pared
with
Western
mpiricismasedon
canons fproof nd experimentation.hisbrilliant
book
thus aced
ntellectualroblemsome
of
whichwere
he
reation
f
n
European
men-
tality.
ike
Malinowski,vans-Pritchard
I937: 8I)
stateshatAzandeundoubtedlyerceive
difference
etween
hat
we consider
he
workingsfnature n the nehand nd
the
workings
of
magic ndwitchcraftn the ther, hough
n the bsence f formulatedoctrinefnatural
lawthey onot, ndcannot, xpresshedifferences we expresst' (see lso
937:
463).Again
(I937: 73 passim)he argues hat elief nwitchcraftn no way contradictsmpirical nowledge
ofcause ndeffect,ecausewhatwitchcraftocuses n s the socially elevantause, ince
t s
the
only
ne which llows nterventionnd determines
ocial
ehaviour';
nother
words,
t s
on
a
differentave
ength
rom
mpirical
ction ltogether.
Certain
f my conclusionsoncerning
robriandmagic re confirmedy Evans-Pritchard
in
respect
f
Zande
prospective agic:
The
results hich
magic
s
supposed
o
produce
actually appen
fter ites
re
performed
,' 'Magic s onlymade oproduce vents
hich re
likely o happen n any case . . Magic
s not asked o achievewhat s unlikely o occur';
'Magic
s
seldom sked o
produce resulty tself,ut s associated ith mpiricalction
hat
does
in
fact
produce
t.
.
.'
(I937: 475, 476,477).
There
re thus mportantonvergences
n the deas of Malinowski nd Evans-Pritchard,
whatever
heir ther
ifferences,
vans-Pritchard's
ritique
f
Levy-Bruhls
Malinowskian-
whydo primitivesn some situationsehave ritually' r mystically' hile n othershey
behave
empirically',nd whydo the ame
bjects vokedifferentttitudesn ritual ndnon-
ritual ontexts?
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Appuhamy.
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ir
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