Magical Texts in Ancient Civilisations

Magical Texts
in Ancient Civilisations:
Texts, Themes, Interpretations
The Polish Journal
of the Arts and Culture
9 (1/2014)
Magical Texts
in Ancient Civilisations:
Texts, Themes, Interpretations
The Polish Journal
of the Arts and Culture
9 (1/2014)
Edited by
Agata Świerzowska
and Grażyna Bąkowska-Czerner
The Polish Journal of the Arts and Culture
Series of “The Polish Journal of Aesthetics”
Advisory Board:
Marta Kudelska (President of Advisory Board, UJ),
Ignacy S. Fiut (AGH), Joanna Jurewicz (UW),
Janusz Krupiński (UP), Piotr Mróz (UJ), Krzysztof Pawłowski (Ignatianum),
Mauro Perani (Università di Bologna), Paweł Sajdek (KUL),
Beata Szymańska (UJ), Anna I. Wójcik (UJ), Kiyomitsu Yui (Kobe University)
Editor-in-Chief:
Leszek Sosnowski
Editorial Board:
Agata Świerzowska (Deputy Editor), Paulina Tendera (Secretary),
Agnieszka Kowalska, Marcin Lubecki
The publication is co-financed by “Bratniak” Student and Alumni Foundation.
Co-publisher:
Wydawnictwo Nowa Strona –
Katarzyna Migdał
ul. Łagodna 85/26
43-300 Bielsko-Biała
Proofreading:
Steve Jones
Editorial Layout, Typesetting and Cover Design:
Wydawnictwo Nowa Strona
First Edition: 100 copies
© Copyright by The Polish Journal of the Arts and Culture
Kraków 2014
All rights reserved
e-ISSN 2353-723X
p-ISSN 1643-1243
CONTENTS
Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Articles
Łukasz B y r s k i
Identifying the Magical Function of Script in Ancient Cultures ‒
a Comparative Perspective . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Robert C z y ż y k o w s k i
The Issue of Magic in the Vaiṣṇava Purāṇas.
Mantra as a Magical Tool Exemplified by Nārāyaṇa Mantra
of the Bhāgavata Purāṇa . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
Cezary G a l e w i c z
The Triple Leak by the Gandharvas:
How to Read the Magic Formulae of Immortality . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
Bożena G i e r e k
Variety of Celtic Magical Texts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
Joanna J u r e w i c z
Ancient Indian Ritual as a Multimodal Metaphor. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
Piotr K a l i c k i
Culture as a Magic Text: Symbol Use in Magic Cultures. . . . . . . . 91
Mateusz K ł a g i s z
Middle Persian Mādīgān ī Yōšt ī Fr(i)yān as a Magical Text? . . . . 107
Wojciech K o s i o r
“It Will Not Let the Destroying [One] Enter.”
The Mezuzahas an Apotropaic Device According to Biblical
and Rabbinic Sources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127
Artur P r z y b y s ł a w s k i
Realization Song of Mahasiddha Nāropa . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145
Małgorzata R u c h e l
From a Magical Formula to a Universal Being?
An Outline of the History of the Sanskrit Term Bráhman . . . . . . . 155
Julia Alexandrovna S h a b a n o v a, Anatolii Alexandrovich O s i p o v
Theoretical and Practical Aspects of A Magic Text’s Being. . . . . . 165
Tomasz S i k o r a
The Genealogy of Shem According to Oskar Goldberg . . . . . . . . . 273
Agnieszka S t a s z c z y k
The Magic Weapon – Its Appearance, Acquisition
and Application as Described in Texts of Hindu Tradition. . . . . . . 285
Jacek T r z e b u n i a k
Magic in The Nine Ways of Bon. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 209
Hanna U r b a ń s k a
Atharvavedic Kuṣṭha Herb, Ṛgvedic Soma
and Their Equivalent in Taoist Texts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 225
Contributors. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 247