Una forma leggiadra. Simboli sessuali dell'altalena in India nel rito del mahavrata e in alcune pratiche contemporanee

Abstract

In the grammar of rituals described in Vedic texts, the swing was an object whose meanings referred to the propitiation of fertility and solar symbolism. Although its use remains in various contemporary festive contexts, its meaning has been differently defined. By analyzing the passages from works belonging to the ancient religious literature, this article examines the description of the swing’s construction and the rite performed on it by the officiant named hotr. Such an approach allows us to focus on the symbolic elements related to the swing in one of the focal points of the sequence of the mahavrata ceremony. Through a diachronic investigation and considering the data from the comparative perspective, this article suggests glimpsing the stratification of metaphors and preUpanisadic and postUpanisadic symbolic values, which the Upanisadic reflections have impacted. In this way, the continuity and changes in the use of the swing in ritual language emerge.