Uttering Curses in Classical Hinduism: An Inquiry into Power and Violence

Abstract

Based on textual evidence in ancient Indian texts, the uttering of curses (sāpah) was a feature of the culture from ancient times and continues into the current period, although the practice has not attracted the scholarly attention that it arguably deserves. The importance of the curse in Indian culture is also evident in other ancient religious cultures such as Egyptian, Mesopotamian, and Greco-Roman. Within the cultural context of India, the curse and its effectiveness are related to its ancient theory of language and its connection to the notion of karma, which are associations that it will be necessary to review to give a more complete grasp of the phenomenon of the curse.