tambiah the magical power of words

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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.



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



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



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.



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.



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



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



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



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



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



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'.



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-



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



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.



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.



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



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)



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



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).



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.



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



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



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



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



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



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



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



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.



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.



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



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.



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.



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?

REFERENCES

Andris

ppuhamy, . D. I927. Maha mantraota 2nd

dn).Velitara, eylon:

W. D.

Andris

Appuhamy.



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8

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