> [Dodge, Erick](dodge.md). "The Chants of Birds and Poet-Priests in the Vedic, Indo-Iranian, and Indo-European Traditions". MA Class Paper. > [pdf](a/dodge2021-birds.pdf) ## Abstract > In this paper I aim to bring together the work of various scholars—especially Vries, Hammer, and Staal—concerning a Vedic and Indo-European (IE) tradition about birds, poetpriests, and religious chants. I will argue: (1) the Ṛgveda contains a motif-complex regarding birds, poet-priests, and hymns. (2) A parallel to one of the motifs [Mythic Motif α: “bird(s) sing(s) hymn(s), like (a) poet-priest(s)”] can be found in an Iranian text regarding the Karšift bird and his companions. (3) This commonality implies a shared Indo-Iranian heritage for this motif. (4) Another Ṛgvedic motif [Poetic Motif A: “the hymns of poet-priests sound like bird-song”] had a ritual correlate: priests singing with a high-pitched voice. (5) This same ritual vocalization style is found in the Germanic tradition of magical chants (galdr). (6) This implies a common Proto-Indo-European (PIE) inheritance for this ritual vocalization style. ## Table of Contents ``` Introduction 1.0 Motifs 1.1 Vedic 1.1.1 Excursus: On Real Birds and Real Priests 1.2 Iranian 1.2.1 Excursus: On the Karšift and the cakravāka 2.0 Ritual 2.1 Previous IE Scholarship 2.2 Additional Indic Sources 2.2.1 Hammer 2.2.2 Staal 2.3 Alcman Conclusion Bibliography ``` ## Biblio ### Etymological [[klein-joseph-fritz2017-2018eds]] [[mallory-adams-d2006-oxford]] [[watkins2011]] ### Primary (Edition/Translation) [[bundahišn]] ([[agostini-thrope2020]], [[anklesaria1956]]) ? ([[campbell-d1989]]) [[chandogya-upanishad]] ([[ganganatha1942]]) [[rv]] ([[griffith1890]], [[jamison-brereton2014]]) #finish ### Secondary ## Additional Research [[z-smitek2017]] slavic #lookinto