Riter og myter i vedisk tradition - et forsknings-historisk perspektiv

The purpose of this article is to review the role of the relation between myths and rituals in the research carried out with regard to the Vedic ritual. In this connection it was found that, apart from the myths about the creation of Prajapati, both indological and religio-historical research were generally characterized by a very little interest in myths. In fact, most of the indological research has been either purely descriptive or historically speculative. One of the only exceptions to this is a Danish dissertation by a pupil of Vilhelm Grønbech, Leo Buschardt, who tried to reconstruct a ritual drama in connection with the Vedic soma ritual. Buschardt's work, however, has been critized for being too hypothetical and reductionistic, and the article concludes that the myths of the Brahmanas for the most part cannot be read like 'primitive' ritual legends, but should rather be understood as theological and exegetical instrument of the later Vedic ritual specialists.