Page:The International Journal of Psycho-Analysis II 1921 3-4.djvu/55

 THE ANAL-EROTIC FACTOR IN HINDU RELIGION 309

here the fact that Kunti, the wife of the Sun-god, gave birth to a son Kama, so-called because he came forth from his mother's ear. Further manifestations of this same complex are met with again in the religion of the Veda in the so-called Sama-veda, a collection of liturgical hymns for chanting at particular sacrifices. In these hymns we find certain syllables, called 'stobhas', inter- polated, e. g., hai, hau, hoyi, huva, hoi, etc., which from their nature support the views expressed by Jones ^ and Ferenczi « that the ideas of speech are equivalent in the unconscious with that of passing flatus, and from this may arise the superstitious belief in the omnipotence of words. Later on, when we shall come to examine those mystical letters and syllables known as 'Bijas' we shall meet with still more remarkable examples of the same idea.

In the Sama-veda we also find the beginnings of another type of anal-erotic complex, namely the desire for self-control, which lies at the root of perhaps the most typical of all the manifestations of Hinduism — namely, 'Yoga'. Deussen » says 'The phenomenon of asceticism made its appearance among the Hindus earlier and occupied a larger place than among any other known people.' Although there are many other sources of these ascetic and self-martyring impulses, a not unimportant one is, as Ernest Jones * observes, ' the lasting influence of the infant's ambition to achieve control of his sphincters, his first great lesson of the kind'. To this view enormous support is to be found in such Hindu practices as those detailed in the ' Hatha-yoga-pradi- pika', one of many treatises on Yoga. For instance we read: ■> 'The asanas or postures are said to be eighty-four in number, and each has its peculiar influence on the body and the mind... Of all the different postures four are said to be the best... Sit with the body perfectiy straight after placing the right foot in the cavity between the left thigh and the calf, and the left foot in the cavity between the right thigh and the calf. This is called svastikasana. Having pressed the perinaeum with the end of the left foot, place the end of the right foot on the spot exactly above the penis. Then fix the chin steadily on the heart and


 * Ernest Jones: Papers, etc., op. cit., p. 687.

» S. Ferenczi: Contributions to Psycho-Analysis, p. 269 et seq, » Deussen: The Religion and Philosophy of India, p. 66.


 * Ernest Jones: op. cit, p. 674.

' Manilal Nabhubhai Dvidedi: The Yoga-Sutra of Patanjali, Appen- dix, p. 1.