Perspectives sur la transmigration des âmes dans l’aire indo-européenne: L’histoire indienne d’Urvaśī et Purūravas et ses horizons comparatifs

Perspectives on the transmigration of souls in the Indo-European world. The Indian history of Urvaśī and Purūravas and its comparative horizons: There is general agreement that the R̥g Veda does not involve a conception of the transmigration of souls as the one later found in the Upaniṣads. Nevertheless, a comparative study of the Indian hymn R̥g Veda 10.95 and the Irish narrative Tochmarc Étaíne, bolstered by the Greek narrative of the Peleus and Thetis and of the Roman de Mélusine, allows one to posit the existence of a far earlier tradition, probably Indo-European, of rebirth after death that may have been limited to military milieus before being subsequently reappropriated, in India, by ritualistic religious milieus. Il contributo riproduce la relazione presentata (su invito) alla Journée d’Étude sur “La transmigration des âmes en Grèce et en Inde ancienne”, Besançon, Institut des Sciences et Techniques de l’Antiquité, 17 ott. 1913.