In the Image of Fire: The Vedic Experience of Heat

About the Author(s)

The book “In the Image of Fire” is an insightful look at the religious significance of fire and heat for ancient Vedic man. It is a depiction of the profound and complex system of religious expressions that developed in ancient India from man’s intimate relationship with the element fire, from his speculations upon the cosmogonic sacrifice, and from his intense desire to identify himself as a new being of cosmic heat and life. In other words, it is a portrayal of the Vedic religion. The author uses the entirety of Vedic literature to demonstrate that the ritualised control of cosmic heat, or tapas, which eventually became the hallmark of asceticism and the radical transition point to heterodox religious movements. This ranges from the mysteries of the great Vedic sacrifices to the brahmanical doctrine of correspondences to the upanishadic identities and yogic techniques. This book, which is easy to read and has a wealth of supporting documentation, serves as a model for applying recent innovations and methodologies to the study of the history of religions. In order to provide light on the religious manifestations of ancient India, expressions of fire and heat that are connected to those of ancient Iran and Scandinavia, the mystics of European Christianity, and the modern Bemba and Ndembu of Zambia have been called upon.
DAVID M. KNIPE is now the Chairman of the Ph.D. Program and serves as Professor of South Asia Religions at the Department of South Asian Studies at the University of Wisconsin in Madison, United States of America. Coursework in the Religions of South Asia. Dr. Knipe received his Bachelor of Arts from Cornell University, his Master of Arts from Union Theological Seminary, and his Doctor of Philosophy from the University of Chicago (M.A., Ph.D.). Dr. Knipe is currently producing a series of 15 educational television programmes titled “Exploring the Religions of South Asia,” in addition to his teaching and research. During the academic years 1971–1972, he served as a Senior Research Fellow at the American Institute of Indian Studies, where he researched life-cycle rites (samskaras) in the Varanasi region.