Perception of Vedic ritual semantics in the Mahābhārata

The present paper addresses the preliminary results of a lexical evaluation concerning the instances in the Mahābhārata of some lemmata of Vedic rituals, by relying primarily on the dictionary of Vedic rituals provided by Renou 1954 and secondarily on Chitrabhanu’s 1976. The religious semantic area selected for the inquiry involves lexical entries relating to rituals, i.e. ritual offerings, purification and atonement rites, funerary rituals and soma-related ceremonies. It thus attempts to illustrate cases of studies that demonstrate how the Mahābhārata perception of Vedic ritual semantics changes, according to a theoretical background that considers some clues in the Epic as indicating a cultural stage independent from the Śrautasūtra orthopraxy. Scholars often debate the cultural reconstruction of the Mahābhārata according to the pros and cons of acknowledging references to Vedic sources in the MBh in terms of a continuum, and, moreover, it is discussed in accordance with the supposed adherence to ritual technical literature. However, to the best of my knowledge, the specific question regarding the perspective of MBh religiosity in terms of continuity with the Vedas, perceived as a revealed text, still needs dedicated research work.