T. N. Proferes. Vedic Ideals of Sovereignty and the Poetics of Powers. (American oriental series 90). New Haven: American Oriental Society, 2007, 167 pages. isbn 978-0-940490-21-5. I P roferes’ book is based on the pivotal idea that the liturgical hymns of Ṛgvedasaṃhitā were also an instrument to negotiate political claims. he author goes through the main motifs of sovereignty showing how this concept is working underneath the pure religious attitude, and analyses the central features of the ideal of power in the Vedic culture. Before entering into the core of the speculation, Proferes outlines the historical background. Notwithstanding the shortage of data and the im- possibility of reaching something more than a hypothesis as to the actual chronology of this period, the relative chronology, according to Witzel’s (1997: 257–345) theory, lets us single out three moments: that of Bharata- Pūru, the following one of Yadu-Turvaśa, and ater these individual lineage periods the Kuru hegemony, when the canon of Ṛgvedasaṃhitā was pro- duced. Two are the elements of this time-period that the author underlines as the most important: the tribal1 political organization and the segmen- tary structure of the society, these two features enable the Vedic society to switch between alternating moments of kṣema ‘ix habitation’ and mobi- lizations through the yoga ‘uniication between clans’. his dynamics has 1. As to the diferent words to indicate the clan and the tribe in the Ṛgvedasaṃhitā ( viś / jana; gṛha / dam), Proferes tries to individuate a hierarchy between them which will be functional for the analysis he is about to propose. A DIFFERENT APPROACH TO VEDIC TEXTS: RESEARCHES ON “MYTHO-POLITICS” Elena Mucciarelli Rivista di studi sudasiatici, 4 ∙ 2009, 163–168.