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Religions of South Asia

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ISSN (Print) 17512689 - ISSN (Online) 1751-2697
Published by Equinox Publishing

[23 journals]

Knut A. Jacobsen (ed.), Theory and Practice of Yoga: Essays in Honour of Gerald James Larson. Numen Book Series. Leiden and Boston: Brill, 2005. x + 482 pp. €173.00; US$ 258.00. ISBN 90-04-14757-8 (hardback).
- Authors: Maya Warrier
  PubDate: 2012-12-31
  Issue No: Vol. 6 (2012)
Sinister Yogis—in the Eye of the Beholder. David Gordon White. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2011. 376pp. ISBN: 978-0226895147 (pbk). $25.
- Authors: Joseph S. Alter
  PubDate: 2012-12-31
  Issue No: Vol. 6 (2012)
Revelry, Rivalry and Longing for the Goddesses of Bengal: The Fortunes of Hindu Festivals. Rachel Fell McDermott. New York: Columbia University Press, 2011. ISBN: 978-0-231-12918 (hbk); 978-0-231-12919 (pbk). $89.50/$29.50.
- Authors: June McDaniel
  PubDate: 2012-12-31
  Issue No: Vol. 6 (2012)
An Introduction to Indian Philosophy. By Christopher Bartley. London: Continuum, 2011. 245pp. ISBN: 978-1-84706-448-6 (hbk); 978-1-84706-449-3 (pbk). £60.00/£18.99.
- Authors: Mikel Burley
  PubDate: 2012-12-31
  Issue No: Vol. 6 (2012)
Dhammapada and Dhammapada Commentary: The Story of the Verses
- Authors: Naomi Appleton
  Abstract: The Dhammapada has been translated many times into Western languages and is widely appreciated for its concise presentation of Buddhist teachings. However, the prose commentary that accompanies it, and which explains when, why and to whom the Buddha spoke the verses in the Dhammapada, is less well-known. In this article, I examine the relationship between the verses of the Dhammapada and the narratives of the commentary, and ask what value is added by reading this popular text in its commentarial context.
  PubDate: 2012-12-31
  Issue No: Vol. 6 (2012)
Comparative Philology and the Ṛg-Veda: 1.32.1, 3.33.6-7
- Authors: Jesse Lundquist
  Abstract: The following article attempts to bring together two complementary methods of reading the Ṛg-Veda, that of close textual analysis and that of historical, comparative linguistics. I will offer first a brief survey of the background from which the hymns derive, in terms of reconstructed linguistic ancestors, and then look into the early collection of the hymns. Thereafter a commentary is offered, making special reference to points of interest in historical and comparative linguistics. It will be argued that the study of Indo-European linguistics can illuminate otherwise obscure forms in the oldest texts of the daughter languages, as well as show contexts from which the traditions derive.
  PubDate: 2012-12-31
  Issue No: Vol. 6 (2012)
Dhammapada, Dharmapada and Udānavarga: The Many Lives of a Buddhist Text
- Authors: Valerie J. Roebuck
  Abstract: In this article, I look at the ways in which the Pāli Dhammapada of the Theravādins, and the related texts from other early Buddhist traditions, have been used and interpreted in the course of a long and complex history. I examine the relationships of the texts, both among themselves and with non-Buddhist works, and reflect on the ways in which the insights gained through this study must influence the work of the present-day translator of Dharmapada literature.
  PubDate: 2012-12-30
  Issue No: Vol. 6 (2012)
Quotation in Early Modern Vedānta: An Example from Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇavism
- Authors: Kiyokazu Okita
  Abstract: A recent research project, ‘Sanskrit Knowledge Systems on the Eve of Colonialism’, led by Sheldon Pollock, Christopher Minkowski and other leading Sanskrit scholars, reveals that early modern India from the sixteenth to the eighteenth centuries witnessed one of the most productive periods in its intellectual history. While this project explores eight disciplines (vyākaraṇa, mīmāṃsā, nyāya, dharmaśāstra, alaṅkāraśāstra, āyurveda, jyotiṣ, prayoga), it unfortunately excludes Vedānta as a scope of study. However, the cultural productivity in the area of Vedānta continued and was alive in the early modern period. A good example of this can be observed in the works of Baladeva Vidyābhūṣaṇa (c. 1700–1793), a Vedāntin belonging to the Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇava tradition. In this article, I analyse Baladeva’s commentary on Brahmasūtras 2.1.21-25, paying attention to the ways in which Baladeva quotes the writings of Śaṅkara and Madhva. The complex engagements with the earlier Vedāntins in Baladeva’s writing shows, I believe, that the Vedāntic discourse was a part of the flourishing Sanskrit culture in the early modern period.
  PubDate: 2012-12-30
  Issue No: Vol. 6 (2012)
Problems and Perspectives in Interpreting the Texts of the Mādhva Traditions
- Authors: Michael Williams
  Abstract: The Mādhva school of Vedānta, more widely known as ‘Dvaita Vedānta’, was founded by the great philosopher and religious leader Madhvācārya who lived in modern-day Karṇāṭaka from the thirteenth to the fourteenth centuries. In 2008, I had the benefit of receiving instruction from a modern Ācārya of the tradition, Prof. Prahladachar of the Pūrṇaprajña Saṃśodhana Mandiram, Bangalore. I worked with him for around one and a half months, during which time Professor Prahladachar taught me, in a mixture of English and Sanskrit, portions of the Nyāyāmṛta of Vyāsatīrtha and its commentaries, the Advaita Siddhi of Madhusūdana Sarasvatī and the Nyāyāmṛtaraṅginī of Vyāsarāmācārya. This prompted reflection on my part on what it is to be an interpreter of Sanskrit philosophical texts in modern times. My main contention here is that, while modern philological methods represent an extremely promising approach to the classic texts of the Mādhva tradition, contact with scholars trained within the tradition should be a central component of any serious research project into texts such as the Nyāyāmṛta. I have appended a brief extract from the Nyāyāmṛta along with its commentaries based on my work in Bangalore.
  PubDate: 2012-12-30
  Issue No: Vol. 6 (2012)
Proposals for the Study of Quotations in Indian Philosophical Texts
- Authors: Elisa Freschi
  Abstract: The study of quotations is a largely unexplored field within Indian śāstric literature. Yet, this study may have major implications for the critical constitution of a text, the evaluation of its role within the historical development of the ideas it represents and the understanding of Indian compositional habits. Moreover, it may call into question Western contemporary attitudes to texts as authored entities by showing how heavily this view depends on specific historical circumstances and has, hence, not always and everywhere been the rule. This article examines these issues in comparative context before focusing on a case study from the Tantrarahasya of the post thirteenth-century Prābhākara Mīmāṃsaka, Rāmānujācārya. In this article, I study all sorts of embedded texts, even if not acknowledged to be quotations as such. Hence, the study of quotations coincides with the study of how Indian authors composed their texts re-using previous texts as building blocks. I argue that quotations may also be a useful device for understanding an author’s compositional habits and his/her ‘originality’. This concept is in bad need of a definition applicable in Indian contexts. In fact, Indian classical authors may be judged rather flawed in terms of modern views of plagiarism and are all by and large non-original. Contemporary scholars often look in vain for monographs within Indian śāstra literature and find only commentaries and commentaries on commentaries. But, looking at the way texts are built through quotations and use quotations as springboards, one eventually understands that an Indian author’s skill (and hence originality) can be recognized indeed in his/her apt arrangement of earlier texts.
  PubDate: 2012-12-30
  Issue No: Vol. 6 (2012)
On Burglars and Makers of Links: Tradition and the Reuse of Indic Texts
- Authors: Jacqueline Suthren Hirst
  Abstract: The article argues that, whereas a great deal of exciting scholarly work has been done on the ways in which South Asian narratives are told, retold and ‘recycled’ across different religious, social and regional contexts, to date little has been written on the way in which philosophical and other commentaries make use of earlier material. Indicating how the contributions in this special issue start to redress the balance, it notes the importance of looking at the ways in which such texts are constructed, not least in the light of contemporary issues about what constitutes originality or plagiarism.
  PubDate: 2012-12-30
  Issue No: Vol. 6 (2012)