William S. Sax
- Published in print:
- 2002
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780195139150
- eISBN:
- 9780199871650
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0195139151.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Hinduism
Explores the way personhood is constructed in public ritual performance. The performances are pandav lilas, ritual dramatizations of India's great epic, Mahabharata. They take place in the former ...
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Explores the way personhood is constructed in public ritual performance. The performances are pandav lilas, ritual dramatizations of India's great epic, Mahabharata. They take place in the former Hindu kingdom of Garhwal, located in the central Himalayas of North India. The book begins by summarizing the theoretical literature on personhood (or ”selfhood”) and performance and providing a brief summary of the epic. Next, it describes one particular performance in detail and then goes on to discuss questions of caste, gender, and locality – all in the context of an overarching discussion of the performative construction of the self. The last few chapters describe a fascinating valley in the Western part of Garhwal, where the villains of the Mahabharata are worshiped as local, divine kings. The major conclusion reached by the book is that public ritual performances are one of the chief arenas where ”persons” are constructed – in Garhwal as well as in other cultures.Less
Explores the way personhood is constructed in public ritual performance. The performances are pandav lilas, ritual dramatizations of India's great epic, Mahabharata. They take place in the former Hindu kingdom of Garhwal, located in the central Himalayas of North India. The book begins by summarizing the theoretical literature on personhood (or ”selfhood”) and performance and providing a brief summary of the epic. Next, it describes one particular performance in detail and then goes on to discuss questions of caste, gender, and locality – all in the context of an overarching discussion of the performative construction of the self. The last few chapters describe a fascinating valley in the Western part of Garhwal, where the villains of the Mahabharata are worshiped as local, divine kings. The major conclusion reached by the book is that public ritual performances are one of the chief arenas where ”persons” are constructed – in Garhwal as well as in other cultures.
Jonardon Ganeri
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- September 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780199202416
- eISBN:
- 9780191708558
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199202416.001.0001
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Metaphysics/Epistemology
The mistakes we make about ourselves result in our deepest sufferings. Philosophy, meant to be a medicine for our souls' affliction, claims to offer both a diagnosis and a cure. This book looks to ...
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The mistakes we make about ourselves result in our deepest sufferings. Philosophy, meant to be a medicine for our souls' affliction, claims to offer both a diagnosis and a cure. This book looks to ancient India, where Buddhists and Hindus alike grapple with the fundamental human quest for peace of mind. For Indian thinkers, a philosophical treatise about the self is meant not only to lay out the truth, but also to embed itself in a process of study and contemplation that will lead eventually to self-transformation. The survey includes the Upaniṣads, the Buddha's discourses, the epic Mahābhārata, and the philosopher Candrakīrti, whose work was later to become foundational in Tibetan Buddhism. The book shows that many contemporary theories of selfhood and personal identity are not only anticipated but developed to an extraordinary degree of sophistication in these works, and that there are other ideas about the self found here which modern philosophers have not yet begun to explore. In the Appendices, the book begins to disclose some of the paths along which Indian ideas about the self have migrated throughout history to the West.Less
The mistakes we make about ourselves result in our deepest sufferings. Philosophy, meant to be a medicine for our souls' affliction, claims to offer both a diagnosis and a cure. This book looks to ancient India, where Buddhists and Hindus alike grapple with the fundamental human quest for peace of mind. For Indian thinkers, a philosophical treatise about the self is meant not only to lay out the truth, but also to embed itself in a process of study and contemplation that will lead eventually to self-transformation. The survey includes the Upaniṣads, the Buddha's discourses, the epic Mahābhārata, and the philosopher Candrakīrti, whose work was later to become foundational in Tibetan Buddhism. The book shows that many contemporary theories of selfhood and personal identity are not only anticipated but developed to an extraordinary degree of sophistication in these works, and that there are other ideas about the self found here which modern philosophers have not yet begun to explore. In the Appendices, the book begins to disclose some of the paths along which Indian ideas about the self have migrated throughout history to the West.
D. Dennis Hudson
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- September 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780195369229
- eISBN:
- 9780199871162
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195369229.003.0008
- Subject:
- Religion, Hinduism
The chakrabja mandala is described as the foundation of the temple's plan and program. The three sanctums, atop one another, form a three‐dimensional mandala; each sanctum houses a black stone icon ...
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The chakrabja mandala is described as the foundation of the temple's plan and program. The three sanctums, atop one another, form a three‐dimensional mandala; each sanctum houses a black stone icon of Narayana as Supreme Vasudeva: bottom, sitting; middle, reclining; top, standing (though missing, a relief sculpture of it is on the prakara wall). At the very top is a closed, hollow cube representing Vasudeva as the nonempty brahman. On each side of the outer wall of the bottom sanctum is a representation of one of the vyuhas of Vasudeva: Samkarshana (the Plower), Pradyumna (the Pre‐eminently Mighty), Aniruddha (the Unobstructed). Each manifests a pair of Vasudeva's glorious excellences, and is embedded in an interlocking network of stories expressing theological teachings. The mandala's mapping of the two axes of directional space illuminates the structure of the Ramayana and the Mahabharata, and points to the structure of chronological time.Less
The chakrabja mandala is described as the foundation of the temple's plan and program. The three sanctums, atop one another, form a three‐dimensional mandala; each sanctum houses a black stone icon of Narayana as Supreme Vasudeva: bottom, sitting; middle, reclining; top, standing (though missing, a relief sculpture of it is on the prakara wall). At the very top is a closed, hollow cube representing Vasudeva as the nonempty brahman. On each side of the outer wall of the bottom sanctum is a representation of one of the vyuhas of Vasudeva: Samkarshana (the Plower), Pradyumna (the Pre‐eminently Mighty), Aniruddha (the Unobstructed). Each manifests a pair of Vasudeva's glorious excellences, and is embedded in an interlocking network of stories expressing theological teachings. The mandala's mapping of the two axes of directional space illuminates the structure of the Ramayana and the Mahabharata, and points to the structure of chronological time.
Eva De Clercq
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- January 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780195380040
- eISBN:
- 9780199869077
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195380040.003.0003
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society, World Religions
In “The Great Men of Jainism In Utero,” an overview is provided of the intrauterine lives of the sixty-three heroes of the “Universal History” of the Jains. A central motif in these accounts is a ...
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In “The Great Men of Jainism In Utero,” an overview is provided of the intrauterine lives of the sixty-three heroes of the “Universal History” of the Jains. A central motif in these accounts is a series of prophetic dreams that the mothers experience upon conception. In general, these dreams and other events surrounding the hero’s time in the womb parallel what happens to him in his life beyond the womb. The chapter further examines some similarities in Hinduism and Buddhism.Less
In “The Great Men of Jainism In Utero,” an overview is provided of the intrauterine lives of the sixty-three heroes of the “Universal History” of the Jains. A central motif in these accounts is a series of prophetic dreams that the mothers experience upon conception. In general, these dreams and other events surrounding the hero’s time in the womb parallel what happens to him in his life beyond the womb. The chapter further examines some similarities in Hinduism and Buddhism.
Jonardon Ganeri
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- September 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780199202416
- eISBN:
- 9780191708558
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199202416.003.0004
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Metaphysics/Epistemology
This chapter examines the discussion of truth-telling, sincerity, and deceit in the Mahābhārata. It explores classical Indian thinking about the value of truth, and the circumstances under which it ...
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This chapter examines the discussion of truth-telling, sincerity, and deceit in the Mahābhārata. It explores classical Indian thinking about the value of truth, and the circumstances under which it is morally permissible to tell a lie.Less
This chapter examines the discussion of truth-telling, sincerity, and deceit in the Mahābhārata. It explores classical Indian thinking about the value of truth, and the circumstances under which it is morally permissible to tell a lie.
Mandakranta Bose
- Published in print:
- 2004
- Published Online:
- April 2005
- ISBN:
- 9780195168327
- eISBN:
- 9780199835362
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0195168321.003.0012
- Subject:
- Religion, Hinduism
This chapter delves into the historical and evolutionary process of the movement of the Rāmāyana story in Indonesia and its religious and political implications. It argues that cross-cultural traffic ...
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This chapter delves into the historical and evolutionary process of the movement of the Rāmāyana story in Indonesia and its religious and political implications. It argues that cross-cultural traffic between Hindu-Javanese social and religious practices, on the one hand, and those of the Muslim immigrants who arrived in the 18th century, on the other, have resulted in a synthesis in which Javanese shadow puppeteers not only find audiences for Hindu myths across religious boundaries but also adapt Mahābhārata puppets to tell Rāmāyana stories. The process subverts the linearity of the Rāmāyana and builds a discourse in which the puppets serve as material objects that encode ideas of character, ethics, behavior, and morals.Less
This chapter delves into the historical and evolutionary process of the movement of the Rāmāyana story in Indonesia and its religious and political implications. It argues that cross-cultural traffic between Hindu-Javanese social and religious practices, on the one hand, and those of the Muslim immigrants who arrived in the 18th century, on the other, have resulted in a synthesis in which Javanese shadow puppeteers not only find audiences for Hindu myths across religious boundaries but also adapt Mahābhārata puppets to tell Rāmāyana stories. The process subverts the linearity of the Rāmāyana and builds a discourse in which the puppets serve as material objects that encode ideas of character, ethics, behavior, and morals.
William S. Sax
- Published in print:
- 2002
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780195139150
- eISBN:
- 9780199871650
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0195139151.003.0004
- Subject:
- Religion, Hinduism
Explores the Pandav Lila as a regional tradition. After a brief overview of the history and culture of Garhwal, the author discusses the ways in which pandav lila presents the self‐image of the ...
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Explores the Pandav Lila as a regional tradition. After a brief overview of the history and culture of Garhwal, the author discusses the ways in which pandav lila presents the self‐image of the region's farmers. An extensive discussion of one particular dance form – the dance of the cowherd – is also included.Less
Explores the Pandav Lila as a regional tradition. After a brief overview of the history and culture of Garhwal, the author discusses the ways in which pandav lila presents the self‐image of the region's farmers. An extensive discussion of one particular dance form – the dance of the cowherd – is also included.
William S. Sax
- Published in print:
- 2002
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780195139150
- eISBN:
- 9780199871650
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0195139151.003.0005
- Subject:
- Religion, Hinduism
One of the most important dances in the pandav lila culminates with the killing of Arjuna by his son, Nagarjuna. Such parricides are extremely rare in Hindu myth and literature. In this chapter, the ...
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One of the most important dances in the pandav lila culminates with the killing of Arjuna by his son, Nagarjuna. Such parricides are extremely rare in Hindu myth and literature. In this chapter, the author describes the episode at length, along with its equivalent in the Sanskrit Mahabharata. He also reviews the extensive literature regarding the question of whether or not there is an ”Oedipus Complex” in Hindu culture.Less
One of the most important dances in the pandav lila culminates with the killing of Arjuna by his son, Nagarjuna. Such parricides are extremely rare in Hindu myth and literature. In this chapter, the author describes the episode at length, along with its equivalent in the Sanskrit Mahabharata. He also reviews the extensive literature regarding the question of whether or not there is an ”Oedipus Complex” in Hindu culture.
William S. Sax
- Published in print:
- 2002
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780195139150
- eISBN:
- 9780199871650
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0195139151.003.0007
- Subject:
- Religion, Hinduism
Investigates the way in which pandav lilas create gendered persons. The focus is on Draupadi, common wife of the five Pandava brothers, the protagonists of the epic, and their mother Kunti. The ...
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Investigates the way in which pandav lilas create gendered persons. The focus is on Draupadi, common wife of the five Pandava brothers, the protagonists of the epic, and their mother Kunti. The chapter concludes that these womens’ identities as Rajputs are more strongly emphasized in Pandav Lila than their identities as women, and that this accounts for the extreme violence with which they are associated.Less
Investigates the way in which pandav lilas create gendered persons. The focus is on Draupadi, common wife of the five Pandava brothers, the protagonists of the epic, and their mother Kunti. The chapter concludes that these womens’ identities as Rajputs are more strongly emphasized in Pandav Lila than their identities as women, and that this accounts for the extreme violence with which they are associated.
William S. Sax
- Published in print:
- 2002
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780195139150
- eISBN:
- 9780199871650
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0195139151.003.0008
- Subject:
- Religion, Hinduism
Focuses on a valley in Western Garhwal that is ”ruled” by the divine king Karna, a figure from the Mahabharata. Nearby are other similar ”divine kingdoms,” ruled by Duryodhana and the demon Mahasu. ...
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Focuses on a valley in Western Garhwal that is ”ruled” by the divine king Karna, a figure from the Mahabharata. Nearby are other similar ”divine kingdoms,” ruled by Duryodhana and the demon Mahasu. The chapter argues that Karna incorporates the figures of king, brahman, and renouncer into his personality, and that he embodies the collective agency of the realm over which he rules.Less
Focuses on a valley in Western Garhwal that is ”ruled” by the divine king Karna, a figure from the Mahabharata. Nearby are other similar ”divine kingdoms,” ruled by Duryodhana and the demon Mahasu. The chapter argues that Karna incorporates the figures of king, brahman, and renouncer into his personality, and that he embodies the collective agency of the realm over which he rules.
Ronojoy Sen
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- May 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780231164900
- eISBN:
- 9780231539937
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Columbia University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7312/columbia/9780231164900.003.0002
- Subject:
- Sociology, Sport and Leisure
A summary of sport in ancient and medieval India including referenes to the great Indian epics.
A summary of sport in ancient and medieval India including referenes to the great Indian epics.
Patrick Sims‐Williams
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- January 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780199588657
- eISBN:
- 9780191595431
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199588657.003.0005
- Subject:
- Literature, Early and Medieval Literature
With particular reference to Togail Bruidne Da Derga and Branwen this chapter discusses the narrative technique called the ‘Watchman Device’. It is illustrated from Homer, Statius, Valerius Flaccus, ...
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With particular reference to Togail Bruidne Da Derga and Branwen this chapter discusses the narrative technique called the ‘Watchman Device’. It is illustrated from Homer, Statius, Valerius Flaccus, the Shahnama, the Mahabharata, Laxdœla saga, Thithreks saga, the Bórama, Táin Bó Cúailnge, Serbian and Scottish Gaelic ballads, and even Kenneth Grahame. The Irish and Welsh examples have undergone the influence, perhaps independently, of the ‘Slavic Antithesis’ of Chapter 4 and of international landscape riddles. Riddles from around the world are compared and the relationship beween riddle, metaphor, kenning, and myth is discussed.Less
With particular reference to Togail Bruidne Da Derga and Branwen this chapter discusses the narrative technique called the ‘Watchman Device’. It is illustrated from Homer, Statius, Valerius Flaccus, the Shahnama, the Mahabharata, Laxdœla saga, Thithreks saga, the Bórama, Táin Bó Cúailnge, Serbian and Scottish Gaelic ballads, and even Kenneth Grahame. The Irish and Welsh examples have undergone the influence, perhaps independently, of the ‘Slavic Antithesis’ of Chapter 4 and of international landscape riddles. Riddles from around the world are compared and the relationship beween riddle, metaphor, kenning, and myth is discussed.
Alf Hiltebeitel
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- September 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195394238
- eISBN:
- 9780199897452
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195394238.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Hinduism
From a verbal root meaning “to hold” or “uphold,” dharma is taken to have been the main term by which Buddhism and Hinduism came, over about five centuries, to describe their distinctive visions of ...
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From a verbal root meaning “to hold” or “uphold,” dharma is taken to have been the main term by which Buddhism and Hinduism came, over about five centuries, to describe their distinctive visions of the good and well‐rewarded life. From about 300 BCE to about 200 CE, Buddhist and Brahmanical authors used it to clarify and classify their mutual and contending values in relation to dramatically changing historical conditions. Before this, the term had no such centrality, and after it, each tradition came to define normative dharma separately as the term's interreligious dimension lost interest. This book about dharma in history thus attempts to get at the concepts and practices associated with the term mainly during this window, which opens on dharma's vitality as it played, and was played, across political, religious, legal, literary, ethical, and philosophical domains and discourses about what “holds” life together. It examines what dharma meant in eleven texts, including text clusters like the Aśokan edicts and the canonical Buddhist Three Baskets, that can be said to have made dharma their central concern. These eleven “dharma texts,” nine “major” (including those just mentioned, the dharmasūtras, the Sanskrit epics, The Laws of Manu, and the Buddhacarita), and two “minor” (the Yuga Purāṇa and a set of Buddhist prophesies of the end of the Buddhist dharma), are explored for their treatments of dharma as experienced “over time” during this period of dynamic change. Each chapter brings out ways in which dharma is interpreted temporally: from grand cosmic chronometries of yugas and kalpas to narratives about divine plans, implications of itihāsa or “history,” war, and peace, gendered nuances of genealogical time, royal biography (even autobiography with Aśoka), guidelines for the royal life including daily routines, householder regimens including daily obligations and life‐stages, and monastic regimens including meditation.Less
From a verbal root meaning “to hold” or “uphold,” dharma is taken to have been the main term by which Buddhism and Hinduism came, over about five centuries, to describe their distinctive visions of the good and well‐rewarded life. From about 300 BCE to about 200 CE, Buddhist and Brahmanical authors used it to clarify and classify their mutual and contending values in relation to dramatically changing historical conditions. Before this, the term had no such centrality, and after it, each tradition came to define normative dharma separately as the term's interreligious dimension lost interest. This book about dharma in history thus attempts to get at the concepts and practices associated with the term mainly during this window, which opens on dharma's vitality as it played, and was played, across political, religious, legal, literary, ethical, and philosophical domains and discourses about what “holds” life together. It examines what dharma meant in eleven texts, including text clusters like the Aśokan edicts and the canonical Buddhist Three Baskets, that can be said to have made dharma their central concern. These eleven “dharma texts,” nine “major” (including those just mentioned, the dharmasūtras, the Sanskrit epics, The Laws of Manu, and the Buddhacarita), and two “minor” (the Yuga Purāṇa and a set of Buddhist prophesies of the end of the Buddhist dharma), are explored for their treatments of dharma as experienced “over time” during this period of dynamic change. Each chapter brings out ways in which dharma is interpreted temporally: from grand cosmic chronometries of yugas and kalpas to narratives about divine plans, implications of itihāsa or “history,” war, and peace, gendered nuances of genealogical time, royal biography (even autobiography with Aśoka), guidelines for the royal life including daily routines, householder regimens including daily obligations and life‐stages, and monastic regimens including meditation.
Madhav M. Deshpande
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195305326
- eISBN:
- 9780199850884
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195305326.003.0009
- Subject:
- Religion, Hinduism
This chapter discusses the role played by the kings of the Kuru Dynasty in facilitating, if not sponsoring, the process of preparation of the Saṁhitās of the Vedic texts. This process may have ...
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This chapter discusses the role played by the kings of the Kuru Dynasty in facilitating, if not sponsoring, the process of preparation of the Saṁhitās of the Vedic texts. This process may have stabilized the oral texts of the Vedas, essentially in a north-central dialect of Sanskrit, partly effacing the previous dialectal variation, and leading to the standardization of some sort, at least in phonetic terms. Such linguistic and textual standardization may have political correlates in stable and uniform administration over a reasonably large territory. Very little is known of the historical facts of the Kuru polity beyond the cursory references in the Vedic texts and the legendary material in the Mahābhārata. The chapter also discusses that the globalized view of Sanskrit presupposed by Pāṇini and his successors in the tradition of Sanskrit grammar includes all temporal varieties from the Vedic texts to the current dialects.Less
This chapter discusses the role played by the kings of the Kuru Dynasty in facilitating, if not sponsoring, the process of preparation of the Saṁhitās of the Vedic texts. This process may have stabilized the oral texts of the Vedas, essentially in a north-central dialect of Sanskrit, partly effacing the previous dialectal variation, and leading to the standardization of some sort, at least in phonetic terms. Such linguistic and textual standardization may have political correlates in stable and uniform administration over a reasonably large territory. Very little is known of the historical facts of the Kuru polity beyond the cursory references in the Vedic texts and the legendary material in the Mahābhārata. The chapter also discusses that the globalized view of Sanskrit presupposed by Pāṇini and his successors in the tradition of Sanskrit grammar includes all temporal varieties from the Vedic texts to the current dialects.
Alf Hiltebeitel
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- September 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195394238
- eISBN:
- 9780199897452
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195394238.003.0011
- Subject:
- Religion, Hinduism
What, taking an implausible time out in the middle of the battlefield just before the outbreak of war, did God (Kṛṣṇa) say to the world's greatest warrior, who, for a moment, thought better of being ...
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What, taking an implausible time out in the middle of the battlefield just before the outbreak of war, did God (Kṛṣṇa) say to the world's greatest warrior, who, for a moment, thought better of being a killer? This chapter explores how the Bhagavad Gītā, which from many angles may be considered to lie at the center of the Mahābhārata, puts dharma at the center of a vast vision of the workings of time. It distinguishes what the Gītā has to say about svadharma from what the rest of the epic says about it along with ksatriyadharma or warrior's dharma, and treats the Gītā's teaching of karmayoga as virtually a unique teaching for Arjuna, comparing it with the treatment of karmayoga in The Laws of Manu. It then approaches the Gītā through what the larger epic shows are its ripple effects in the way dharma is depicted inward and outward from the Gītā itself in the formulaic “Where, … then” or yatas … tatas maxims, “Where dharma is, there is victory” and “Where Kṛṣṇa is, there is victory.” The chapter then takes the Gītā itself to present dharma through a ring structure, taking up Kṛṣṇa's disclosures about yugas, kalpas, and Time (Kāla) itself and the divine plan to his instructions on living dharma over ordinary time experientially, allowing that Arjuna will need time to digest what he has to say about fulfilling has svadharma in a supremely difficult time in a way that allows one to transcends it.Less
What, taking an implausible time out in the middle of the battlefield just before the outbreak of war, did God (Kṛṣṇa) say to the world's greatest warrior, who, for a moment, thought better of being a killer? This chapter explores how the Bhagavad Gītā, which from many angles may be considered to lie at the center of the Mahābhārata, puts dharma at the center of a vast vision of the workings of time. It distinguishes what the Gītā has to say about svadharma from what the rest of the epic says about it along with ksatriyadharma or warrior's dharma, and treats the Gītā's teaching of karmayoga as virtually a unique teaching for Arjuna, comparing it with the treatment of karmayoga in The Laws of Manu. It then approaches the Gītā through what the larger epic shows are its ripple effects in the way dharma is depicted inward and outward from the Gītā itself in the formulaic “Where, … then” or yatas … tatas maxims, “Where dharma is, there is victory” and “Where Kṛṣṇa is, there is victory.” The chapter then takes the Gītā itself to present dharma through a ring structure, taking up Kṛṣṇa's disclosures about yugas, kalpas, and Time (Kāla) itself and the divine plan to his instructions on living dharma over ordinary time experientially, allowing that Arjuna will need time to digest what he has to say about fulfilling has svadharma in a supremely difficult time in a way that allows one to transcends it.
Alf Hiltebeitel
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- September 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195394238
- eISBN:
- 9780199897452
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195394238.003.0012
- Subject:
- Religion, Hinduism
This chapter attempts to “map” dharma in relation to bhakti, proposing that such a map must begin with the divine plan or plans one has been hearing about. It becomes a project of mapping the ...
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This chapter attempts to “map” dharma in relation to bhakti, proposing that such a map must begin with the divine plan or plans one has been hearing about. It becomes a project of mapping the Mahābhārata in relation to three other texts—not only the Rāmāyaṇa and the Harivaṃśa, but Manu as a text that “resists” bhakti. Such a map involves locating implicit bhakti usages of the names Dhātṛ and Vidhātṛ, the Placer and the Ordainer, and tracing the emergence of notions of avataraṇa. This complex concept takes in not only themes of divine “descent,” including Kṛṣṇa and Rāma as “avatāras” of Viṣṇu, along with Kalki, who in the Mahābhārata is prophesied to end the Kali yuga, but descents of the goddess Gaṅgā. With Gaṅgā, it also takes in dynastic descent through generations into a carefully targeted dharmic geography of madhyadeśa, the Middle Land. By attending further to how dharma and bhakti interrelate in the lives of Rāma and Kṛṣṇa on this terrain, it maps dharma and bhakti in relation to what the Mahābhārata calls Rṣidharma (the dharma of Ṛṣis), which is illustrated through the practice of gleaning, and through the interpersonal themes friendship, hospitality, and separation.Less
This chapter attempts to “map” dharma in relation to bhakti, proposing that such a map must begin with the divine plan or plans one has been hearing about. It becomes a project of mapping the Mahābhārata in relation to three other texts—not only the Rāmāyaṇa and the Harivaṃśa, but Manu as a text that “resists” bhakti. Such a map involves locating implicit bhakti usages of the names Dhātṛ and Vidhātṛ, the Placer and the Ordainer, and tracing the emergence of notions of avataraṇa. This complex concept takes in not only themes of divine “descent,” including Kṛṣṇa and Rāma as “avatāras” of Viṣṇu, along with Kalki, who in the Mahābhārata is prophesied to end the Kali yuga, but descents of the goddess Gaṅgā. With Gaṅgā, it also takes in dynastic descent through generations into a carefully targeted dharmic geography of madhyadeśa, the Middle Land. By attending further to how dharma and bhakti interrelate in the lives of Rāma and Kṛṣṇa on this terrain, it maps dharma and bhakti in relation to what the Mahābhārata calls Rṣidharma (the dharma of Ṛṣis), which is illustrated through the practice of gleaning, and through the interpersonal themes friendship, hospitality, and separation.
Alf Hiltebeitel
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- September 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195394238
- eISBN:
- 9780199897452
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195394238.003.0013
- Subject:
- Religion, Hinduism
This chapter on Aśvaghoṣa's Buddhacarita returns to the question of biography, and takes up the centrality of dharma in this text. Aśvaghoṣa, a Brahmin convert to Buddhism and a versatile ...
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This chapter on Aśvaghoṣa's Buddhacarita returns to the question of biography, and takes up the centrality of dharma in this text. Aśvaghoṣa, a Brahmin convert to Buddhism and a versatile poet‐scholar, tells the Buddha's life story from earlier Buddhist sources while taking cognizance of precedents from the Sanskrit epics. Most crucial in showing the uniqueness of the Buddhist dharma and of the Buddha's discovery of it is the repeated insistence that “there is no wrong time for dharma,” which provides opportunities for Prince Siddhārtha to trump Brahmanical concerns for the inherent timeliness of āśramadharma. It is argued that Aśvaghoṣa tells the episode of the Buddha‐to‐be entering Magadha during the reign of King Bimbisāra as a counter‐story to the Mahābhārata's narrative of Kṛṣṇa and two Pāṇḍavas entering Magadha to overthrow the tyrant Jarāsaṃdha, who is interpreted as a crypto‐Buddhist. Discussion then turns to Aśvaghoṣa's usage of the anomalous term mokṣadharma, which he seems to get from the Mahābhārata, raising questions about the treatments of mokṣa and mokṣadharma in the Mahābhārata, Manu, and the Buddhacarita. The chapter ends with a postscript on Aśvaghoṣa's closing tribute to Aśoka Maurya.Less
This chapter on Aśvaghoṣa's Buddhacarita returns to the question of biography, and takes up the centrality of dharma in this text. Aśvaghoṣa, a Brahmin convert to Buddhism and a versatile poet‐scholar, tells the Buddha's life story from earlier Buddhist sources while taking cognizance of precedents from the Sanskrit epics. Most crucial in showing the uniqueness of the Buddhist dharma and of the Buddha's discovery of it is the repeated insistence that “there is no wrong time for dharma,” which provides opportunities for Prince Siddhārtha to trump Brahmanical concerns for the inherent timeliness of āśramadharma. It is argued that Aśvaghoṣa tells the episode of the Buddha‐to‐be entering Magadha during the reign of King Bimbisāra as a counter‐story to the Mahābhārata's narrative of Kṛṣṇa and two Pāṇḍavas entering Magadha to overthrow the tyrant Jarāsaṃdha, who is interpreted as a crypto‐Buddhist. Discussion then turns to Aśvaghoṣa's usage of the anomalous term mokṣadharma, which he seems to get from the Mahābhārata, raising questions about the treatments of mokṣa and mokṣadharma in the Mahābhārata, Manu, and the Buddhacarita. The chapter ends with a postscript on Aśvaghoṣa's closing tribute to Aśoka Maurya.
Alf Hiltebeitel
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- September 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195394238
- eISBN:
- 9780199897452
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195394238.003.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Hinduism
This chapter introduces the book's usage of “dharma texts,”, and proposes a chronology of the eleven discussed. It then takes up the three main texts used, the two Sanskrit epics and Manu, offering ...
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This chapter introduces the book's usage of “dharma texts,”, and proposes a chronology of the eleven discussed. It then takes up the three main texts used, the two Sanskrit epics and Manu, offering arguments in their favor of their Critical Editions. After discussing B. M. Matilial's notion of a paradigm shift around Kṛṣṇa as offering a way of thinking about the Mahābhārata in particular as introducing change over time with regard to dharma in the handling of moral dilemmas, it concludes by outlining the book in relation to this theme.Less
This chapter introduces the book's usage of “dharma texts,”, and proposes a chronology of the eleven discussed. It then takes up the three main texts used, the two Sanskrit epics and Manu, offering arguments in their favor of their Critical Editions. After discussing B. M. Matilial's notion of a paradigm shift around Kṛṣṇa as offering a way of thinking about the Mahābhārata in particular as introducing change over time with regard to dharma in the handling of moral dilemmas, it concludes by outlining the book in relation to this theme.
Alf Hiltebeitel
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- September 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195394238
- eISBN:
- 9780199897452
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195394238.003.0005
- Subject:
- Religion, Hinduism
Chapter 5 is about how Brahmanical authors seek to shape consensus in a post‐Vedic society affected by Buddhism and other nāstika traditions or “heterodoxies” by composing dharma texts in new genres, ...
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Chapter 5 is about how Brahmanical authors seek to shape consensus in a post‐Vedic society affected by Buddhism and other nāstika traditions or “heterodoxies” by composing dharma texts in new genres, beginning with the dharmasūtras, and soon including dharmaśāstra (headed by The Laws of Manu) and the two “epics”: the Mahābhārata and the Rāmāyaṇa. The chapter looks at how the dharmasūtras introduce consensus as one of the “sources of dharma” and underscore it practially by commending the householder life and the ”five great sacrifices” that a householder is to perform daily. It then looks at novel features of Manu, including its mixing of narrative and normative elements, and compares them with similar features of the epics. Unlike the dharmasūtras, Manu introduces a cosmological frame centered on the god Brahmā, and works in mini‐narratives about the king and the rod of punishment (daṇda) he should deploy in upholding dharma. The chapter unfolds the issues that classical Brahmanical dharma texts come to treat as basic, showing their development through them. These issues include varṇa (caste) and āśrama (life pattern or life‐stage); the theoretical origin of mixed classes; common portrayals of Śūdras and women; and increased attention to rājadharma or the dharma of kings.Less
Chapter 5 is about how Brahmanical authors seek to shape consensus in a post‐Vedic society affected by Buddhism and other nāstika traditions or “heterodoxies” by composing dharma texts in new genres, beginning with the dharmasūtras, and soon including dharmaśāstra (headed by The Laws of Manu) and the two “epics”: the Mahābhārata and the Rāmāyaṇa. The chapter looks at how the dharmasūtras introduce consensus as one of the “sources of dharma” and underscore it practially by commending the householder life and the ”five great sacrifices” that a householder is to perform daily. It then looks at novel features of Manu, including its mixing of narrative and normative elements, and compares them with similar features of the epics. Unlike the dharmasūtras, Manu introduces a cosmological frame centered on the god Brahmā, and works in mini‐narratives about the king and the rod of punishment (daṇda) he should deploy in upholding dharma. The chapter unfolds the issues that classical Brahmanical dharma texts come to treat as basic, showing their development through them. These issues include varṇa (caste) and āśrama (life pattern or life‐stage); the theoretical origin of mixed classes; common portrayals of Śūdras and women; and increased attention to rājadharma or the dharma of kings.
Alf Hiltebeitel
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- September 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195394238
- eISBN:
- 9780199897452
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195394238.003.0007
- Subject:
- Religion, Hinduism
Chapter 7 is about the two “minor dharma texts” mentioned in chapter 1: the Brahmanical Yuga Purāṇa (a unit by that name in an astronomical treatise) which foretells the decline of dharma toward the ...
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Chapter 7 is about the two “minor dharma texts” mentioned in chapter 1: the Brahmanical Yuga Purāṇa (a unit by that name in an astronomical treatise) which foretells the decline of dharma toward the end of the Kali Yuga, and a cluster of mainly North Indian Buddhist texts (the earliest is probably The Prophesy of Kātyāyana) that predict a debacle at Kauśāmbī that will spell the end of the Buddhist dharma. The chapter compares these two prophetic treatments of dharma's change over time. Although probably known only in separate Brahmanical and Buddhist circles, they were impacted by much the same geography and history: the invasions of Greeks, Śakas, and Parthians into India. The Yuga Purāṇa focuses in on the rule by Śuṅga and so‐called Agniveśya kings after the fall of the Mauryan dynasty. The Buddhist texts highlight the Kuṣāṇa dynasty. The first part compares treatments of yugadharma and history (itihāsa) in the Yuga Purāṇa and the Mahābhārata, arguing against some who have viewed the Yuga Purāṇa's treatment as earlier, and the Mahābhārata's story ending the Kali Yuga with the appearance of Kalki to be later. It ties the four‐yuga sequence in these texts to the Greek schema of ages named after four metals. The discussion of Buddhist chronometry then revolves around Vinaya and definitions of the “true dharma” (saddharma) and the “semblance dharma” (saddharma‐pratirūpaka), and, in Far Eastern elaborations, the Final Dharma (Chinese mo‐fa; Japanese mappō).Less
Chapter 7 is about the two “minor dharma texts” mentioned in chapter 1: the Brahmanical Yuga Purāṇa (a unit by that name in an astronomical treatise) which foretells the decline of dharma toward the end of the Kali Yuga, and a cluster of mainly North Indian Buddhist texts (the earliest is probably The Prophesy of Kātyāyana) that predict a debacle at Kauśāmbī that will spell the end of the Buddhist dharma. The chapter compares these two prophetic treatments of dharma's change over time. Although probably known only in separate Brahmanical and Buddhist circles, they were impacted by much the same geography and history: the invasions of Greeks, Śakas, and Parthians into India. The Yuga Purāṇa focuses in on the rule by Śuṅga and so‐called Agniveśya kings after the fall of the Mauryan dynasty. The Buddhist texts highlight the Kuṣāṇa dynasty. The first part compares treatments of yugadharma and history (itihāsa) in the Yuga Purāṇa and the Mahābhārata, arguing against some who have viewed the Yuga Purāṇa's treatment as earlier, and the Mahābhārata's story ending the Kali Yuga with the appearance of Kalki to be later. It ties the four‐yuga sequence in these texts to the Greek schema of ages named after four metals. The discussion of Buddhist chronometry then revolves around Vinaya and definitions of the “true dharma” (saddharma) and the “semblance dharma” (saddharma‐pratirūpaka), and, in Far Eastern elaborations, the Final Dharma (Chinese mo‐fa; Japanese mappō).
