Veena Das
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- September 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780198077404
- eISBN:
- 9780199081172
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198077404.001.0001
- Subject:
- Sociology, Social Theory
Hindu caste and ritual are two features of the Hindu society that are discussed in Structure and Cognition. The book presents a thorough analysis of two Sanskrit texts, the Dharmaranya Purana and the ...
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Hindu caste and ritual are two features of the Hindu society that are discussed in Structure and Cognition. The book presents a thorough analysis of two Sanskrit texts, the Dharmaranya Purana and the Grihya Sutra of Gobhila; the former contains information on Hindu castes, while the latter contains information on Hindu rituals. The discussions try to show that Sanskrit texts—which are not normally used to study Indian social institutions—may also be used to study different features of Hindu social life. It introduces topics such as jatis and the categories of the Brahman, sanyasi, and king, and studies the issue of the sacred and the profane. It also considers the differences between the Chaturvedi Brahmans and Trivedi Brahmans, and narrates several myths found in the Dharmaranya Purana. The book also contains discussions on the right and left and the basic categorization of space that is used in Hindu rituals.Less
Hindu caste and ritual are two features of the Hindu society that are discussed in Structure and Cognition. The book presents a thorough analysis of two Sanskrit texts, the Dharmaranya Purana and the Grihya Sutra of Gobhila; the former contains information on Hindu castes, while the latter contains information on Hindu rituals. The discussions try to show that Sanskrit texts—which are not normally used to study Indian social institutions—may also be used to study different features of Hindu social life. It introduces topics such as jatis and the categories of the Brahman, sanyasi, and king, and studies the issue of the sacred and the profane. It also considers the differences between the Chaturvedi Brahmans and Trivedi Brahmans, and narrates several myths found in the Dharmaranya Purana. The book also contains discussions on the right and left and the basic categorization of space that is used in Hindu rituals.
Laurie L. Patton
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- May 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780195177060
- eISBN:
- 9780199785438
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195177060.003.0002
- Subject:
- Religion, Hinduism
This chapter demonstrates how contemporary female Sanskritists in Maharashtra reconfigure Sanskrit, the “father language” of Brahminical Hinduism, as a “grandmother language” and how women engage in ...
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This chapter demonstrates how contemporary female Sanskritists in Maharashtra reconfigure Sanskrit, the “father language” of Brahminical Hinduism, as a “grandmother language” and how women engage in new ways to imbue the practices and activities of everyday life with religious meaning. Female Sanskritists unite their stridharma, or ritual duties as women, with the use of Sanskrit in everyday life, importing Sanskrit into everyday events and practices like childbirth, food preparation, and the feeding of family. In so doing, these women reconstitute Sanskrit as a domestic language of interpersonal care and personal transformation; they also reconfigure the “profane” moments of everyday life, imbuing them with religious meaning by sacralizing them with powerful religious mantras.Less
This chapter demonstrates how contemporary female Sanskritists in Maharashtra reconfigure Sanskrit, the “father language” of Brahminical Hinduism, as a “grandmother language” and how women engage in new ways to imbue the practices and activities of everyday life with religious meaning. Female Sanskritists unite their stridharma, or ritual duties as women, with the use of Sanskrit in everyday life, importing Sanskrit into everyday events and practices like childbirth, food preparation, and the feeding of family. In so doing, these women reconstitute Sanskrit as a domestic language of interpersonal care and personal transformation; they also reconfigure the “profane” moments of everyday life, imbuing them with religious meaning by sacralizing them with powerful religious mantras.
Dagmar Wujastyk
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- September 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199856268
- eISBN:
- 9780199950560
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199856268.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Hinduism
When is it right for a doctor to lie to a patient? What is more important: a patient's health, or his dignity? When should a patient refuse to follow the doctor's orders? What is acceptable medical ...
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When is it right for a doctor to lie to a patient? What is more important: a patient's health, or his dignity? When should a patient refuse to follow the doctor's orders? What is acceptable medical risk? Whose fault is it if a patient dies under a doctor's care? Who cares for the patient? And who pays the bill? About two thousand years ago, physicians in ancient India could find answers to these questions in the then new, and now classic ayurvedic textbooks. Held in great respect, and used for ayurvedic training even today, the early ayurvedic treatises offer many guidelines on good medical practice: They define what made a physician a good physician, or a patient a good patient. They describe the formal procedures of medical education and lay out the rules for subsequent practice. They determine the duties or obligations doctors and patients had to each other, providing a catalogue of rules of professional conduct that physicians were bound to, including guidelines on appropriate interactions both with patients as well as with colleagues. Translating and discussing the original Sanskrit texts of the core ayurvedic treatises, the book offers a survey and analysis of the ayurvedic moral discourses on professional conduct in a medical setting and explores in what relationship the ethical tenets found in the ayurvedic works stand to those from other broadly contemporaneous South Asian sources.Less
When is it right for a doctor to lie to a patient? What is more important: a patient's health, or his dignity? When should a patient refuse to follow the doctor's orders? What is acceptable medical risk? Whose fault is it if a patient dies under a doctor's care? Who cares for the patient? And who pays the bill? About two thousand years ago, physicians in ancient India could find answers to these questions in the then new, and now classic ayurvedic textbooks. Held in great respect, and used for ayurvedic training even today, the early ayurvedic treatises offer many guidelines on good medical practice: They define what made a physician a good physician, or a patient a good patient. They describe the formal procedures of medical education and lay out the rules for subsequent practice. They determine the duties or obligations doctors and patients had to each other, providing a catalogue of rules of professional conduct that physicians were bound to, including guidelines on appropriate interactions both with patients as well as with colleagues. Translating and discussing the original Sanskrit texts of the core ayurvedic treatises, the book offers a survey and analysis of the ayurvedic moral discourses on professional conduct in a medical setting and explores in what relationship the ethical tenets found in the ayurvedic works stand to those from other broadly contemporaneous South Asian sources.
Loriliai Biernacki
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- September 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780195327823
- eISBN:
- 9780199785520
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195327823.003.0009
- Subject:
- Religion, Hinduism
The Bṭhannīla Tantra, which forms the primary text used in this study, has not yet been translated from Sanskrit into English or any European language, though it has been published, in its various ...
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The Bṭhannīla Tantra, which forms the primary text used in this study, has not yet been translated from Sanskrit into English or any European language, though it has been published, in its various versions as many as five times in India since the 1880s. This appendix is presented to give some sense of the contents of this text. This synopsis covers the major themes and topics addressed in the Bṭhannīla Tantra. The Bṭhannīla Tantra is a comparatively large text, 256 pages of Sanskrit. This synopsis will focus less on the minutiae of precise ritual details, the most substantial element within the Bṭhannīla Tantra, and more upon that element of the Bṭhannīla Tantra that presents the greatest amount of authorial reflection—the “voice” of these authors through its stories and occasional philosophical explanations, for culling out the view of women that the Bṭhannīla Tantra presents.Less
The Bṭhannīla Tantra, which forms the primary text used in this study, has not yet been translated from Sanskrit into English or any European language, though it has been published, in its various versions as many as five times in India since the 1880s. This appendix is presented to give some sense of the contents of this text. This synopsis covers the major themes and topics addressed in the Bṭhannīla Tantra. The Bṭhannīla Tantra is a comparatively large text, 256 pages of Sanskrit. This synopsis will focus less on the minutiae of precise ritual details, the most substantial element within the Bṭhannīla Tantra, and more upon that element of the Bṭhannīla Tantra that presents the greatest amount of authorial reflection—the “voice” of these authors through its stories and occasional philosophical explanations, for culling out the view of women that the Bṭhannīla Tantra presents.
O.Von Hinüber
- Published in print:
- 2003
- Published Online:
- January 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780197262856
- eISBN:
- 9780191753961
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- British Academy
- DOI:
- 10.5871/bacad/9780197262856.003.0007
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Asian and Middle Eastern History: BCE to 500CE
This chapter analyses the problems associated with Buddhist Sanskrit vocabulary. The obvious reason for these problems is the well-known linguistic diversity that prevailed in the vast area of India ...
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This chapter analyses the problems associated with Buddhist Sanskrit vocabulary. The obvious reason for these problems is the well-known linguistic diversity that prevailed in the vast area of India in ancient times as it does today. The first to experience them were most likely the early Buddhist monks, when they propagated their faith and tried to make themselves understood beyond Magadha, the original home of Buddhism, and then in the course of time even beyond India. These problems were gradually exported from India, as Buddhists in Central Asia and finally in China started to struggle with strange Sanskrit — or even worse Gāndhārī — words in their attempt to translate new and alien concepts into Chinese and other languages.Less
This chapter analyses the problems associated with Buddhist Sanskrit vocabulary. The obvious reason for these problems is the well-known linguistic diversity that prevailed in the vast area of India in ancient times as it does today. The first to experience them were most likely the early Buddhist monks, when they propagated their faith and tried to make themselves understood beyond Magadha, the original home of Buddhism, and then in the course of time even beyond India. These problems were gradually exported from India, as Buddhists in Central Asia and finally in China started to struggle with strange Sanskrit — or even worse Gāndhārī — words in their attempt to translate new and alien concepts into Chinese and other languages.
Gregory Stump
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- January 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780197265253
- eISBN:
- 9780191760419
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- British Academy
- DOI:
- 10.5871/bacad/9780197265253.003.0005
- Subject:
- Linguistics, Syntax and Morphology
Ancient Sanskrit had two tenses of particular interest: periphrastic perfect and periphrastic future. At first glance, they are rather similar: both realize a particular value of tense through a ...
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Ancient Sanskrit had two tenses of particular interest: periphrastic perfect and periphrastic future. At first glance, they are rather similar: both realize a particular value of tense through a combination of a lexical verb (devoid of personal agreement) and an agreeing auxiliary. There are, however, important differences which are revealed in this chapter: the periphrastic future is available for every verb, and can be distinguished from the synthetic future on semantic grounds, while the periphrastic perfect is available only for certain verbs, and these do not make up a semantically homogeneous group. A formal analysis is proposed, within Paradigm Function Morphology, for the two periphrastic tenses. It is demonstrated that a morphological rather than a purely syntactic account is preferable here. The verbs with a periphrastic perfect make up a conjugation class; on the other hand, the periphrastic future is formalized as a morphosyntactic property whose default realization is periphrastic.Less
Ancient Sanskrit had two tenses of particular interest: periphrastic perfect and periphrastic future. At first glance, they are rather similar: both realize a particular value of tense through a combination of a lexical verb (devoid of personal agreement) and an agreeing auxiliary. There are, however, important differences which are revealed in this chapter: the periphrastic future is available for every verb, and can be distinguished from the synthetic future on semantic grounds, while the periphrastic perfect is available only for certain verbs, and these do not make up a semantically homogeneous group. A formal analysis is proposed, within Paradigm Function Morphology, for the two periphrastic tenses. It is demonstrated that a morphological rather than a purely syntactic account is preferable here. The verbs with a periphrastic perfect make up a conjugation class; on the other hand, the periphrastic future is formalized as a morphosyntactic property whose default realization is periphrastic.
Steven P. Hopkins
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- January 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780195326390
- eISBN:
- 9780199870455
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195326390.003.0004
- Subject:
- Religion, Hinduism
A full translation of Venkatesha's Sanskrit stotra, the Devanayakapanchashat, with detailed thematic afterword and notes. Chapter situates Venkatesha's stotra in the history of Sanskrit stotra ...
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A full translation of Venkatesha's Sanskrit stotra, the Devanayakapanchashat, with detailed thematic afterword and notes. Chapter situates Venkatesha's stotra in the history of Sanskrit stotra literature, focusing on themes of recitation, a poetry of power, and the “fruits” of stotra composition and recitation in goals of prosperity, happiness, auspiciousness (kushalam), as expressed particularly in the concluding verses (phalashrutis) that describe manifold benefits (phalah) of reading, reciting, or studying the poem. The afterword also focuses detailed attention on a major literary motif of this poem and of the remaining poems in the volume, the ecstatic beholding of the beautiful body of Vishnu through the deployment of the anubhava, the step‐wise sequential description, using extravagant similes and metaphors, from foot‐to‐head or head‐to‐foot, of the body of god. Such devotional visions, comparable to the wasfs in the Hebrew Song of Songs, form the emotional center of gravity of the shrine poems to Devanayaka. Afterword ends with a return to the theme of radical surrender (prapatti) to the god and the vulnerability of love, helplessness, and the asymmetry of lover/beloved in Venkatesha's devotional poetics.Less
A full translation of Venkatesha's Sanskrit stotra, the Devanayakapanchashat, with detailed thematic afterword and notes. Chapter situates Venkatesha's stotra in the history of Sanskrit stotra literature, focusing on themes of recitation, a poetry of power, and the “fruits” of stotra composition and recitation in goals of prosperity, happiness, auspiciousness (kushalam), as expressed particularly in the concluding verses (phalashrutis) that describe manifold benefits (phalah) of reading, reciting, or studying the poem. The afterword also focuses detailed attention on a major literary motif of this poem and of the remaining poems in the volume, the ecstatic beholding of the beautiful body of Vishnu through the deployment of the anubhava, the step‐wise sequential description, using extravagant similes and metaphors, from foot‐to‐head or head‐to‐foot, of the body of god. Such devotional visions, comparable to the wasfs in the Hebrew Song of Songs, form the emotional center of gravity of the shrine poems to Devanayaka. Afterword ends with a return to the theme of radical surrender (prapatti) to the god and the vulnerability of love, helplessness, and the asymmetry of lover/beloved in Venkatesha's devotional poetics.
Ludo Rocher (ed.)
- Published in print:
- 2002
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780195138177
- eISBN:
- 9780199834594
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0195138171.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Hinduism
This is a translation of a twelfth‐century Sanskrit legal text, with the original text. The Dāyabhāga was one of the most important texts in the history of Indian law. It is important because the ...
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This is a translation of a twelfth‐century Sanskrit legal text, with the original text. The Dāyabhāga was one of the most important texts in the history of Indian law. It is important because the British elevated it to such prominence in their new colony in the early nineteenth century. The text was taken as the authority on property inheritance and significant aspects of family law for the eastern Indian region. The case law and scholarship that surround it have shaped Indian personal law right up to the present day, although, since the Hindu Succession Act of 1956, it is no longer used in courts of law in India. Until now, there has been only one very inadequate English translation of the text (now 190 years old), which is virtually without reference to the Sanskrit. This new translation, which is accompanied by the original Sanskrit text, will make this crucial work genuinely available to those without the Sanskrit for the first time. Its goal is academic: to present not only to Sanskritists and Indologists but also to legal historians, a translation of a text that for about a century and a half has regulated all questions of partition and inheritance for Hindus living in Bengal. The book has an introduction, and the translation is accompanied by extensive footnotes.Less
This is a translation of a twelfth‐century Sanskrit legal text, with the original text. The Dāyabhāga was one of the most important texts in the history of Indian law. It is important because the British elevated it to such prominence in their new colony in the early nineteenth century. The text was taken as the authority on property inheritance and significant aspects of family law for the eastern Indian region. The case law and scholarship that surround it have shaped Indian personal law right up to the present day, although, since the Hindu Succession Act of 1956, it is no longer used in courts of law in India. Until now, there has been only one very inadequate English translation of the text (now 190 years old), which is virtually without reference to the Sanskrit. This new translation, which is accompanied by the original Sanskrit text, will make this crucial work genuinely available to those without the Sanskrit for the first time. Its goal is academic: to present not only to Sanskritists and Indologists but also to legal historians, a translation of a text that for about a century and a half has regulated all questions of partition and inheritance for Hindus living in Bengal. The book has an introduction, and the translation is accompanied by extensive footnotes.
Mandakranta Bose (ed.)
- Published in print:
- 2004
- Published Online:
- April 2005
- ISBN:
- 9780195168327
- eISBN:
- 9780199835362
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0195168321.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Hinduism
While the “standard” version of the Rāmāyana is a 14th-century Sanskrit text by Valmiki, the diversity and adaptability of this narrative are extraordinary. Many regions and languages have their own ...
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While the “standard” version of the Rāmāyana is a 14th-century Sanskrit text by Valmiki, the diversity and adaptability of this narrative are extraordinary. Many regions and languages have their own versions of the tale that they consider authoritative. In addition, the basic tale of the Rāmāyana is continually adapted to new contexts, forms, and media. It is, in one form or another, read, recited, sung, danced, and acted. Yet the vast majority of scholarship on the Rāmāyana has dealt exclusively with the textual editions, and mainly with Valmiki's Sanskrit version. This book examines the epic in its myriad contexts throughout South and Southeast Asia. It explores the role the narrative plays in societies as varied as India, Indonesia, Thailand, and Cambodia. The essays also expand the understanding of the “text” to include non-verbal renditions of the epic, with particular attention to the complex ways such retellings change the way the narrative deals with gender.Less
While the “standard” version of the Rāmāyana is a 14th-century Sanskrit text by Valmiki, the diversity and adaptability of this narrative are extraordinary. Many regions and languages have their own versions of the tale that they consider authoritative. In addition, the basic tale of the Rāmāyana is continually adapted to new contexts, forms, and media. It is, in one form or another, read, recited, sung, danced, and acted. Yet the vast majority of scholarship on the Rāmāyana has dealt exclusively with the textual editions, and mainly with Valmiki's Sanskrit version. This book examines the epic in its myriad contexts throughout South and Southeast Asia. It explores the role the narrative plays in societies as varied as India, Indonesia, Thailand, and Cambodia. The essays also expand the understanding of the “text” to include non-verbal renditions of the epic, with particular attention to the complex ways such retellings change the way the narrative deals with gender.
Steven Paul Hopkins
- Published in print:
- 2002
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780195127355
- eISBN:
- 9780199834327
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0195127358.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Hinduism
This is the first full‐length study of the devotional poetry and poetics of the fourteenth‐century poet–philosopher Vedåntadeóika, one of the most outstanding and influential figures in the Hindu ...
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This is the first full‐length study of the devotional poetry and poetics of the fourteenth‐century poet–philosopher Vedåntadeóika, one of the most outstanding and influential figures in the Hindu tradition of àrâ‐Vaióïavism (the cult of Lord Vishnu and his consort Lakómâ or àrâ), a tradition that affirms both vernacular Tamil poems of ninth‐ and tenth‐century saint‐poets (the Çôvårs) and the Sanskrit Vedas as an Ubhaya or “dual” Vedånta. Long after his death, Vedåntadeóika was claimed as the founding Çcårya (sectarian preceptor) of the Vaìakalai or “Northern School” of àrâvaióïavism, associated with the holy city of Kåñcâpuram. Singing the Body of God is a comparative study of the Sanskrit, Prakãit, and Tamil poems composed by Vedåntadeóika in praise of important Vaióïava shrines and their icons – poems that are considered to be the apogee of South Indian devotional literature. This book examines the varied ways in which Vedåntadeóika, the philosopher and logician, works his thought through the distinctive – at times antithetical – medium of the poem. It also gives particular attention to the poems’ emotional and visionary center of gravity: the different temple images of Lord Vishnu, referred to by the poet simply as the various “lovely bodies” of God. Singing the Body of God brings to light a unique example of the creative synthesis of the Sanskrit and Tamil traditions in Medieval Tamil Nadu, and makes an important contribution to our understanding of intellectual and religious vernacularism and “cosmopolitanism” in pre‐modern South Asia.Less
This is the first full‐length study of the devotional poetry and poetics of the fourteenth‐century poet–philosopher Vedåntadeóika, one of the most outstanding and influential figures in the Hindu tradition of àrâ‐Vaióïavism (the cult of Lord Vishnu and his consort Lakómâ or àrâ), a tradition that affirms both vernacular Tamil poems of ninth‐ and tenth‐century saint‐poets (the Çôvårs) and the Sanskrit Vedas as an Ubhaya or “dual” Vedånta. Long after his death, Vedåntadeóika was claimed as the founding Çcårya (sectarian preceptor) of the Vaìakalai or “Northern School” of àrâvaióïavism, associated with the holy city of Kåñcâpuram.
Singing the Body of God is a comparative study of the Sanskrit, Prakãit, and Tamil poems composed by Vedåntadeóika in praise of important Vaióïava shrines and their icons – poems that are considered to be the apogee of South Indian devotional literature. This book examines the varied ways in which Vedåntadeóika, the philosopher and logician, works his thought through the distinctive – at times antithetical – medium of the poem. It also gives particular attention to the poems’ emotional and visionary center of gravity: the different temple images of Lord Vishnu, referred to by the poet simply as the various “lovely bodies” of God. Singing the Body of God brings to light a unique example of the creative synthesis of the Sanskrit and Tamil traditions in Medieval Tamil Nadu, and makes an important contribution to our understanding of intellectual and religious vernacularism and “cosmopolitanism” in pre‐modern South Asia.
Philomen Probert
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- September 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780199279609
- eISBN:
- 9780191707292
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199279609.003.0004
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Literary Studies: Classical, Early, and Medieval
The evidence for ancient Greek accentuation is tantalizingly achronological, and there is no direct evidence until the Hellenistic period. This chapter surveys the indirect evidence pointing to ...
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The evidence for ancient Greek accentuation is tantalizingly achronological, and there is no direct evidence until the Hellenistic period. This chapter surveys the indirect evidence pointing to elements of continuity between different periods in the history (or prehistory) of the Greek accent system up to the Hellenistic period, and to elements of change. Evidence for continuity is drawn from comparisons with accentuation in other Indo-European languages, especially Vedic Sanskrit; from comparison between the accent systems attested for different Greek dialects; and from the relative chronology of the law of limitation and quantitative metathesis. Significant prehistoric Greek innovations are the law of limitation; the recessive accentuation of the finite verb; and the accent shifts described by Wheeler’s law, Vendryes’ law, and Bartoli’s law. Wheeler’s law is treated in particular detail.Less
The evidence for ancient Greek accentuation is tantalizingly achronological, and there is no direct evidence until the Hellenistic period. This chapter surveys the indirect evidence pointing to elements of continuity between different periods in the history (or prehistory) of the Greek accent system up to the Hellenistic period, and to elements of change. Evidence for continuity is drawn from comparisons with accentuation in other Indo-European languages, especially Vedic Sanskrit; from comparison between the accent systems attested for different Greek dialects; and from the relative chronology of the law of limitation and quantitative metathesis. Significant prehistoric Greek innovations are the law of limitation; the recessive accentuation of the finite verb; and the accent shifts described by Wheeler’s law, Vendryes’ law, and Bartoli’s law. Wheeler’s law is treated in particular detail.
André Béteille
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- September 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780198077435
- eISBN:
- 9780199081080
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198077435.003.0003
- Subject:
- Sociology, Social Stratification, Inequality, and Mobility
This chapter describes the basic features of the caste structure. The population of Sripuram is divided into a large number of castes or jatis. Differences between castes are carried in the matter of ...
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This chapter describes the basic features of the caste structure. The population of Sripuram is divided into a large number of castes or jatis. Differences between castes are carried in the matter of women’s dress. The differential importance of Sanskrit and Tamil, with regard to the styles of living of the Brahmins and Non-Brahmins, can be seen in the choice of personal names. Brahmins do not accept cooked food from Non-Brahmins or Adi-Dravidas, although both of the latter accept food from the Brahmins. It is shown that Brahmins who are a segment of the rural society of Sripuram themselves constitute a segmentary system. The bulk of the Non-Brahmin population of Sripuram belongs to what may be very broadly described as cultivating castes. Brahmin, Non-Brahmin, and Adi-Dravida are linked with different degrees of social honour or esteem.Less
This chapter describes the basic features of the caste structure. The population of Sripuram is divided into a large number of castes or jatis. Differences between castes are carried in the matter of women’s dress. The differential importance of Sanskrit and Tamil, with regard to the styles of living of the Brahmins and Non-Brahmins, can be seen in the choice of personal names. Brahmins do not accept cooked food from Non-Brahmins or Adi-Dravidas, although both of the latter accept food from the Brahmins. It is shown that Brahmins who are a segment of the rural society of Sripuram themselves constitute a segmentary system. The bulk of the Non-Brahmin population of Sripuram belongs to what may be very broadly described as cultivating castes. Brahmin, Non-Brahmin, and Adi-Dravida are linked with different degrees of social honour or esteem.
James G. Lochtefeld
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- February 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780195386141
- eISBN:
- 9780199866380
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195386141.003.0002
- Subject:
- Religion, Hinduism
This chapter examines Hardwar’s sacred history as presented in various Sanskrit texts. Two Hindu myths are closely identified with Hardwar—the Descent of the Ganges and Shiva’s Destruction of ...
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This chapter examines Hardwar’s sacred history as presented in various Sanskrit texts. Two Hindu myths are closely identified with Hardwar—the Descent of the Ganges and Shiva’s Destruction of Daksha’s Sacrifice—and both stories are in many of the puranas (ancient compendia of sacred lore), as well as the Epic Ramayana. These sources give only sketchy references to Hardwar itself and focus more on ritual actions (bathing and almsgiving) and asceticism. More detailed descriptions are found in the mahatmyas (“Greatness”), a textual genre written to praise the holiness of some place or thing. A few puranas contain brief Hardwar mahatmyas, but the greatest detail is found in handwritten manuscript mayatmya traditions—the Mayapurimahatmya (early 1800s) and the Haridwaramahatmya (early 1600s). These previously untranslated texts describe Hardwar’s mythology and religious importance and provide an intriguing glimpse of the city at that time.Less
This chapter examines Hardwar’s sacred history as presented in various Sanskrit texts. Two Hindu myths are closely identified with Hardwar—the Descent of the Ganges and Shiva’s Destruction of Daksha’s Sacrifice—and both stories are in many of the puranas (ancient compendia of sacred lore), as well as the Epic Ramayana. These sources give only sketchy references to Hardwar itself and focus more on ritual actions (bathing and almsgiving) and asceticism. More detailed descriptions are found in the mahatmyas (“Greatness”), a textual genre written to praise the holiness of some place or thing. A few puranas contain brief Hardwar mahatmyas, but the greatest detail is found in handwritten manuscript mayatmya traditions—the Mayapurimahatmya (early 1800s) and the Haridwaramahatmya (early 1600s). These previously untranslated texts describe Hardwar’s mythology and religious importance and provide an intriguing glimpse of the city at that time.
Veena Das
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- September 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780198077404
- eISBN:
- 9780199081172
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198077404.003.0001
- Subject:
- Sociology, Social Theory
This introductory chapter discusses Hindu caste and ritual. It examines the religious texts in Sanskrit, which serve as relevant sources of information on Indian society. It takes a look at ...
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This introductory chapter discusses Hindu caste and ritual. It examines the religious texts in Sanskrit, which serve as relevant sources of information on Indian society. It takes a look at anthropological research and the formation of a positivist approach, as well as the consequences of defining social reality based on concreteness. It introduces Louis Dumont's writings, where he rejects the dichotomy between behaviour and thought, and insists that an explanatory model cannot be limited to copying observed reality. It then pinpoints the two Sanskrit texts that will be analyzed in detail, namely the Dharmaranya Purana and the Grihya Sutra of Gobhila. The chapter also studies the caste Puranas, who are defined as a class of Sanskrit language that is concerned with the five main themes of creation.Less
This introductory chapter discusses Hindu caste and ritual. It examines the religious texts in Sanskrit, which serve as relevant sources of information on Indian society. It takes a look at anthropological research and the formation of a positivist approach, as well as the consequences of defining social reality based on concreteness. It introduces Louis Dumont's writings, where he rejects the dichotomy between behaviour and thought, and insists that an explanatory model cannot be limited to copying observed reality. It then pinpoints the two Sanskrit texts that will be analyzed in detail, namely the Dharmaranya Purana and the Grihya Sutra of Gobhila. The chapter also studies the caste Puranas, who are defined as a class of Sanskrit language that is concerned with the five main themes of creation.
Mandakranta Bose
- Published in print:
- 2004
- Published Online:
- April 2005
- ISBN:
- 9780195168327
- eISBN:
- 9780199835362
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0195168321.003.0010
- Subject:
- Religion, Hinduism
This chapter examines innovations in both plot construction and gender representation with regard to the kūtiyāţtam theater of Kerala, in which three classical Sanskrit plays feature prominently. All ...
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This chapter examines innovations in both plot construction and gender representation with regard to the kūtiyāţtam theater of Kerala, in which three classical Sanskrit plays feature prominently. All of them depart from Valmiki's text and are tailored to the unique features of the kūtiyāţtam style of acting, which affect the representation of the story. In this style of performance, which can be traced back to the 10th century, characters mimic the mental states and actions of other characters across lines of gender and species (such as Ravana enacting Sītā's moods, or Hanumān enacting Rāma's), whereby gender identities in particular are loosened. It is shown how the kūtiyāţtam performance tradition transforms the plot of the epic and challenges the audience with complex, multiple-identity characters.Less
This chapter examines innovations in both plot construction and gender representation with regard to the kūtiyāţtam theater of Kerala, in which three classical Sanskrit plays feature prominently. All of them depart from Valmiki's text and are tailored to the unique features of the kūtiyāţtam style of acting, which affect the representation of the story. In this style of performance, which can be traced back to the 10th century, characters mimic the mental states and actions of other characters across lines of gender and species (such as Ravana enacting Sītā's moods, or Hanumān enacting Rāma's), whereby gender identities in particular are loosened. It is shown how the kūtiyāţtam performance tradition transforms the plot of the epic and challenges the audience with complex, multiple-identity characters.
Edwin Bryant
- Published in print:
- 2001
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780195137774
- eISBN:
- 9780199834044
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0195137779.003.0013
- Subject:
- Religion, Hinduism
The various attempts made to date Sanskrit texts (the Veda) are examined in the context that if the Ŗgveda (the earliest of the texts) is at least a millennium older than its commonly accepted date, ...
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The various attempts made to date Sanskrit texts (the Veda) are examined in the context that if the Ŗgveda (the earliest of the texts) is at least a millennium older than its commonly accepted date, then the possibility of Dravidian and/or Munda and/or unknown linguistic influences on Vedic Sanskrit being the result of the speakers of these languages intruding on an Indo-Aryan-speaking area after the other languages had already left, as opposed to vice versa, becomes a much more serious consideration. Moreover, the relationship between Vedic and Proto-Indo-European would need to be reconsidered, and any proposal associating the overland trajectory of the Indo-Aryans with the Andronovo culture, a southern Iranian route, or any Post-Harappan culture in the subcontinent, loses value. For these and other reasons, a much older date for the Veda is foundational to the Indigenous Aryanist position; if by contrast, the oldest strata of the Ŗgveda cannot be far removed from the conventionally accepted date of 1200 or 1500 B.C.E., then the Indigenous Aryanist case loses cogency. The chapter examines the dating of Proto-Indo-European first, before going on to look at the dating of the Veda itself, paying special attention to astronomy and its bearing on Vedic chronology. The author concludes that none of the evidence presented so far in the book convincingly settles the debate, and that the only evidence that could do this with any degree of certainty would be the decipherment of the script from the Indus Valley civilization.Less
The various attempts made to date Sanskrit texts (the Veda) are examined in the context that if the Ŗgveda (the earliest of the texts) is at least a millennium older than its commonly accepted date, then the possibility of Dravidian and/or Munda and/or unknown linguistic influences on Vedic Sanskrit being the result of the speakers of these languages intruding on an Indo-Aryan-speaking area after the other languages had already left, as opposed to vice versa, becomes a much more serious consideration. Moreover, the relationship between Vedic and Proto-Indo-European would need to be reconsidered, and any proposal associating the overland trajectory of the Indo-Aryans with the Andronovo culture, a southern Iranian route, or any Post-Harappan culture in the subcontinent, loses value. For these and other reasons, a much older date for the Veda is foundational to the Indigenous Aryanist position; if by contrast, the oldest strata of the Ŗgveda cannot be far removed from the conventionally accepted date of 1200 or 1500 B.C.E., then the Indigenous Aryanist case loses cogency. The chapter examines the dating of Proto-Indo-European first, before going on to look at the dating of the Veda itself, paying special attention to astronomy and its bearing on Vedic chronology. The author concludes that none of the evidence presented so far in the book convincingly settles the debate, and that the only evidence that could do this with any degree of certainty would be the decipherment of the script from the Indus Valley civilization.
Anne E. Monius
- Published in print:
- 2002
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780195139990
- eISBN:
- 9780199834501
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0195139992.003.0002
- Subject:
- Religion, Buddhism
Chapter 1 (and Chs. 2‐3) addresses the earlier of the two extant Tamil (South Indian) Buddhist texts, the Maṇimēkalai, by building on the work of Richman, and reading the text as a consummately ...
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Chapter 1 (and Chs. 2‐3) addresses the earlier of the two extant Tamil (South Indian) Buddhist texts, the Maṇimēkalai, by building on the work of Richman, and reading the text as a consummately literary whole that resonates not only with the earlier themes of the classical Caṅkam corpus, but also with Sanskrit‐influenced poetic theory, and a variety of themes found in other Buddhist literature. Pinpointing as a central motif in the main narrative, the arising of those conditions conducive to Maṇimēkalai's enlightenment (signaled by the technical term ētunikalcci), the narrative and doctrinal portions of the text are shown to be intimately connected through concern with the interdependently arising nature of the world and human relationships. Focusing on the overall structure of the narrative, as well as its thematic content, it is suggested that the labyrinthine character of the text, filled with subplots and stories within stories, is meant to evoke subtly the particularly Buddhist theory of causation, which is given formal structure only at the very end of the text. Careful attention is also paid to the Maṇimēkalai's obvious concern with the moral human life, focusing on the Sanskrit and Tamil literary theories of emotional evocation. The emotional experience that the text seeks to elicit from its audience is that of pity or compassion, a central organizing principle in the Maṇimēkalai's moral vision of concern and compassion for the suffering of all living beings.Less
Chapter 1 (and Chs. 2‐3) addresses the earlier of the two extant Tamil (South Indian) Buddhist texts, the Maṇimēkalai, by building on the work of Richman, and reading the text as a consummately literary whole that resonates not only with the earlier themes of the classical Caṅkam corpus, but also with Sanskrit‐influenced poetic theory, and a variety of themes found in other Buddhist literature. Pinpointing as a central motif in the main narrative, the arising of those conditions conducive to Maṇimēkalai's enlightenment (signaled by the technical term ētunikalcci), the narrative and doctrinal portions of the text are shown to be intimately connected through concern with the interdependently arising nature of the world and human relationships. Focusing on the overall structure of the narrative, as well as its thematic content, it is suggested that the labyrinthine character of the text, filled with subplots and stories within stories, is meant to evoke subtly the particularly Buddhist theory of causation, which is given formal structure only at the very end of the text. Careful attention is also paid to the Maṇimēkalai's obvious concern with the moral human life, focusing on the Sanskrit and Tamil literary theories of emotional evocation. The emotional experience that the text seeks to elicit from its audience is that of pity or compassion, a central organizing principle in the Maṇimēkalai's moral vision of concern and compassion for the suffering of all living beings.
Anne E. Monius
- Published in print:
- 2002
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780195139990
- eISBN:
- 9780199834501
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0195139992.003.0003
- Subject:
- Religion, Buddhism
The nature of the Maṇimēkalai's textual or reading community is considered through an examination of the narrative as a literary work produced in the context of a diverse and multilingual South ...
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The nature of the Maṇimēkalai's textual or reading community is considered through an examination of the narrative as a literary work produced in the context of a diverse and multilingual South Indian literary culture. Through careful reading of the intertextual allusions in the Maṇimēkalai, particularly in relation to the principal themes of an earlier Tamil narrative from which the Buddhist text borrows its central characters and settings, a picture begins to emerge of a textual community of literary connoisseurs who are multilingual, well versed in world views and the literature of various religious communities, and thoroughly engaged in the project of articulating religious identity in a literary and religious landscape of extreme diversity through the medium of ornately sophisticated poetry. The Maṇimēkalai's free appropriation and translation into Tamil of Buddhist narratives and philosophical concepts found in earlier Pāli and Sanskrit transregional sources provides a glimpse of the processes of transmission of a tradition for which no other record exists. In a literary‐cultural context that includes the vehemently anti‐Buddhist invective of the earliest Hindu poet‐saints, such easy switching from transliterated Sanskrit to translated Pāli in the Maṇimēkalai bespeaks a moment in Tamil literary history when language choice did not entail the same cultural, political, or religious allegiance that it would assume by the time of the eleventh‐century Vīracōliyam.Less
The nature of the Maṇimēkalai's textual or reading community is considered through an examination of the narrative as a literary work produced in the context of a diverse and multilingual South Indian literary culture. Through careful reading of the intertextual allusions in the Maṇimēkalai, particularly in relation to the principal themes of an earlier Tamil narrative from which the Buddhist text borrows its central characters and settings, a picture begins to emerge of a textual community of literary connoisseurs who are multilingual, well versed in world views and the literature of various religious communities, and thoroughly engaged in the project of articulating religious identity in a literary and religious landscape of extreme diversity through the medium of ornately sophisticated poetry. The Maṇimēkalai's free appropriation and translation into Tamil of Buddhist narratives and philosophical concepts found in earlier Pāli and Sanskrit transregional sources provides a glimpse of the processes of transmission of a tradition for which no other record exists. In a literary‐cultural context that includes the vehemently anti‐Buddhist invective of the earliest Hindu poet‐saints, such easy switching from transliterated Sanskrit to translated Pāli in the Maṇimēkalai bespeaks a moment in Tamil literary history when language choice did not entail the same cultural, political, or religious allegiance that it would assume by the time of the eleventh‐century Vīracōliyam.
Anne E. Monius
- Published in print:
- 2002
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780195139990
- eISBN:
- 9780199834501
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0195139992.003.0005
- Subject:
- Religion, Buddhism
This chapters and the next turn to the eleventh‐century Vīracōliyam and its commentary, both of which construct a technology or theoretical vision of a multilingual literary culture that is claimed ...
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This chapters and the next turn to the eleventh‐century Vīracōliyam and its commentary, both of which construct a technology or theoretical vision of a multilingual literary culture that is claimed for Buddhism. It is argued in this chapter that the Vīracōliyam self‐consciously combines Tamil and Sanskrit grammar and poetic theory in unprecedented ways, for the first time formalizing a relationship between two literary languages that had existed side by side for many centuries. In raising Tamil to the level of a translocal prestige language of learning, the Vīracōliyam traces the origin of this Tamil‐Sanskrit literary language to the teachings of a great Buddha‐to‐be, Avalokiteśvara, thereby carving out a place for Buddhism in the Tamil religious and literary landscape of competing sectarian communities. Named for its heroic royal Cōla (also Chola) dynasty patron, the Vīracōliyam, like the Maṇimēkalai before it, also participates in wider currents within the Buddhist literary world, as South Indian Theravāda monks writing in Pāli in the tenth to the twelfth centuries increasingly identify themselves and the monasteries in which they write as tied to a ‘Coḷiya’ order.Less
This chapters and the next turn to the eleventh‐century Vīracōliyam and its commentary, both of which construct a technology or theoretical vision of a multilingual literary culture that is claimed for Buddhism. It is argued in this chapter that the Vīracōliyam self‐consciously combines Tamil and Sanskrit grammar and poetic theory in unprecedented ways, for the first time formalizing a relationship between two literary languages that had existed side by side for many centuries. In raising Tamil to the level of a translocal prestige language of learning, the Vīracōliyam traces the origin of this Tamil‐Sanskrit literary language to the teachings of a great Buddha‐to‐be, Avalokiteśvara, thereby carving out a place for Buddhism in the Tamil religious and literary landscape of competing sectarian communities. Named for its heroic royal Cōla (also Chola) dynasty patron, the Vīracōliyam, like the Maṇimēkalai before it, also participates in wider currents within the Buddhist literary world, as South Indian Theravāda monks writing in Pāli in the tenth to the twelfth centuries increasingly identify themselves and the monasteries in which they write as tied to a ‘Coḷiya’ order.
Edwin Bryant
- Published in print:
- 2001
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780195137774
- eISBN:
- 9780199834044
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0195137779.003.0005
- Subject:
- Religion, Hinduism
The dethronement is traced of Sanskrit from its initial position as the original proto-language of all the Indo-Europeans in the opinion of the early linguists to its ongoing diminishing status as a ...
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The dethronement is traced of Sanskrit from its initial position as the original proto-language of all the Indo-Europeans in the opinion of the early linguists to its ongoing diminishing status as a secondary language containing a number of linguistic features that are considered to be more recent than those of other Indo-European cognate languages. The chapter has two main sections. The first looks at the law of the palatals (the primary linguistic formula arrived at by the comparative method that shattered Sanskrit’s pre-eminent status) and the discovery of the laryngeals in Hittite (based on an examination of Hittite documents in Anatolia). The second discusses linguistic objections from India (mainly from Satya Swarup Misra).Less
The dethronement is traced of Sanskrit from its initial position as the original proto-language of all the Indo-Europeans in the opinion of the early linguists to its ongoing diminishing status as a secondary language containing a number of linguistic features that are considered to be more recent than those of other Indo-European cognate languages. The chapter has two main sections. The first looks at the law of the palatals (the primary linguistic formula arrived at by the comparative method that shattered Sanskrit’s pre-eminent status) and the discovery of the laryngeals in Hittite (based on an examination of Hittite documents in Anatolia). The second discusses linguistic objections from India (mainly from Satya Swarup Misra).
