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.
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.
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.
Chitralekha Zutshi
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- January 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780199450671
- eISBN:
- 9780199084951
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199450671.003.0003
- Subject:
- History, Indian History
Chapter 2 explores the tarikhs written during the Mughal period to illustrate the ways in which they drew on earlier Sanskrit and Persian texts to assert the distinctiveness of Kashmir within the ...
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Chapter 2 explores the tarikhs written during the Mughal period to illustrate the ways in which they drew on earlier Sanskrit and Persian texts to assert the distinctiveness of Kashmir within the Mughal Empire. And later in the eighteenth century, as Kashmir transitioned from Mughal to Afghan rule, they gave voice to the category of people (qaum), not just the place, of Kashmir. While Mughal texts such as the Ain-i Akbari incorporated Kashmir into the Mughal landscape of power through a reading of its Sanskrit texts, Kashmir’s Persian narratives self-consciously engaged these texts on questions regarding the style and purpose of narrating the past as both tradition and history, even as they redefined the meanings of both terms. By invoking a specific literary genealogy, these tarikhs constituted Kashmir not simply as a natural and spiritual paradise, but quite as much a distinct literary paradise.Less
Chapter 2 explores the tarikhs written during the Mughal period to illustrate the ways in which they drew on earlier Sanskrit and Persian texts to assert the distinctiveness of Kashmir within the Mughal Empire. And later in the eighteenth century, as Kashmir transitioned from Mughal to Afghan rule, they gave voice to the category of people (qaum), not just the place, of Kashmir. While Mughal texts such as the Ain-i Akbari incorporated Kashmir into the Mughal landscape of power through a reading of its Sanskrit texts, Kashmir’s Persian narratives self-consciously engaged these texts on questions regarding the style and purpose of narrating the past as both tradition and history, even as they redefined the meanings of both terms. By invoking a specific literary genealogy, these tarikhs constituted Kashmir not simply as a natural and spiritual paradise, but quite as much a distinct literary paradise.
Jonathan A. Silk
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195326840
- eISBN:
- 9780199852079
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195326840.003.0011
- Subject:
- Religion, Buddhism
The term “administrators” can take a number of various terms in Chinese translations of Indian texts. It is difficult to find the direct counterparts for certain Chinese terms but studies have been ...
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The term “administrators” can take a number of various terms in Chinese translations of Indian texts. It is difficult to find the direct counterparts for certain Chinese terms but studies have been able to determine that the patterns in which these terms are used are similar and conform to those that can be defined in Indic vocabulary. The administrative monks portrayed in the examples in this chapter were assigned to perform the big jobs. Also, the chapter observes that a number of these Chinese terms can be associated or compounded with Indic terms that are related with weínà and other such terms. This chapter also looks into certain Indic terms that may assume meaning in Sanskrit texts.Less
The term “administrators” can take a number of various terms in Chinese translations of Indian texts. It is difficult to find the direct counterparts for certain Chinese terms but studies have been able to determine that the patterns in which these terms are used are similar and conform to those that can be defined in Indic vocabulary. The administrative monks portrayed in the examples in this chapter were assigned to perform the big jobs. Also, the chapter observes that a number of these Chinese terms can be associated or compounded with Indic terms that are related with weínà and other such terms. This chapter also looks into certain Indic terms that may assume meaning in Sanskrit texts.
André Padoux
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- September 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780226423937
- eISBN:
- 9780226424125
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226424125.003.0003
- Subject:
- Religion, Hinduism
This chapter considers the textual material of Tantra, which consists mainly of texts called tantra in Sanskrit. Not all Tantric texts are called Tantra. They are also called āgama (“tradition”), ...
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This chapter considers the textual material of Tantra, which consists mainly of texts called tantra in Sanskrit. Not all Tantric texts are called Tantra. They are also called āgama (“tradition”), saṃhitā (“collection”), or sūtra (“aphorism”). All these texts form the Tantric scriptures—the Tantric Revelation. There are also other revealed Tantric texts such as the Purāṇas (“antiquities”) and the Upaniṣads. This chapter discusses a number of Sanskrit texts on Tantra, including the Śaiva works which constitute the majority of Tantric literature; the canonical Tantric Vaiṣṇava literature; and saura-saṃhitās devoted to the Sun god, Sūrya.Less
This chapter considers the textual material of Tantra, which consists mainly of texts called tantra in Sanskrit. Not all Tantric texts are called Tantra. They are also called āgama (“tradition”), saṃhitā (“collection”), or sūtra (“aphorism”). All these texts form the Tantric scriptures—the Tantric Revelation. There are also other revealed Tantric texts such as the Purāṇas (“antiquities”) and the Upaniṣads. This chapter discusses a number of Sanskrit texts on Tantra, including the Śaiva works which constitute the majority of Tantric literature; the canonical Tantric Vaiṣṇava literature; and saura-saṃhitās devoted to the Sun god, Sūrya.
Chitralekha Zutshi
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- January 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780199450671
- eISBN:
- 9780199084951
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199450671.003.0001
- Subject:
- History, Indian History
The introduction provides a broad scholarly context for the arguments put forward in the book by focusing on three main themes. First, the interconnectedness of Kashmir’s multilingual historical ...
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The introduction provides a broad scholarly context for the arguments put forward in the book by focusing on three main themes. First, the interconnectedness of Kashmir’s multilingual historical tradition over the centuries, as the Persian narratives drew on the tropes and themes outlined in the earlier Sanskrit texts to define both Kashmir as well as history. Second, these definitions were located at the intersection of the particular and the universal, as Kashmiri oral traditions, Sanskrit mythologies, and Islamic universalism coalesced to imagine Kashmir as a sacred space and polity through a narration of its past. Third, both textual and oral traditions defined history in multiple ways, even as they ascribed multiple motivations to the task of historical narration. The introduction, and the book as a whole, illustrate that place-making—of Kashmir’s landscape and spaces within—emerged as a central aspect of historical practice in Kashmir.Less
The introduction provides a broad scholarly context for the arguments put forward in the book by focusing on three main themes. First, the interconnectedness of Kashmir’s multilingual historical tradition over the centuries, as the Persian narratives drew on the tropes and themes outlined in the earlier Sanskrit texts to define both Kashmir as well as history. Second, these definitions were located at the intersection of the particular and the universal, as Kashmiri oral traditions, Sanskrit mythologies, and Islamic universalism coalesced to imagine Kashmir as a sacred space and polity through a narration of its past. Third, both textual and oral traditions defined history in multiple ways, even as they ascribed multiple motivations to the task of historical narration. The introduction, and the book as a whole, illustrate that place-making—of Kashmir’s landscape and spaces within—emerged as a central aspect of historical practice in Kashmir.
Ashutosh Dayal Mathur (ed.)
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- October 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780195685589
- eISBN:
- 9780199081578
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195685589.001.0001
- Subject:
- Law, Legal History
This book seeks to study the changes which took place in the field of Hindu law as it evolved between the eighth and the fourteenth centuries and as reflected in selected Sanskrit texts written ...
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This book seeks to study the changes which took place in the field of Hindu law as it evolved between the eighth and the fourteenth centuries and as reflected in selected Sanskrit texts written during this period. It also tries to explore the reasons which brought about those changes. Hindu law has a history of nearly four to five millennia recorded in an astonishingly large and varied range of texts. During this long journey, it has appeared in many different manifestations and has gone through several transformations with different sources, validating factors or justifications, methodologies and operative machinery. The Indian textual tradition can be broadly covered under three major stages, namely the stage of the Vedas, the stage of the ṣrtis, which includes both the later Vaidika texts called the dharma sūtras and the metrical sṃrtis, and the stage of commentaries and digests. This book argues that in the early medieval period, Hindu law emerged from the shadows of dharma and established itself independently as ‘vyvahāra’. This process is called the secularization of Hindu law. The book is an intensive study of seven leading ‘vyvahāra’ texts ranging from eighth to fourteenth-century.Less
This book seeks to study the changes which took place in the field of Hindu law as it evolved between the eighth and the fourteenth centuries and as reflected in selected Sanskrit texts written during this period. It also tries to explore the reasons which brought about those changes. Hindu law has a history of nearly four to five millennia recorded in an astonishingly large and varied range of texts. During this long journey, it has appeared in many different manifestations and has gone through several transformations with different sources, validating factors or justifications, methodologies and operative machinery. The Indian textual tradition can be broadly covered under three major stages, namely the stage of the Vedas, the stage of the ṣrtis, which includes both the later Vaidika texts called the dharma sūtras and the metrical sṃrtis, and the stage of commentaries and digests. This book argues that in the early medieval period, Hindu law emerged from the shadows of dharma and established itself independently as ‘vyvahāra’. This process is called the secularization of Hindu law. The book is an intensive study of seven leading ‘vyvahāra’ texts ranging from eighth to fourteenth-century.
Wendy Doniger
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- April 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780199360079
- eISBN:
- 9780199377923
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199360079.003.0006
- Subject:
- Religion, Hinduism
This chapter examines the concept of the human body in Hinduism by analyzing three Sanskrit texts: medical texts, The Laws of Manu, and the Puranas. It first considers the doctrine of the three ...
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This chapter examines the concept of the human body in Hinduism by analyzing three Sanskrit texts: medical texts, The Laws of Manu, and the Puranas. It first considers the doctrine of the three humors, tackled in Hindu medical texts such as the Charaka Samhita, and closely related to the Hindu belief that all matter, including the human body, is composed of the three elements of lucidity (sattva), energy (rajas), and torpor (tamas). It then looks at Manu’s attitudes toward the body, in particular offering a chilling image of it. The Puranas offer several explanations of conception and birth that are different from the ones discussed in Manu and the medical texts.Less
This chapter examines the concept of the human body in Hinduism by analyzing three Sanskrit texts: medical texts, The Laws of Manu, and the Puranas. It first considers the doctrine of the three humors, tackled in Hindu medical texts such as the Charaka Samhita, and closely related to the Hindu belief that all matter, including the human body, is composed of the three elements of lucidity (sattva), energy (rajas), and torpor (tamas). It then looks at Manu’s attitudes toward the body, in particular offering a chilling image of it. The Puranas offer several explanations of conception and birth that are different from the ones discussed in Manu and the medical texts.
Ericka Beckman
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- August 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780816679195
- eISBN:
- 9781452948317
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Minnesota Press
- DOI:
- 10.5749/minnesota/9780816679195.003.0006
- Subject:
- Literature, Criticism/Theory
This chapter presents Gabriel García Márquez’s novel, Cienaños de soledad (One Hundred Years of Solitude [1967]), to discuss the revival of nineteenth-century fictions that promoted capitalism. The ...
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This chapter presents Gabriel García Márquez’s novel, Cienaños de soledad (One Hundred Years of Solitude [1967]), to discuss the revival of nineteenth-century fictions that promoted capitalism. The novel discusses capital as the foundational myth of export-driven modernity. The two key mythical elements from Cienaños de soledad are the story of Adam and Eve, and ancient Sanskrit texts. Critics have frequently discussed these elements as a key component of the novel’s poetics.Less
This chapter presents Gabriel García Márquez’s novel, Cienaños de soledad (One Hundred Years of Solitude [1967]), to discuss the revival of nineteenth-century fictions that promoted capitalism. The novel discusses capital as the foundational myth of export-driven modernity. The two key mythical elements from Cienaños de soledad are the story of Adam and Eve, and ancient Sanskrit texts. Critics have frequently discussed these elements as a key component of the novel’s poetics.