{"title":"Cannibalism in the dīkṣā Chapter of the Maitrāyaṇī Saṁhitā","authors":"Kyoko Amano","doi":"10.12797/cis.26.2024.01.08","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.12797/cis.26.2024.01.08","url":null,"abstract":"This paper contributes to the ongoing discourse on human sacrifice and cannibalism in the Vedas by examining newly discovered descriptions in the Maitrāyaṇī Saṁhitā III 6.6. This passage appears to contain fairly specific points that ancient practitioners were meant to consider when engaging in cannibalism, points that are not found elsewhere. Maitrāyaṇī Saṁhitā III 6 is a chapter about the purification (dīkṣā) of the sacrificer before the soma ritual, repeatedly emphasizing sacrificer’s transformation into a suitable sacrificial victim. By compiling and examining such descriptions, the paper demonstrates how concerns related to human sacrifice were deeply embedded in the dīkṣā rite of the Maitrāyaṇī Saṁhitā.","PeriodicalId":36623,"journal":{"name":"Cracow Indological Studies","volume":" 14","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-06-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141373891","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Violence in Service of Religion in the Pre-classical Sanskrit Texts","authors":"Edeltraud Harzer","doi":"10.12797/cis.26.2024.01.07","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.12797/cis.26.2024.01.07","url":null,"abstract":"The instances of perpetrated violence represented here in this essay show a sophisticated society taking care of some exceptional (such as saving a widow) or shall we say extraordinary cases (sacrificial practices), that are not a day-to-day practice. Such occurrences demonstrate a responsibility to the society to deal with cases of extraordinary distress of a situation, but they lack sensitivity or compassion. The sacrificial practices show changes, such as using earlier on, a cow, but as time seemed to go by, it occurred that a horse was used instead. The example used here is of a horse. A prepubertal and just “graduated” Vedic scholar “won” the privilege (in getting kali as his “reward” of the last vibhītaka nut/“coin”) in becoming the butcher for the sacrificial animal at an important sacrifice, in this case a horse. In the second instance of violence, as for the widowed woman, young or old, an option is offered to her that certainly is contrary to the societal customs especially for women, though in support of survival. Be it the venue of becoming a common harlot. As for “expeditions”1 of the Vrātyas, and such.","PeriodicalId":36623,"journal":{"name":"Cracow Indological Studies","volume":" 95","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-06-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141374681","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Silvia Schwarz Linder. Goddess Traditions in India: Theological Poems and Philosophical Tales in the Tripurārahasya. pp. 316. London: Routledge 2022","authors":"M. Czerniak-Drożdżowicz","doi":"10.12797/cis.25.2023.01.12","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.12797/cis.25.2023.01.12","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":36623,"journal":{"name":"Cracow Indological Studies","volume":"291 3","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-12-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"138996893","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Indra-kaví","authors":"Paola M. Rossi","doi":"10.12797/cis.25.2023.01.09","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.12797/cis.25.2023.01.09","url":null,"abstract":"The paper aims at illustrating the possible interconnection between Ṛgvedic poetry and the bovine environment in relation to which the proto-Vedic clan-based society ensured its own subsistence. Given that the protection of livestock was one of the functions attributed to chieftainship, especially during the phase of clan mobility (yóga), and that the figure of the proto-Vedic kaví, the so-called ‗sage poet,‘ is correlated to the milieu of the lordship, it is most likely that the bovine imagery and rhetorical devices, particularly connected to sonority, stemmed precisely from that environment where the human and animal dimensions were symbiotically associated to ensure clan‘s prosperity. Therefore, Ṛgvedic poetical expressions are not only the artful means to mark the liturgical language, but also a direct output of the expertise of the warrior-cowherd, identified especially with the mythological figure of Indra, who could, by way of sonorous enchanting of both, the livestock and the enemies, yoke the former and keep away the latter, guaranteeing subsistence to his own clan.","PeriodicalId":36623,"journal":{"name":"Cracow Indological Studies","volume":"38 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-12-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"138997815","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Crafting of Ornaments and Their Accessories in Folktales and Folksongs among the Nagas","authors":"Iris Odyuo","doi":"10.12797/cis.25.2023.01.07","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.12797/cis.25.2023.01.07","url":null,"abstract":"Ornaments play a very important and specific role in the life of every Naga tribe; therefore in this paper, I refer to their differentiated meanings and roles. Focusing on the cultural meanings of ornaments, I also examine their crafting and accessories as reflected in the Nagas‘ folktales and folksongs, arguing for their indispensable role in the survival of the Nagas as an ethnic community.","PeriodicalId":36623,"journal":{"name":"Cracow Indological Studies","volume":"55 4","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-12-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"138999838","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Guys Who Bond","authors":"Gregory M. Clines","doi":"10.12797/cis.25.2023.01.11","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.12797/cis.25.2023.01.11","url":null,"abstract":"This article investigates Ācārya Hemacandra‘s 12th-century Sanskrit Triṣaṣṭiśalākāpuruṣacarita (―The Lives of the Sixty-Three Illustrious Men,‖ TŚPC) to understand how Jain authors depict fraternal love as a durable and covert fetter to the world of transmigratory rebirth and re-death (saṃsāra). By examining the stories of the half-brother baladevas and vāsudevas in the TŚPC, the article identifies three consequentially negative characteristics of fraternal relationships: youthful intimacy, inseparability, and emotional turmoil resulting from the relationship‘s dissolution. Finally, the article examines how the figure of the dispassionate Jina in the TŚPC exemplifies the proper orientation towards brothers.","PeriodicalId":36623,"journal":{"name":"Cracow Indological Studies","volume":"63 11","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-12-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139000131","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Storied Hills","authors":"Ewa Dębicka-Borek","doi":"10.12797/cis.25.2023.01.04","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.12797/cis.25.2023.01.04","url":null,"abstract":"Taking as the point of departure the Ahobilamāhātmya narratives that depict local hills as Narasiṃha‘s residence, the paper considers those hill narratives as a product of interrelatedness of nature and culture and examines the crucial role such a product may play in vesting Ahobilam with the notion of sacredness. To this end, the narratives‘ ability to mediate various concepts is explored from the wider perspective of cultural ecology of literature, which allows them to be viewed as a site where besides nature and culture other domains can be reintegrated and reconciled, e.g., the elements of local and Brahmanic traditions. In addition, as I argue, such narratives may also convey some shifts in perceiving the landscape.","PeriodicalId":36623,"journal":{"name":"Cracow Indological Studies","volume":"20 13","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-12-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"138999926","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Along the River, towards God: raṅga Shrines along Rivers","authors":"M. Czerniak-Drożdżowicz","doi":"10.12797/cis.25.2023.01.03","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.12797/cis.25.2023.01.03","url":null,"abstract":"The article addresses a specific religious phenomenon found in the region of South India and connected to a group of Vaiṣṇava temples hosting the Raṅganātha form of Viṣṇu. The temples in question are located along the rivers, in this case, Kāverī and Pallar. Waters, especially rivers, perceived not only as a means of ensuring vegetation but also as endowed with certain divine attributes and often personified as goddesses, have in addition a place-connecting aspect. Keeping this in mind, the present enquiry takes as the starting point the Raṅganātha temple in Śrīraṅgam on the Kāverī-Kolliṭam river and revisits the concept of the holy sites of Viṣṇu, called raṅgas, situated along the banks of the rivers Kāverī and Pallar, and on their islands. The study, using, among others, some māhātmyas from the region, is the very first, largely preliminary attempt to broach this topic.","PeriodicalId":36623,"journal":{"name":"Cracow Indological Studies","volume":"100 s5","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-12-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"138998688","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Medicine within a Cultural Ecosystem","authors":"Ilona Kędzia-Warych","doi":"10.12797/cis.25.2023.01.05","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.12797/cis.25.2023.01.05","url":null,"abstract":"The paper examines the concept of Tamil siddha literature as an integrating force for the local cultural ecosystem. The research is based on texts ascribed to two prominent authors of Tamil siddha tradition, namely Siddhar Yākōpu and Siddhar Pōkar (ca. 17th cent.). The first part of the paper looks at representations of nature in the Siddhars‘ texts, and demonstrates that the authors attribute certain extraordinary powers and divinity to nature. This further suggests that such views on nature allow the Siddhars to interconnect different realms typically viewed as separate in the contemporary secular perspective where liberatory practices are positioned apart from domains like nature and medicine. Attempts to integrate various fields of siddha lore are evident in the Siddhars‘ texts, for instance, in Vaittiya Kallāṭam, which is analyzed in the second section of the paper. To this end, among others, the perspective of material ecocriticism is applied to examine the images of natural material substances in Tamil siddha texts.","PeriodicalId":36623,"journal":{"name":"Cracow Indological Studies","volume":"60 7","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-12-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"138997705","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"”Dattātreya‘s Dwelling Place”","authors":"Borayin Larios, Hemant Rajopadhye","doi":"10.12797/cis.25.2023.01.06","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.12797/cis.25.2023.01.06","url":null,"abstract":"The Śrī Gurudeva Datta Mandir is a modern Hindu temple constructed around the udumbara tree (ficus racemora) believed to be the mythical dwelling place of the antinomian god Dattātreya. Originally located in a public park, the temple is now an independently registered trust and is widely recognized as one of the most prominent and celebrated Hindu places of worship in the affluent residential area of Deccan Gymkhana in Pune, India. In this article, we examine how the natural and built environment, along with religious practices, are constantly reconfigured and renegotiated by various actors catering to the contemporary sensitivities of the urban Hindu middle classes. We argue that to understand urban religious spaces like the Śrī Gurudeva Datta Mandir, it is essential to consider how cultural, religious, and political sensitivities converge to give material form to these spaces. Through an analysis of the temple, the deity of Dattātreya, and the udumbara tree, we explore the complex interplay of these forces and their role in shaping contemporary Hindu religious practices and beliefs in urban India.","PeriodicalId":36623,"journal":{"name":"Cracow Indological Studies","volume":"16 2","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-12-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139000822","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}