Journal of Hindu Studies最新文献

{"title":"Marking Identity: The Debate on the Śrīvaiṣṇavas’ Forehead Marks","authors":"Manasicha Akepiyapornchai","doi":"10.1093/jhs/hiad015","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/jhs/hiad015","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 Marking one’s forehead plays a role in identifying one’s identity in various sectarian traditions in India, from the premodern period to the modern day. One such tradition is the Śrīvaiṣṇava tradition, the most influential Vaiṣṇava tradition of South India, of which the practice of marking one’s forehead was well established since the premodern time. In this article, I investigate the meanings of forehead marks or the ūrdhvapuṇḍra within the Śrīvaiṣṇava tradition. In particular, I compare the premodern discussions in the Sanskrit texts from the time of the most influential Śrīvaiṣṇava ācārya, Rāmānuja (traditional dates ca. 1017–1137), to the time of one of the most significant post-Rāmānuja ācāryas, Vedāntadeśika (traditional dates ca. 1268­­–1369), and the contemporary positions presented by Prativādi Bhayaṅkaram Aṇṇaṅkarācārya (1891–1983) in his Satsaṃpradāyārthasāranidhi (1947). I argue that the premodern debate on the superiority of the ūrdhvapuṇḍra among the sectarian marks of the Vaiṣṇavas and Śaivas was transformed into the dispute between the two Śrīvaiṣṇava subcommunities, the Teṉkalais and Vaṭakalais, in the present context. Moreover, the arguments and authoritative sources of the premodern authors differ markedly from what we find in the modern text, the Satsaṃpradāyārthasāranidhi. Despite this difference, marking one’s forehead has always been a way for the Śrīvaiṣṇava tradition to indicate their religious identity and sectarian belonging from the past to the present.","PeriodicalId":42357,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Hindu Studies","volume":"1 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2023-06-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43315580","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":"Biographies","authors":"","doi":"10.1093/jhs/hiad018","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/jhs/hiad018","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":42357,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Hindu Studies","volume":"87 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-05-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135345026","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":"Our epistemic dependence on others: Nyāya and Buddhist accounts of testimony as a source of knowledge","authors":"Rosanna Picascia","doi":"10.1093/jhs/hiad003","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/jhs/hiad003","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 This paper argues that philosophical debates between Nyāya and Buddhists on the nature and acquisition of testimonial knowledge present contrasting images of the role played by the epistemic agent in the knowing process. According to Nyāya, an individual can acquire testimonial knowledge automatically—and with little epistemic work—from a trustworthy speaker’s say-so. On the other hand, Buddhist epistemologists, who claim that testimonial knowledge is a species of inferential knowledge, argue that, in order to acquire knowledge from a speaker’s statements, an epistemic agent must possess non-testimonial evidence for the reliability of the testimony in question. This disagreement regarding the division of epistemic labour in testimonial exchanges demonstrates how differently Nyāya and Buddhist philosophers view the prevalence and practical importance of testimonial knowledge. For Nyāya, the ubiquity and easy acquisition of testimonial knowledge help explain the success of our daily actions. However, for Buddhist epistemologists, despite the regularity with which we successfully act based on what others tell us, testimonial knowledge is, in fact, less common, and more difficult to acquire, than we might think.","PeriodicalId":42357,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Hindu Studies","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2023-04-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47455291","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":"Māyā in the Bhāgavata Purāṇa: Human Suffering and Divine Play. By Gopal K. Gupta","authors":"Cogen Bohanec","doi":"10.1093/jhs/hiad006","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/jhs/hiad006","url":null,"abstract":"There are a number of distinct contributions within Gopal Gupta’s erudite rendering of the topic of māyā in the Bhāgavata Purāṇa, a study that is accessible to general audiences and academics alike. Scholars from a broad range of Hindu traditions will find his initial literary survey of the concept of māyā to be an informative resource: The author takes us from the complex etymological debate about the term’s origin (root mā, ‘to create’) to its early use in the Ṛg Veda in relationship to mystical powers that are present both in humans and gods as a neutral power that can have either negative or positive applications (pp. 13–14). In the early Vedas, māyā is particularly associated with the means of worldly gain in the fire ritual, or is ‘generated through the performance of sacrificial ritual’ allowing practitioners to gain ‘the ability to perform mystical feats, create appearances, or change form’ (pp. 19–20), but it can also be associated with generative and creative power more broadly or anything that people ‘could not naturally account for or that defied explanation’ (pp. 15–16).","PeriodicalId":42357,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Hindu Studies","volume":"35 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-03-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"136194562","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":"Vedantic Hinduism in Colonial Bengal. Reformed Hinduism and Western Protestantism. By Victor A. van Bijlert","authors":"Amiya P Sen","doi":"10.1093/jhs/hiad005","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/jhs/hiad005","url":null,"abstract":"Two books that successively appeared in 2021 and have greatly held my interest are Ankur Barua’s The Brahma Samaj and its Vaishnava Milieus (Brill) and the work under review. They both represent intensive studies of the intellectual, cultural, and religious terrain of colonial Bengal through a creative fusion of the disciplines of history and religious studies. In this work, Bijlert’s thesis rests on two major arguments: First, that Vedanta constitutes the moral and intellectual backbone of reform Hinduism and second, that reform Hinduism also purposively reflects Christian Protestant forms of work and organisation. Prima facie, these are reasonable and convincing conclusions to offer. Rightly or wrongly, from Rammohun down to Radhakrishnan (with Tagore and Gandhi placed in between), Vedanta has come to be seen as the quintessential thought of India. But here also lies the catch. In effect, ‘Vedanta’ turns out to be only a somewhat convenient shorthand for a particular sub-school within Vedanta, that is, Advaita or non-dualist Vedanta, whereas in principle, it represents all sub-schools within Uttaramimamsa—which, between them, reveal significant doctrinal differences. Quite possibly, this obfuscating practice goes back to pre-modern India, but Rammohun arguably strengthened it in some ways. The Raja appears to have little knowledge of Vedantic thinkers other than Acharya Sankara and the dualist Madhva he unjustly denigrated by comparing him with Carvaka! To compound matters, Rammohun invariably refers to Upanishadic texts as ‘Vedas’. Herein lies a double confusion: First, the religious and philosophical conclusions of the Upanishads varied considerably from those of the Samhitas, Brahmanas and Aranyakas but more importantly, as would emerge from a perusal of Rammohun’s writings, he had simply no idea of these other textual components. Whereas his paramaguru, Sankara, had commented on as many as ten Upanishads, Rammohun chose to comment on only five, which, I suspect, was aimed at pushing specific theological or philosophical agendas, namely the rejection of image worship, polytheism, and sectarianism. Rammohun used religion rather instrumentally, investing it with certain uncharacteristic features like social utility. How else is one to explain his oft-quoted letter stating that religion ought to promote ‘political advantage and social comfort’.","PeriodicalId":42357,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Hindu Studies","volume":"32 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-03-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"136194559","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":"The Moral Imagination of the Mahabharata. By Nikhil Govind","authors":"Rohini Shukla","doi":"10.1093/jhs/hiad010","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/jhs/hiad010","url":null,"abstract":"The Moral Imagination of the Mahabharata is an important contribution to the study of Indic epics. Since the Mahabharata’s conception, commentaries and performative retellings, vernacular formulations, modern and contemporary dramatizations, cultural histories, philological and religious scholarship, and popular visual media like children’s books, films, and television have explored how and why this epic continues to capture the Indic world’s imagination. Nikhil Govind’s work stands out. He offers a fundamental methodological contribution to a crowded academic table where historians, literary critics, philosophers, and interdisciplinary scholars of pre-modern South Asia have been seated. Today, if you are ready to pay keen attention to how the Mahabharata imagines itself and its moral ethos, you are welcome to the table. The organisation of this book into four neat, seemingly thematic, chapters—dharma, artha, kama, and moksha—is undone as the main thesis develops. Through a detailed analysis of the affect-laden and rarely discussed narrative intricacies of the Mahabharata, Govind argues that neither one of the four themes can be said to over-determine the conceptual schema of the epic. The overarching plot of the Pandava–Kaurava war throws open many ethical questions: What does dharma mean in the face of great violence? Does the martial ethic preclude reflections on peace? What is divinity? And does the divine play a necessary role in human life and social organisation, to name a few? Govind suggests that straight-forwardly didactic answers offered by the many human and divine voices of the Mahabharata are best understood as invitations to conduct ‘a detailed enquiry of the value arrived at through varied narrative situations’ (p. 112) because of what he observes to be the ‘unpredictable worldliness of events, the messy twining of emotion and politics’ (p. 15) throughout the epic. Affect moves, carrying these contingent values, and thereby giving the Mahabharata an inter-relational texture. As the first two chapters demonstrate, concerns of moksha do not always trump those of artha and kama, concerns of artha do not always trump those of moksha and dharma, and most importantly, the rhetoric of destiny complicates any superficial reading of dharma as the sole determining force of human action and its moral legitimacy.","PeriodicalId":42357,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Hindu Studies","volume":"179 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-03-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"136194561","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":"Interpolations in the Mahābhārata: The Attempted Disrobing Episode","authors":"Arun Vinayak Jategaonkar, Vasanti Arun Jategaonkar","doi":"10.1093/jhs/hiad001","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/jhs/hiad001","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract The present paper is about originality and contents of a well-known episode in the Mahābhārata: The episode in the aftermath of the first dicing contest from the Sabhāparvan in which Duḥśāsana, ordered by Karṇa, attempts to disrobe Draupadī in the Kuru Sabhā. The paper shows that the episode in question is not only interpolated in the text of the Mahābhārata relatively recently; it was interpolated in two separate steps. The first step was the interpolation of the version in which, as Duḥśāsana started to disrobe Draupadī, a miracle took place and Duḥśāsana, try as he might, was unable to disrobe her; the second step was the interpolation of Draupadī’s prayer and Kr̥ṣṇa’s intervention from the popular version of that episode as the source of that miracle. The paper also shows that the Critical Edition of the Mahābhārata contains much more data supporting the preceding conclusions than has been hitherto recognised. The paper explores the implications of these findings for the basic rules used by the editors of the critical edition of the Mahābhārata to construct its critically reconstituted text.","PeriodicalId":42357,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Hindu Studies","volume":"52 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-03-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135185020","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":"OUP accepted manuscript","authors":"","doi":"10.1093/jhs/hiac001","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/jhs/hiac001","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":42357,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Hindu Studies","volume":"1 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2022-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"60821866","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":"OUP accepted manuscript","authors":"","doi":"10.1093/jhs/hiac005","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/jhs/hiac005","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":42357,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Hindu Studies","volume":"78 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2022-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"60822101","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":"OUP accepted manuscript","authors":"","doi":"10.1093/jhs/hiac004","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/jhs/hiac004","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":42357,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Hindu Studies","volume":"1 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2022-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"60821995","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}