Chastity in Ancient Indian Texts
Chastity in Ancient Indian Texts

Author: Oly Roy

Publisher: Taylor & Francis

Published: 2022-08-23

Total Pages: 131

ISBN-13: 100063499X

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

This book looks at the representation and practice of chastity in selective ancient Indian texts. It studies how and when the concept originated and in what ways it was intertwined with the social, cultural, and economic notions of Indian society. Drawing on seminal Indian texts such as the MahāPurāṇas, Rāmāyaṇa, Mahābhārata, Sattasaī and the Jātakas, the volume delves into the social and reproductive rights of women through an examination of the norms of chastity, virginity, and Pātivratya, which were construed according to a patriarchal hierarchy of the society and implemented as a means of strengthening patriarchal authority. It also examines the interinfluence of various religious traditions that emerged on the very concept of chastity and the ideologies they later gave rise to. A comprehensive study of sexuality and gender in early India, the book will be indispensable to students, teachers, and researchers of gender studies, literature, women’s studies, women’s rights, feminism, South Asian studies, and social history of Ancient India.

Dimensional of Renunciation in Advaita
Dimensional of Renunciation in Advaita

Author: Kapil N. Tiwari

Publisher: Motilal Banarsidass Publ.

Published: 1998-12-31

Total Pages: 180

ISBN-13: 9788120808256

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

The aim of this dissertation is to present a systematic exposition of renunciation (Samnyasa) as a philosophico-religious category within Indian tradition with special reference to Advaita Vedanta of Samkaracarya. The author tried to justify this category as a spiritual technique systematically worked out and developed by Advaitins particularly Samkara with a view to classifying and systematizing values in terms of the different forms which renunciation and its object may be found to assume. This dissertation also highlights principles of human behaviour in the Indian tradition implicitly clarifying thereby such concepts as dharma (socio-religious duties), the good life, obligation and responsibility etc.

The Nasiketa Story
The Nasiketa Story

Author: Amos Nevo

Publisher: Motilal Banarsidass

Published: 2010-01-01

Total Pages: 346

ISBN-13: 8120834836

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

This book is the first critical edition of a comprehensive Sanskrit version of the Nasiketa myth, with a full translation into English. The text is composed of several manuscripts belonging to the same branch of the story development, and is compared to the printed Sanskrit versions and to some others, still in manuscript form. The introduction presents a short analysis of the religious-philosophic ideas conveyed by the Nasiketa story throughout the generations, based on the author's Ph.D. dissertation. It divides the Nasiketa story corpus into three patterns, and leaves extensive scope for further research-literary, religious, philosophic, etc.

Of Death and Birth
Of Death and Birth

Author: Barbara Schuler

Publisher: Otto Harrassowitz Verlag

Published: 2009

Total Pages: 528

ISBN-13: 9783447058445

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Scholars of popular Hindu religion in India have always been fascinated by oral texts and rituals, but surprisingly only few attempts have as yet been made to analyse the relationship between rituals and texts systematically. This book contributes to the filling of this gap. Focusing on the dynamics of a local (non-Brahmanical) ritual, its modular organisation and inner logic, the interaction between narrative text and ritual, and the significance of the local versus translocal nature of the text in the ritual context, the study provides a broad range of issues for comparison. It demonstrates that examining texts in their context helps to understand better the complexity of religious traditions and the way in which ritual and text are programmatically employed. The author offers a vivid description of a hitherto unnoticed ritual system, along with the first translation of a text called the Icakkiyamman-Katai (IK). Composed in the Tamil language, the IK represents a substantially longer and embellished form of a core versio which probably goes as far back as the seventh century C.E. Unlike the classical source, this text has been incorporated into a living tradition, and is being constantly refashioned. A range of text versions have been encapsulated in the form of a conspectus, which will shed light on the text's variability or fixity and will add to our knowledge of bardic creativity. Includes a film by the author on DVD.

The Siva Purana Part 3
The Siva Purana Part 3

Author: J. L. Shastri

Publisher: Motilal Banarsidass

Published: 2014-01-01

Total Pages: 514

ISBN-13: 812083870X

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

The Purana is a class of literature that treats of ancient religion, philosophy, history, sociology, politics and other subjects. It is an encyclopedia of various branches of knowledge and ancient wisdom. It has been defined as a class of literature that contains material on the topics of Creation, Dis-solution of Manus, Ages of Manus, Genealogies and the History of glorious kings. For dealing primarily with these subjects it has been called Pancalaksana-a title that was incorporated in the Puranas themselves and had become popular by the Fifth Century A.D., for it was included by Amarasimha in his lexicon 'Amarakosa'. But as the process of interpolation continued, the Pancalaksana definition was found inadequate. The Puranic redactors adopted a Dasalaksana definition that suited the contemporary text. Still the dynamic forces were at work and the process of insertion, modification and abridgment went on and it was soon discovered that the Dasa-laksana definition too fell short of an actual fact. It was found that the puranas contained certain aspects that were not covered by any five or ten characteristics. The Puranas are divided into two classes-the Maha-puranas and the Upapuranas. Each class consists of eighteen puranas. Thus the number of the Puranas is thirtysix. Mahapuranas are classified into different categories-Vaisnava, Brahma, Saiva etc. Sivapurana has all the characteristics of a Mahapurana. According to the ancients, a Mahapurana contained five main characteristics that concerned either early religion or traditional history. Sivapurana possesses the conventional characteristics of a Mahapurana in common with its other colleagues. These entitle it to the status of a great Purana. But its real greatness lies in expounding the philosophical background of Siva ritual. The Purana conceives Siva as the eternal principle, the supreme god, the cosmic soul, the support of all existence. But the ignorant aspirant bound in the meshes of illusion goes in quest for knowledge and imagines that his lord has a personal form possessed of attributes distinct from his self, who in moments of distress responds to his prayers and bestows grace.