The Literary Life of Yājñavalkya

The Literary Life of Yājñavalkya

Author: Steven E Lindquist

Publisher:

Published: 2024-06-02

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9781438495637

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A literary and historical investigation into an ancient Indian religious thinker, tracing his rise in importance in the Hindu tradition.


The Literary Life of Yājñavalkya

The Literary Life of Yājñavalkya

Author: Steven E. Lindquist

Publisher: State University of New York Press

Published: 2023-12-01

Total Pages: 418

ISBN-13: 1438495641

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In this fascinating study, Steven E. Lindquist investigates the intersections between historical context and literary production in the "life" of Yājñavalkya, the most important ancient Indian literary figure prior to the Buddha. Known for his sharp tongue and deep thought, Yājñavalkya is associated with a number of "firsts" in Indian religious literary history: the first person to discuss brahman and ātman thoroughly; the first to put forth a theory of karma and reincarnation; the first to renounce his household life; and the first to dispute with women in religious debate. Throughout early Indian history, he was seen as a priestly bearer of ritual authority, a sage of mystical knowledge, and an innovative propagator of philosophical ideas and religious law. Drawing on history, literary studies, ritual studies, Sanskrit philology, narrative studies, and philosophy, Lindquist traces Yājñavalkya’s literary life—from his earliest mentions in ritual texts, through his developing biography in the Upaniṣads, and finally to his role as a hoary sage in narrative literature—offering the first detailed monograph on this central figure in early Indian religious and literary history.


Religion and Identity in South Asia and Beyond

Religion and Identity in South Asia and Beyond

Author: Steven E. Lindquist

Publisher: Anthem Press

Published: 2013-12-01

Total Pages: 392

ISBN-13: 1783080671

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This volume brings together sixteen articles on the religions, literatures and histories of South and Central Asia in tribute to Patrick Olivelle, one of North America’s leading Sanskritists and historians of early India. Over the last four decades, the focus of his scholarship has been on the ascetic and legal traditions of India, but his work as both a researcher and a teacher extends beyond early Indian religion and literature. ‘Religion and Identity and South Asia and Beyond’ is a testament to that influence. The contributions in this volume, many by former students of Olivelle, are committed to linguistic and historical rigor, combined with sensitivity to how the study of Asia has been changing over the last several decades.


The Hidden Lives of Brahman

The Hidden Lives of Brahman

Author: Joël André-Michel Dubois

Publisher: State University of New York Press

Published: 2014-02-12

Total Pages: 447

ISBN-13: 1438448074

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Finalist for the 2014 Best First Book in the History of Religions presented by the American Academy of Religion Śaṅkara's thought, advaita vedānta or non-dual vedānta, is a tradition focused on brahman, the ultimate reality transcending all particular manifestations, words, and ideas. It is generally considered that the transcendent brahman cannot be attained through any effort or activity. While this conception is technically correct, in The Hidden Lives of Brahman, Joël André-Michel Dubois contends that it is misleading. Hidden lives of brahman become visible when analysis of Śaṅkara's seminal commentaries is combined with ethnographic descriptions of contemporary Brāhmin students and teachers of vedānta, a group largely ignored in most studies of this tradition. Du bois demonstrates that for Śaṅkara, as for Brāhmin tradition in general, brahman is just as much an active force, fully connected to the dynamic power of words and imagination, as it is a transcendent ultimate.


The Character of the Self in Ancient India

The Character of the Self in Ancient India

Author: Brian Black

Publisher: State University of New York Press

Published: 2012-02-16

Total Pages: 240

ISBN-13: 0791480526

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This groundbreaking book is an elegant exploration of the Upanisads, often considered the fountainhead of the rich, varied philosophical tradition in India. The Upaniṣads, in addition to their philosophical content, have a number of sections that contain narratives and dialogues—a literary dimension largely ignored by the Indian philosophical tradition, as well as by modern scholars. Brian Black draws attention to these literary elements and demonstrates that they are fundamental to understanding the philosophical claims of the text. Focusing on the Upanisadic notion of the self (ātman), the book is organized into four main sections that feature a lesson taught by a brahmin teacher to a brahmin student, debates between brahmins, discussions between brahmins and kings, and conversations between brahmins and women. These dialogical situations feature dramatic elements that bring attention to both the participants and the social contexts of Upanisadic philosophy, characterizing philosophy as something achieved through discussion and debate. In addition to making a number of innovative arguments, the author also guides the reader through these profound and engaging texts, offering ways of reading the Upaniṣads that make them more understandable and accessible.


Leading

Leading

Author: Sampat P Singh

Publisher: SAGE

Published: 2003-10-22

Total Pages: 254

ISBN-13: 9780761997528

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This book abandons conventional theory and provides an alternative approach to the concept of leadership. It examines leadership from a multi-disciplinary perspective, which combines management science, literature, philosophy, drama, mythology and experiential knowledge from key business leaders./-//-/The result is an entirely new perspective on how to look at leadership in the 21st century. In presenting this unique model, Sampat P Singh addresses some key issues including: /-/ - how leadership must be understood in a holistic perspective/-/ - the much needed change in management education for developing mindsets for leadership/-/ - how entrenched mindsets must be deprogrammed for human resource development in organizations/-/ - the concept of Enlightened Leadership derived out of ancient Indian texts, modern theory and examples from the world of business/-/ - the differences between the roles of a leader and a manager


Language, Texts, and Society

Language, Texts, and Society

Author: Patrick Olivelle

Publisher: Anthem Press

Published: 2011

Total Pages: 421

ISBN-13: 0857284312

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This collection brings together the research papers of Patrick Olivelle, published over a period of about ten years. The unifying theme of these studies is the search for historical context and developments hidden within words and texts. Words - and the cultural history represented by words - that scholars often take for granted as having a continuous and long history are often new and even neologisms, and thus provide important clues to cultural and religious innovations. Olivelle's book on the Asramas, as well as the short pieces included in this volume, such as those on ananda and dharma, seek to see cultural innovation and historical changes within the changing semantic fields of key terms. Closer examination of numerous Sanskrit terms taken for granted as central to 'Hinduism' provide similar results. Indian texts have often been studied in the past as disincarnate realities providing information on an ahistorical and unchanging culture. This volume is a small contribution towards correcting that method of textual study.


A Treatise on Dharma

A Treatise on Dharma

Author: Y_j–avalkya

Publisher: Harvard University Press

Published: 2019-01-14

Total Pages: 433

ISBN-13: 0674277066

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A Treatise on Dharma, written in the fourth or fifth century, is the finest example of the genre of dharma__stra--texts on religious, civil, and criminal law and the duties of rulers--that informed Indian life for a thousand years. It illuminates major cultural innovations, such as the prominence of documents in commercial and legal proceedings, the use of ordeals in resolving disputes, and the growing importance of yoga in spiritual practices. Composed by an anonymous author during the reign of the imperial Guptas, the Treatise is ascribed to the Upanishadic philosopher Yajnavalkya, whose instruction of a group of sages serves as the frame narrative for the work. It became the most influential legal text in medieval India, and a twelfth-century interpretation came to be considered "the law of the land" under British rule. This translation of A Treatise on Dharma, based on a new critical edition and presented alongside the Sanskrit original in the Devanagari script, opens the classical age of ancient Indian law to modern readers.


Religious Life of the Brahman

Religious Life of the Brahman

Author: Asim Maitra

Publisher:

Published: 1986

Total Pages: 166

ISBN-13:

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Nowhere else in the world have so many races and cultures met and got absorbed as in India. Nowhere else in the world has religion been made the object of such vast experimentation as village Hindu religion. The present book by Asim Maitra based on his field study using anthropological tools aims at providing a corect and scientific understanding of the religious issues of Maithil Brahmans in particular and the Mithila area (now comprising the present districts of Darbhanga, Saharsa, Madhywani, Samastipur, parts of Champaran, Muzzefarpur, Monghyr, Bhagalpur, Purnea and Tarai under Nepal lying betwen the districts and lower ranges of Himalaya) in general.