Discovering the Vedas
Discovering the Vedas

Author: Frits Staal

Publisher: Penguin UK

Published: 2008-05-14

Total Pages: 468

ISBN-13: 8184758839

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This Is A Remarkable Book. It Untangles The Many Complexities Of The Vedas And Combines Staal S Scholarly Respect For The Texts, With Explanations That Are Lucid And Occasionally Witty. His Insights Are Thoughtful And Perceptive. Romila Thapar In This Unprecedented Guide To The Vedas, Frits Staal, The Celebrated Author Of Agni: The Vedic Ritual Of The Fire Altar And Universals: Studies In Indian Logic And Linguistics Examines Almost Every Aspect Of These Ancient Sources Of Indic Civilisation. Staal Extracts Concrete Information From The Oral Tradition And Archaeology About Vedic People And Their Language, What They Thought And Did, And Where They Went And When. He Provides Essential Information About The Vedas And Includes Selections And Translations. Staal Sheds Light On Mantras And Rituals, That Contributed To What Came To Be Known As Hinduism. Significant Is A Modern Analysis Of What We Can Learn From The Vedas Today: The Original Forms Of The Vedic Sciences, As Well As The Perceptive Wisdom Of The Composers Of The Vedas. The Author Puts Vedic Civilisation In A Global Perspective Through A Wide-Ranging Comparison With Other Indic Philosophies And Religions, Primarily Buddhism For Staal, Originally A Logician, The Voyage Of Discovering The Vedas Is Like Unpeeling An Onion But Without The Certainty Of Reaching An End. Even So, His Book Shows That The Vedas Have A Logic All Their Own. Accessible, Finely-Argued, And With A Wealth Of Information And Insight, Discovering The Vedas Is For Both The Scholar And The Interested Lay Reader.

Rites of the God-King
Rites of the God-King

Author: Marko Geslani

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2018

Total Pages: 337

ISBN-13: 0190862882

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Rites of the God-King offers a critical revision of mainstream Hinduism from the perspective of the life of a single ritual from medieval India. Drawing theoretical connections to modern ethnographies, it raises questions about the nature of kingship and priesthood, image-worship, and ritual change.

Bringing the Gods to Mind
Bringing the Gods to Mind

Author: Laurie L. Patton

Publisher: Univ of California Press

Published: 2005-06-27

Total Pages: 306

ISBN-13: 0520930886

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This elegantly written book introduces a new perspective on Indic religious history by rethinking the role of mantra in Vedic ritual. In Bringing the Gods to Mind, Laurie Patton takes a new look at mantra as "performed poetry" and in five case studies draws a portrait of early Indian sacrifice that moves beyond the well-worn categories of "magic" and "magico-religious" thought in Vedic sacrifice. Treating Vedic mantra as a sophisticated form of artistic composition, she develops the idea of metonymy, or associational thought, as a major motivator for the use of mantra in sacrificial performance. Filling a long-standing gap in our understanding, her book provides a history of the Indian interpretive imagination and a study of the mental creativity and hermeneutic sophistication of Vedic religion.

The Vedic Origins of Karma
The Vedic Origins of Karma

Author: Herman W. Tull

Publisher: State University of New York Press

Published: 1989-08-15

Total Pages: 196

ISBN-13: 143842244X

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In this book, the author seeks access to Karma's origins by following several clues suggested by the doctrine's earliest formulation in the Upanistexts (circa 600-500 B.C.) These clues lead back to the mythical and ritual structures firmly established in the Brahmana texts, texts concerned with the rituals that chronologically and conceptually precede the UpanisThe rise of the karma doctrine is tied to the increasing dominance in late Vedic thought of the cosmic man (Purusa/Prajapati) mythology and its ritual analogue the "building of the fire altar" (agnicayana).

The Vedas
The Vedas

Author: Arlo Griffiths

Publisher: Groningen Oriental Studies

Published: 2004

Total Pages: 680

ISBN-13:

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Description: Preface (A. Griffiths and J.E.M. Houben) Introduction (J.E.M. Houben) PART I: TEXTUAL HISTORY AND INTERPRETATION - S.S. Bahulkar: The Apocryphal (?) Hymn to Pratyangira in the Paippalada Tradition - T.N. Dharmadhikari: Re-editing the Maitrayani Samhita: a Desideratum - Gerhard Ehlers: Old and New Manuscripts of the Jaiminiya-Brahmana - Shingo Einoo: Notes on the vrsotsarga - Arlo Griffiths: Paippalada Mantras in the Kausikasutra - Konrad Klaus: On the Sources of the Asvalayana-Srautasutra - François Voegeli: On the Kathaka Samhita Hapax pasuyajna and its Relationship with the saddhotr Mantra PART II: LANGUAGE AND STYLE - Dipak Bhattacharya: On yat, tat, uttarat and Similar Forms - Abhijit Ghosh: Problems in Determining Austric Lexical Elements in Sanskrit: a Case from the Atharva-Veda - Stephanie W. Jamison: Poetry and Purpose in the Rgveda: Structuring Enigmas - Jared S. Klein: Nominal and Adverbial AAmre.ditas and the Etymology of Rgvedic nana - Werner Knobl: The Nonce Formation: A more-than-momentary look at the Augenblicksbildung - Georges-Jean Pinault: On the Usages of the Particle iva in the Rgvedic Hymns - Ulrike Roesler: The Theory of Semantic Fields as a Tool for Vedic Research PART III: RITUAL AND RELIGION - Joel P. Brereton: Brahman, Brahman, and Sacrificer - Silvia D?Intino: Vision and Battle in Vedic Hymns: A Remark on the Theme of Battle in the Symbolism of Poetic Creation - Cezary Galewicz: Katavallur Anyonyam: a Competition in Vedic Chanting? - Jan E.M. Houben: Memetics of Vedic Ritual, Morphology of the Agnistoma - Mieko Kajihara: The Upanayana and Marriage in the Atharvaveda - David M. Knipe: Ritual Subversion: Reliable Enemies and Suspect Allies - Charles Malamoud: A Note on abistaka (Taittiriya Aranyaka I) - Sofía Moncó Taracena: Dawn and Song in the Vedic Hymns - Asko Parpola: From Archaeology to a Stratigraphy of Vedic Syncretism: The banyan tree and the water buffalo as Harappan-Dravidian symbols of royalty, inherited in succession by Yama, Varu.na and Indra, divine kings of the first three layers of Aryan speakers in South Asia - Stephanie W. Jamison: Response to Parpola, From Archaeology to a Stratigraphy of Vedic Syncretism - Frits Staal: From pranmukham to sarvatomukham: A Thread through the Srauta Maze - G.U. Thite: Vicissitudes of Vedic Ritual - Jarrod L. Whitaker: Ritual Power, Social Prestige, and Amulets (mani) in the Atharvaveda - Michael Witzel: The Rgvedic Religious System and its Central Asian and Hindukush Antecedents List of Contributors Index of Authors General Index

Reflections on Resemblance, Ritual, and Religion
Reflections on Resemblance, Ritual, and Religion

Author: Brian K. Smith

Publisher: Motilal Banarsidass Publishe

Published: 1998

Total Pages: 284

ISBN-13: 9788120815322

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The classical Vedic texts that deal with large-scale sacrificial ritual and those writings that deal with domestic ritual have traditionally been treated as unrelated. The former are devoted to the explication of rituals that are dominated by wealthy male elites; the latter concern humble private ceremonies more open to famale participation. Reflections on Resemblance, Ritual and Religion argues that there is in fact, a fundamental connection between these two large and important bodies of Indic religious literature.

Hinduism - Ritual, Reason and Beyond
Hinduism - Ritual, Reason and Beyond

Author: Ashok Mishra

Publisher: StoryMirror Infotech Pvt Ltd

Published: 2019-08-03

Total Pages: 540

ISBN-13: 9388698134

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The book is journey through 5000 years of evolution of Hinduism, and is outcome of seven years of study to understand the roots of Hinduism. Tracing the genesis of Hinduism to pre-Indus Valley period, the book explains Hindu, Hinduism and Sanatana Dharma, before it takes one through Hinduism’s oldest scriptures - the four Vedas, the four components of each Veda, and what they contain. How all original translations of Vedic texts were done by Western Sanskrit scholars, and why their works have left scope for doubt about the fidelity of translations. The yajnas (yagya) like Ashvamedha, Rajsooya, Vajpeya, etc., about which we only hear on TV serials and talk shows, have been demystified. The reader will be taken aback reading the sheer size and scale of Soma yajna, described step by step, in great detail. Hinduism’s journey to the Age of Reason, the Upanishads, its encounter with Buddhism, and its transformation into idol worshipping society with many gods and a multitude of stories about its millions of gods is lucidly explained. Puranas, what they contain and what was the reason they were created, has been described and explained next. Hinduism's journey to its modern form - idol worship, the modern puja, detailed description of puja and Sanskaras like Vivaha, their detailed description, the meaning of each action and how they are conducted, the gift to the priest, types of idols, their consecration, all are explained to help a reader understand the why and the how of what we do as a Hindu. The book concludes with a discussion of - Do mantras have power? & Do rituals have meaning?