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This book presents a fresh perspective on the works of canonical figures of Sanskrit literature. In the process, it raises interesting questions: Is Vālmīki’s Sīta a feminist archetype? Is infidelity a virtue of Cārudatta of the play, Mṛichchhakatika? Is Mudrārākṣasa of the seventh century an existential play? It answers such queries convincingly in a thoughtful and informative prose. Narrating the Indian doctrine of Rasa, the book explores whether evocation of rasa is a subjective phenomenon or, as a famous neurologist averred, universal. Juxtaposing the heroism of Achilles and Rāma, the book tempts the reader to evaluate their poetic influence in building an ideal human society. Drawing parallels between the nobility of Cordelia of Shakespeare and Śakuntala of Kālidāsa, it highlights the power of love, be it filial or otherwise. It is through such refreshing explorations in an engaging style that this book introduces Sanskrit literature to the modern reader.
This book describes the Buddhism of India on the basis of the comparison of all the available original sources in various languages. It falls into three approximately equal parts. The first is a reconstruction of the original Buddhism presupposed by the traditions of the different schools known to us. It uses primarily the established methods of textual criticism, drawing out of the oldest extant texts of the different schools their common kernel. This kernel of doctrine is presumably common Buddhism of the period before the great schisms of the fourth and third centuries BC. It may be substantially the Buddhism of the Buddha himself, though this cannot be proved: at any rate it is a Buddhis...
The Rediscovery of Vedic and Ancient Bharat unfolds the profound roots of India's cultural heritage. Spanning from 1500 BCE to 1000 CE, this epoch witnessed a renaissance in Mathematics, Science, Astronomy, Yoga, Literature, and Architecture that resonates through the ages. Embark on a journey through the corridors of intellect, where luminaries like Aryabhata, Charaka and Patanjali carved indelible marks on the pages of time. Within the covers of this book, thirty chapters unveil the brilliance of Bharat's scholars, exploring the contributions of Pingala, Baudhayana, Varahamihira, Brahmagupta and others. Delve into the realms of Science, Yoga and Astronomy, where Aryabhatta, Varahamihira, a...
Given the limited durability of most textual supports, texts must be reproduced if they are to survive. And given the proliferation over time of users, practices, and places which need to have access to the texts that are important for cultural institutions, this is particularly true for authoritative texts. But the reproduction of texts by traditional means - either orally or by hand - inevitably produces variations. These variations can arise because of inattention, confusion, misunderstanding, deliberate modification, physical damage, and many other factors. In general, the more a text is reproduced, the more variations are likely to occur. But although the fact of textual variation in ge...
Knowledge and Context in Tibetan Medicine is a collection of ten essays in which a team of international scholars describe and interpret Tibetan medical knowledge. With subjects ranging from the relationship between Tibetan and Greco-Arab conceptions of the bodily humors, to the rebranding of Tibetan precious pills for cross-cultural consumption in the People’s Republic of China, each chapter explores representations and transformations of medical concepts across different historical, cultural, and/or intellectual contexts. Taken together this volume offers new perspectives on both well-known Tibetan medical texts and previously unstudied sources, blazing new trails and expanding the scope of the academic study of Tibetan medicine. Contributors include: Henk W.A. Blezer, Yang Ga, Tony Chui, Katharina Sabernig, Tawni Tidwell, Tsering Samdrup, Carmen Simioli, William A. McGrath, Susannah Deane and Barbara Gerke
The present volume contains a collection of 10 articles read to the audience of a topic-related panel at the 13th World Sanskrit Conference, held in Edinburgh in July 2006. The papers focus on a variety of aspects of prolegomena composed in Sanskrit by examining them in their different systemic and systematic contexts. Extending beyond sastra in its narrower sense as bodies of (philosophical) knowledge, some of the investigations assembled here concern themselves with preambles to different categories such as Vedic exegesis, poetics, poetry and historiography. From the table of contents: (10 contributions) Edwin Gerow, En archei en ho logos - "In the Beginning was the Word". Chr. Minkowski, Why should we read the Mangala-Verses? P. Balcerowicz, Some Remarks on the Opening Sections in Buddhist and Jaina Epistemological Treatises. Jan E. M. Houben, Doxographic Introductions to the Philosophical Systems: Mallavadin and the Grammarians. Ph. Maas, "Descent with Modification": The Opening of the Patanjalayogasastra. Silvia D'Intino, Meaningful Mantras. The Introductory Portion of the Rgvedabhasya by Skandasvamin.
This volume of historical Indian-Perso-Arabic-Ottoman Turkish Literature, in the form of raunchy, ribald and salacious ballads, verses, couplets & doggerels is conceived for a readership whose second language is English. It is intended for national and international circulation as a convenient instrument for the spread of bygone Indo-Perso-Arabic-Turkish poetic thought and process. This will explain the lack of a parallel native text and the restriction of selected poets/authors and their works. The purpose of this book is to raise awareness about the richness, profoundness and impact of Indo-Perso-Arabic - Turkish Literature on the belletristic intellectual literary development. The translations and transliterations intended to cross-over three distinct and radical language systems of the world - Sanskrit, Persian and Turkish - into ubiquitous American English, and it is the work of over three years.
This comprehensive and detailed survey of the first six centuries of Indian Buddhism sums up the results of a lifetime of research and reflection by one of Japan's most renowned scholars of Buddhism.
Includes examples of Jarigan and related songs in original Bengali, with transliterations, English translations, and musical notations.