Traditionally considered timeless and static, dharma is necessarily rooted in the customs of people and, therefore, a function of changing times and beliefs. The purpose of this paper is to analyse how medieval Brahmanical scholars understood, justified, and interpreted dharma within the scholastic tradition and whether it was possible to reinterpret various prescriptive rules to suit the social milieu of their times. These reinterpretations, if they can be sufficiently attested through scholarship, must have their roots in historical realities. Whether the tradition wishes to accommodate change or resist it, scholarly readings and commentaries provide a valuable insight into how law was read and interpreted by the Brahmanical scholastic tradition. This paper studies the dharmic norms relating to the dependence (asvatantrya) of women as interpreted by the tenth-century commentator Medhatithi, writing on the Manavadharmasastra. Medhatithi’s lengthy commentary on controversial points suggests a vibrant scholastic debate in which interpretations varied and certain historical realities had been taken into account.
{"title":"Asvatantra","authors":"Madhulika Chebrol","doi":"10.1558/rosa.25457","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1558/rosa.25457","url":null,"abstract":"Traditionally considered timeless and static, dharma is necessarily rooted in the customs of people and, therefore, a function of changing times and beliefs. The purpose of this paper is to analyse how medieval Brahmanical scholars understood, justified, and interpreted dharma within the scholastic tradition and whether it was possible to reinterpret various prescriptive rules to suit the social milieu of their times. These reinterpretations, if they can be sufficiently attested through scholarship, must have their roots in historical realities. Whether the tradition wishes to accommodate change or resist it, scholarly readings and commentaries provide a valuable insight into how law was read and interpreted by the Brahmanical scholastic tradition. This paper studies the dharmic norms relating to the dependence (asvatantrya) of women as interpreted by the tenth-century commentator Medhatithi, writing on the Manavadharmasastra. Medhatithi’s lengthy commentary on controversial points suggests a vibrant scholastic debate in which interpretations varied and certain historical realities had been taken into account.","PeriodicalId":38179,"journal":{"name":"Religions of South Asia","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.1,"publicationDate":"2023-03-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48665435","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}
Readings of Santideva’s Guide to Bodhisattva Practice, edited by Jonathan C. Gold and Douglas S. Duckworth. New York: Columbia University Press, 2019. xiv + 302 pp., £70 (hb), £25 (pb). ISBN 9780231192668 (hb), 9780231192675 (pb).
{"title":"Readings of Santideva’s Guide to Bodhisattva Practice, edited by Jonathan C. Gold and Douglas S. Duckworth","authors":"D. Osto","doi":"10.1558/rosa.25462","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1558/rosa.25462","url":null,"abstract":"Readings of Santideva’s Guide to Bodhisattva Practice, edited by Jonathan C. Gold and Douglas S. Duckworth. New York: Columbia University Press, 2019. xiv + 302 pp., £70 (hb), £25 (pb). ISBN 9780231192668 (hb), 9780231192675 (pb).","PeriodicalId":38179,"journal":{"name":"Religions of South Asia","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.1,"publicationDate":"2023-03-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48815416","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}
Rethinking the Body in South Asian Traditions, edited by Diana Dimitrova. New York: Routledge, 2021. vii + 138 pp., £104 (hb), £29.59 (ebook). ISBN 978-0-367-53618-3 (hb), 978-1-003-08958-2 (ebook).
{"title":"Rethinking the Body in South Asian Traditions, edited by Diana Dimitrova","authors":"Vineet Gairola","doi":"10.1558/rosa.25458","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1558/rosa.25458","url":null,"abstract":"Rethinking the Body in South Asian Traditions, edited by Diana Dimitrova. New York: Routledge, 2021. vii + 138 pp., £104 (hb), £29.59 (ebook). ISBN 978-0-367-53618-3 (hb), 978-1-003-08958-2 (ebook).","PeriodicalId":38179,"journal":{"name":"Religions of South Asia","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.1,"publicationDate":"2023-03-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48055380","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}
A Sanskrit Treasury: A Compendium of Literature from the Clay Sanskrit Library, edited by Camillo A. Formigatti. Oxford: Bodleian Library, 2019. Foreword by Amartya Sen, preface by Richard Ovenden. xviii + 270 pp., £50. ISBN 9781851245314 (hb).
{"title":"A Sanskrit Treasury: A Compendium of Literature from the Clay Sanskrit Library, edited by Camillo A. Formigatti","authors":"D. Killingley","doi":"10.1558/rosa.25461","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1558/rosa.25461","url":null,"abstract":"A Sanskrit Treasury: A Compendium of Literature from the Clay Sanskrit Library, edited by Camillo A. Formigatti. Oxford: Bodleian Library, 2019. Foreword by Amartya Sen, preface by Richard Ovenden. xviii + 270 pp., £50. ISBN 9781851245314 (hb).","PeriodicalId":38179,"journal":{"name":"Religions of South Asia","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.1,"publicationDate":"2023-03-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44477151","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}
The Legacy of Vaisnavism in Colonial Bengal, edited by Ferdinando Sardella and Lucian Wong. Abingdon: Routledge, 2020. xiii + 266 pp. ISBN 9781032083650.
{"title":"The Legacy of Vaisnavism in Colonial Bengal, edited by Ferdinando Sardella and Lucian Wong","authors":"K. Jacobsen","doi":"10.1558/rosa.25460","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1558/rosa.25460","url":null,"abstract":"The Legacy of Vaisnavism in Colonial Bengal, edited by Ferdinando Sardella and Lucian Wong. Abingdon: Routledge, 2020. xiii + 266 pp. ISBN 9781032083650.","PeriodicalId":38179,"journal":{"name":"Religions of South Asia","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.1,"publicationDate":"2023-03-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"49216538","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}
In his celebrated book The Concept of Law, H. L. A. Hart posits three secondary rules in a legal system: recognition, change, and adjudication. In this paper, I look at the second category: the means provided within the Indian legal system by which laws, in this case dharma, can be changed. The category of recognition provides us with means of knowing what the laws are. In modern systems, this is done through the passage of laws in a duly constituted legislature. The ancient Indian system did not have a provision for a legislative body. Instead, law as dharma was to be discovered rather than enacted: it was thought to be found in the Veda (vedamulatva concept) and, secondarily, in the texts known as smrtis. Law is thus eternal and, in theory, immutable; it cannot be changed. But, in spite of the theory, society and culture do change and demand laws that reflect those changes. The hermeneutical tradition of India provided means by which such change, foreclosed de jure, could be enacted de facto. This paper will analyse several of these techniques, including the yuga theory, the dharma of smaller social and geographical units, and, quite interestingly, the opprobrium of the people (lokavidvista).
{"title":"How to Change Law in Classical India","authors":"Patrick Olivelle","doi":"10.1558/rosa.25453","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1558/rosa.25453","url":null,"abstract":"In his celebrated book The Concept of Law, H. L. A. Hart posits three secondary rules in a legal system: recognition, change, and adjudication. In this paper, I look at the second category: the means provided within the Indian legal system by which laws, in this case dharma, can be changed. The category of recognition provides us with means of knowing what the laws are. In modern systems, this is done through the passage of laws in a duly constituted legislature. The ancient Indian system did not have a provision for a legislative body. Instead, law as dharma was to be discovered rather than enacted: it was thought to be found in the Veda (vedamulatva concept) and, secondarily, in the texts known as smrtis. Law is thus eternal and, in theory, immutable; it cannot be changed. But, in spite of the theory, society and culture do change and demand laws that reflect those changes. The hermeneutical tradition of India provided means by which such change, foreclosed de jure, could be enacted de facto. This paper will analyse several of these techniques, including the yuga theory, the dharma of smaller social and geographical units, and, quite interestingly, the opprobrium of the people (lokavidvista).","PeriodicalId":38179,"journal":{"name":"Religions of South Asia","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.1,"publicationDate":"2023-03-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44425858","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}
I begin by analysing Mimamsa hermeneutics as employed in Visvarupa’s and Vijñanesvara’s commentaries on Yajñavalkya Dharmasastra 2.21, which proclaims principles for dealing with conflicts of smrti-rules, taking as an illustration the problem of self-defence against a Brahmin attacker (quoting Manava Dharmasastra 8.348–51). I then examine Bharuci’s and Medhatithi’s arguments on Manava Dharmasastra 8.314–18 (the example of the ‘wise thief’ who seeks the king’s punishment as a penance). The commentators situate the legality of the king’s interests and judicial authority in relation to Veda-based, otherworldly considerations such as sin and expiation. Punishments and penances serve different purposes, are prescribed by different authorities, and occupy distinct sections in textual sources. The case of the Brahmin felon strains the distinction: it asserts that even a Brahmin (otherwise exempt from capital punishment) may be killed if engaged in the worst crimes, but this conflicts with the rules requiring expiation for killing a Brahmin. The ‘wise thief’ is the contrived exception that proves the rule that punishment and penance are distinct; the efficacy of the act hinges on the wrong-doer’s initiative, so that the king-executioner is more instrument than agent of purification, and at his own spiritual peril. The commentators discuss these cases in terms of the relation between Dharmasastra and Arthasastra, subordinating the latter to the former.
{"title":"Brahmin Felon and the Wise Thief","authors":"Timothy Lubin","doi":"10.1558/rosa.25455","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1558/rosa.25455","url":null,"abstract":"I begin by analysing Mimamsa hermeneutics as employed in Visvarupa’s and Vijñanesvara’s commentaries on Yajñavalkya Dharmasastra 2.21, which proclaims principles for dealing with conflicts of smrti-rules, taking as an illustration the problem of self-defence against a Brahmin attacker (quoting Manava Dharmasastra 8.348–51). I then examine Bharuci’s and Medhatithi’s arguments on Manava Dharmasastra 8.314–18 (the example of the ‘wise thief’ who seeks the king’s punishment as a penance). The commentators situate the legality of the king’s interests and judicial authority in relation to Veda-based, otherworldly considerations such as sin and expiation. Punishments and penances serve different purposes, are prescribed by different authorities, and occupy distinct sections in textual sources. The case of the Brahmin felon strains the distinction: it asserts that even a Brahmin (otherwise exempt from capital punishment) may be killed if engaged in the worst crimes, but this conflicts with the rules requiring expiation for killing a Brahmin. The ‘wise thief’ is the contrived exception that proves the rule that punishment and penance are distinct; the efficacy of the act hinges on the wrong-doer’s initiative, so that the king-executioner is more instrument than agent of purification, and at his own spiritual peril. The commentators discuss these cases in terms of the relation between Dharmasastra and Arthasastra, subordinating the latter to the former.","PeriodicalId":38179,"journal":{"name":"Religions of South Asia","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.1,"publicationDate":"2023-03-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45565061","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}
This paper analyses Medhatithi’s discussion of corporal punishment, with special reference to the debate staged in his commentary on MDh 8.318. His arguments are extremely sophisticated, especially because of the application of Mimamsa-influenced reasoning rules. The paper makes implicit steps and unspoken hypotheses explicit and highlights the selection process through which Medhatithi finally selects one solution to the controversy he examines over the others. For some instances of possible candidates: Is analogical reasoning able to provide stronger support than, for example, authoritative statements? What role does inner consistency play? Which criterion wins in case of conflicts among different textual passages? To test the inner-consistency criterion, the paper tackles the issue of corporal punishment as discussed in different contexts and tries to solve the seeming clashes that arise when different texts by Medhatithi are juxtaposed. It concludes by seeing Medhatithi’s commentary on MDh 8.318 as the culmination of a systematisation attempt regarding all cases of corporal punishment as distinctly ordained based on the purpose to be achieved.
{"title":"Getting into the mind of Medhatithi","authors":"E. Freschi","doi":"10.1558/rosa.25456","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1558/rosa.25456","url":null,"abstract":"This paper analyses Medhatithi’s discussion of corporal punishment, with special reference to the debate staged in his commentary on MDh 8.318. His arguments are extremely sophisticated, especially because of the application of Mimamsa-influenced reasoning rules. The paper makes implicit steps and unspoken hypotheses explicit and highlights the selection process through which Medhatithi finally selects one solution to the controversy he examines over the others. For some instances of possible candidates: Is analogical reasoning able to provide stronger support than, for example, authoritative statements? What role does inner consistency play? Which criterion wins in case of conflicts among different textual passages? To test the inner-consistency criterion, the paper tackles the issue of corporal punishment as discussed in different contexts and tries to solve the seeming clashes that arise when different texts by Medhatithi are juxtaposed. It concludes by seeing Medhatithi’s commentary on MDh 8.318 as the culmination of a systematisation attempt regarding all cases of corporal punishment as distinctly ordained based on the purpose to be achieved.","PeriodicalId":38179,"journal":{"name":"Religions of South Asia","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.1,"publicationDate":"2023-03-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"49109745","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}
In this essay, the relationship between Mimamsa hermeneutics and Dharmasastra rules is explored through the topic of marital intercourse. The physical act of sex between married partners at prescribed times is viewed as an essential step in a ritualized understanding of the higher religious purposes or goals of intercourse. The transformation of ordinary actions into religiously purposeful actions though rules and restrictions is characteristic not only of Hindu legal thought, but also of legal rules everywhere. This small example, therefore, contains a wider lesson about the aspirations of law beyond mere social order.
{"title":"Sex with Purpose","authors":"Donald R Davis, Jr","doi":"10.1558/rosa.25454","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1558/rosa.25454","url":null,"abstract":"In this essay, the relationship between Mimamsa hermeneutics and Dharmasastra rules is explored through the topic of marital intercourse. The physical act of sex between married partners at prescribed times is viewed as an essential step in a ritualized understanding of the higher religious purposes or goals of intercourse. The transformation of ordinary actions into religiously purposeful actions though rules and restrictions is characteristic not only of Hindu legal thought, but also of legal rules everywhere. This small example, therefore, contains a wider lesson about the aspirations of law beyond mere social order.","PeriodicalId":38179,"journal":{"name":"Religions of South Asia","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.1,"publicationDate":"2023-03-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45604566","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}
The starting point of this article is the observation that three Jataka narratives, the Visvantara-jataka, the Syama-jataka and the Ekasrnga-/Rsyasrnga-jataka, localized in the ancient northwest Indian region of Gandhara by the Chinese Buddhist travellers Faxian, Song Yun and Xuanzang, have parallels in the epic Ramayana (and the latter two in the Mahabharata). The article analyses the different version of these narratives in the Buddhist and Hindu sources and their possible relation, and reaches the cautious conclusion that the localization of the Buddhist Jatakas in the northwest may have been a reaction to the popularization of the Ramayana in a full and mature form which included the narratives corresponding to the Buddhist Syama-jataka and Rsyasrnga-jataka in the more central parts of India in the Gupta period.
{"title":"Buddha in the ‘Wild West’","authors":"Max Deeg","doi":"10.1558/rosa.24402","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1558/rosa.24402","url":null,"abstract":"The starting point of this article is the observation that three Jataka narratives, the Visvantara-jataka, the Syama-jataka and the Ekasrnga-/Rsyasrnga-jataka, localized in the ancient northwest Indian region of Gandhara by the Chinese Buddhist travellers Faxian, Song Yun and Xuanzang, have parallels in the epic Ramayana (and the latter two in the Mahabharata). The article analyses the different version of these narratives in the Buddhist and Hindu sources and their possible relation, and reaches the cautious conclusion that the localization of the Buddhist Jatakas in the northwest may have been a reaction to the popularization of the Ramayana in a full and mature form which included the narratives corresponding to the Buddhist Syama-jataka and Rsyasrnga-jataka in the more central parts of India in the Gupta period.","PeriodicalId":38179,"journal":{"name":"Religions of South Asia","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.1,"publicationDate":"2022-12-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48484123","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}
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