The many manuscripts of the various versions of the Ramayana include a much smaller number of illustrated manuscripts, besides the frequent sets or series illustrating the Rama story (often termed manuscripts, though lacking more than a caption or brief description of the scene depicted). I focus here on a small number of illustrated manuscripts of the Valmuki Ramayana: one datable around 1605–19 in sub-imperial Mughal style commissioned by Bir Singh Deo, one dated between 1649 and 1653 for Jagat Singh of Mewar, and three sets of illustrations which seem intended to form between them a third illustrated manuscript: the small Guler and Mankot Ramayanas and Manaku’s ‘Siege of Lanka’ series, from about 1710 to 1725. The issues that I address are: why were such extensive and expensive manuscripts undertaken, what was the nature of the text copied, and what is the relationship of text to illustration, in terms of how a scene is illustrated and of its correct identification? Exploration of these issues can reveal a significant amount about the patrons, the scribes, the illuminators and the society of the period when such manuscripts were produced.
{"title":"Some Illustrated Valmiki Ramayana Manuscripts","authors":"J. Brockington","doi":"10.1558/rosa.24406","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1558/rosa.24406","url":null,"abstract":"The many manuscripts of the various versions of the Ramayana include a much smaller number of illustrated manuscripts, besides the frequent sets or series illustrating the Rama story (often termed manuscripts, though lacking more than a caption or brief description of the scene depicted). I focus here on a small number of illustrated manuscripts of the Valmuki Ramayana: one datable around 1605–19 in sub-imperial Mughal style commissioned by Bir Singh Deo, one dated between 1649 and 1653 for Jagat Singh of Mewar, and three sets of illustrations which seem intended to form between them a third illustrated manuscript: the small Guler and Mankot Ramayanas and Manaku’s ‘Siege of Lanka’ series, from about 1710 to 1725. The issues that I address are: why were such extensive and expensive manuscripts undertaken, what was the nature of the text copied, and what is the relationship of text to illustration, in terms of how a scene is illustrated and of its correct identification? Exploration of these issues can reveal a significant amount about the patrons, the scribes, the illuminators and the society of the period when such manuscripts were produced.","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":"41527158","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}
Tantra, Ritual, Performance and Politics in Nepal and Kerala: Embodying the Goddess Clan, by Matthew Martin. Leiden: Brill, 2020. 265 pp., €124.00/$149.00. ISBN 978-9-00-443899-6.
{"title":"Tantra, Ritual, Performance and Politics in Nepal and Kerala: Embodying the Goddess Clan, by Matthew Martin","authors":"Lucy May Constantini","doi":"10.1558/rosa.24409","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1558/rosa.24409","url":null,"abstract":"Tantra, Ritual, Performance and Politics in Nepal and Kerala: Embodying the Goddess Clan, by Matthew Martin. Leiden: Brill, 2020. 265 pp., €124.00/$149.00. ISBN 978-9-00-443899-6.","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":"48652526","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}
{"title":"Guest Editorial","authors":"L. Greaves, S. Brodbeck","doi":"10.1558/rosa.24395","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1558/rosa.24395","url":null,"abstract":"","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":"43336258","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 article focuses on the libretto (the words) of Gustav Holst’s one-act opera Savitri (opus 25, 1908), which is based on a story told in the Mahabharata. The article introduces Holst’s Savitri project biographically in the context of his love of India. It explores the question of what sources Holst used in preparing his libretto. It discusses Holst’s main departures from his source text(s): his removal of the framing story, his featuring of the character Satyavan, and his introduction of the topic of maya. Historical reasons for Holst’s interest in maya are briefly explored. Finally, the article places Holst’s Savitri in the context of operatic history, reading it as a version of the story of Orpheus and Eurydice.
{"title":"Holst’s Savitri Libretto","authors":"S. Brodbeck","doi":"10.1558/rosa.24408","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1558/rosa.24408","url":null,"abstract":"This article focuses on the libretto (the words) of Gustav Holst’s one-act opera Savitri (opus 25, 1908), which is based on a story told in the Mahabharata. The article introduces Holst’s Savitri project biographically in the context of his love of India. It explores the question of what sources Holst used in preparing his libretto. It discusses Holst’s main departures from his source text(s): his removal of the framing story, his featuring of the character Satyavan, and his introduction of the topic of maya. Historical reasons for Holst’s interest in maya are briefly explored. Finally, the article places Holst’s Savitri in the context of operatic history, reading it as a version of the story of Orpheus and Eurydice.","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":"49262525","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}
Ownership and Inheritance in Sanskrit Jurisprudence, by Christopher T. Fleming. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2020. xvi + 252 pp., £65 (hb). ISBN 978-0-19-885237-7 (hb).
{"title":"Ownership and Inheritance in Sanskrit Jurisprudence, by Christopher T. Fleming","authors":"W. Menski, Raja Choudhary","doi":"10.1558/rosa.24410","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1558/rosa.24410","url":null,"abstract":"Ownership and Inheritance in Sanskrit Jurisprudence, by Christopher T. Fleming. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2020. xvi + 252 pp., £65 (hb). ISBN 978-0-19-885237-7 (hb).","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":"48083915","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}
Alchi: Treasure of the Himalayas, by Peter van Ham, Amy Heller and Likir Monastery. Munich: Hirmer Verlag and Alchi: Alchi Gömpa, 2018. 422 pp., £46. ISBN 978-3-77-743093-5.
{"title":"Alchi: Treasure of the Himalayas, by Peter van Ham, Amy Heller and Likir Monastery","authors":"Archishman Sarker","doi":"10.1558/rosa.24411","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1558/rosa.24411","url":null,"abstract":"Alchi: Treasure of the Himalayas, by Peter van Ham, Amy Heller and Likir Monastery. Munich: Hirmer Verlag and Alchi: Alchi Gömpa, 2018. 422 pp., £46. ISBN 978-3-77-743093-5.","PeriodicalId":38179,"journal":{"name":"Religions of South Asia","volume":"1 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.1,"publicationDate":"2022-12-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41358289","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 paper examines four lifting scenes in the Mahabharata: (1) Bhisma lifting Amba, Ambika and Ambalika (1.96), (2) Arjuna lifting Subhadra (1.212), (3) Susarman lifting Virata / Bhima lifting Susarman (4.32), and (4) Arjuna lifting Uttara (4.36). Its main claim is that the bride abductions provide the key elements in terms of textual materials for the enemy ‘abductions’, which may then be seen as adaptations. This reading contributes to the understanding of some auctorial techniques within the Mahabharata, such as depictions of masculinity, comical reversals and self-references in general.
{"title":"Lifting Brides/Lifting Enemies","authors":"Roberto Morales-Harley","doi":"10.1558/rosa.24400","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1558/rosa.24400","url":null,"abstract":"The paper examines four lifting scenes in the Mahabharata: (1) Bhisma lifting Amba, Ambika and Ambalika (1.96), (2) Arjuna lifting Subhadra (1.212), (3) Susarman lifting Virata / Bhima lifting Susarman (4.32), and (4) Arjuna lifting Uttara (4.36). Its main claim is that the bride abductions provide the key elements in terms of textual materials for the enemy ‘abductions’, which may then be seen as adaptations. This reading contributes to the understanding of some auctorial techniques within the Mahabharata, such as depictions of masculinity, comical reversals and self-references in general.","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":"45124816","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 Ramayana and Mahabharata highlight the demidivine simian Hanumat and the part-demon prince Duryodhana differently experiencing their political enemies’ assembling halls as aesthetic and theological objects alike. Hanumat is seduced figuratively by the sensual pleasures of the personal hall (sala) of unrighteous Ravana (the demon king of Lanka and abductor of Ramayana hero Rama’s wife, Sita), but remains devoted to righteous Rama, half of divine preserver Visnu reborn. Duryodhana, however, covets the imposing heights of the professional hall (sabha) of his paternal cousin Yudhisthira (the demidivine king of Indraprastha and biological son of righteousness-divinity Dharma), and deploys unrighteous dicing gambits to depose the Mahabharata hero temporarily, having identified with a fellow follower of divine destroyer Siva, Sisupala, slain by his estranged maternal cousin—fractional Visnu incarnation Krsna. The Visnu-preferring epic authors give to Hanumat and Duryodhana, for their disparate theological commitments, diverging deserts. Whereas Hanumat lives long until merging with his originary wind-divinity, Duryodhana dies prematurely in battle and cycles eternally among different realms—beginning briefly in heaven and continuing extendedly in hell. By applying to both epic assembling-hall observers aesthetic philosopher Kendall L. Walton’s mimetic theory, this study illuminates the striking sectarian distinctions between contrasting poetic architectural depictions.
《罗摩衍那》和《摩诃婆罗多》强调了半神的类人猿哈努马特和半魔的王子杜约达纳以不同的方式体验了他们政敌的集会大厅，将其作为美学和神学的对象。哈努马特被不义的拉瓦那(斯里兰卡的恶魔之王，罗摩衍那英雄罗摩的妻子西塔的绑架者)的个人大厅(sala)的感官愉悦所引诱，但仍然忠于正义的罗摩，神的保护者毗瑟努的一半重生。然而，杜尤达那觊觎他的堂兄尤迪斯提亚(因陀罗毗萨的半神性国王，正义-神性达摩的亲生儿子)的专业大厅(sabha)的雄伟大厦，并采取了不义的掷牌策略，暂时推翻了摩诃婆罗多的英雄，他认同了神的破坏者湿婆的追随者西苏帕拉，被他疏远的母表——毗瑟奴的分体化身奎师那杀死。偏爱维斯努的史诗作者们给了哈努马特和杜约达纳不同的神学信仰，不同的沙漠。然而哈努马特活得很长，直到与他原来的风神融合，杜尤达纳在战斗中过早死亡，并在不同的领域之间永恒地循环-短暂地开始在天堂，并在地狱中继续延伸。通过运用美学哲学家肯德尔·沃尔顿(Kendall L. Walton)的模仿理论，本研究阐明了对比鲜明的诗意建筑描绘之间显著的宗派差异。
{"title":"Demonic and Demidivine Beauty in the Eyes of Demidivine and Demonic Beholders","authors":"S. Pathak","doi":"10.1558/rosa.24397","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1558/rosa.24397","url":null,"abstract":"The Ramayana and Mahabharata highlight the demidivine simian Hanumat and the part-demon prince Duryodhana differently experiencing their political enemies’ assembling halls as aesthetic and theological objects alike. Hanumat is seduced figuratively by the sensual pleasures of the personal hall (sala) of unrighteous Ravana (the demon king of Lanka and abductor of Ramayana hero Rama’s wife, Sita), but remains devoted to righteous Rama, half of divine preserver Visnu reborn. Duryodhana, however, covets the imposing heights of the professional hall (sabha) of his paternal cousin Yudhisthira (the demidivine king of Indraprastha and biological son of righteousness-divinity Dharma), and deploys unrighteous dicing gambits to depose the Mahabharata hero temporarily, having identified with a fellow follower of divine destroyer Siva, Sisupala, slain by his estranged maternal cousin—fractional Visnu incarnation Krsna. The Visnu-preferring epic authors give to Hanumat and Duryodhana, for their disparate theological commitments, diverging deserts. Whereas Hanumat lives long until merging with his originary wind-divinity, Duryodhana dies prematurely in battle and cycles eternally among different realms—beginning briefly in heaven and continuing extendedly in hell. By applying to both epic assembling-hall observers aesthetic philosopher Kendall L. Walton’s mimetic theory, this study illuminates the striking sectarian distinctions between contrasting poetic architectural depictions.","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":"44917171","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 paper deals with four weapons that appear in the Mahabharata, but are never, or only exceptionally, employed in real combat: plough (hala), wheel/disc (cakra), thunderbolt (vajra) and trident (trisula). In each case, an attempt to reconstruct the prehistory of the weapon is made, the textual and material evidence is examined, and a hypothesis is presented as to how the weapon was imagined by the authors and recipients of the epic.
{"title":"Obsolete Weapons in the Mahabharata","authors":"A. Babkiewicz, Sven Sellmer","doi":"10.1558/rosa.24401","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1558/rosa.24401","url":null,"abstract":"The paper deals with four weapons that appear in the Mahabharata, but are never, or only exceptionally, employed in real combat: plough (hala), wheel/disc (cakra), thunderbolt (vajra) and trident (trisula). In each case, an attempt to reconstruct the prehistory of the weapon is made, the textual and material evidence is examined, and a hypothesis is presented as to how the weapon was imagined by the authors and recipients of the epic.","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":"49444737","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 examines the concluding scene (chapter 113) of the Harivamsa’s Krsna biography, in which Krsna tries to steal some cows, but then chooses not to. I argue that the episode should be understood first in connection with the Mahabharata’s amsavatarana frame of partial incarnations. Secondly, I bring to bear on Harivamsa 113 the multiple meanings of the cow in epic mythology, according to which the animal stands in for both the earth and the brahmin as paradigmatic objects of ksatriya protection. In so doing, I hope to provide a reading of Harivamsa 113 which illustrates its participation in a recurring epic theme of ksatriya transgression against the brahmin and subsequent retreat to a properly deferential position. I then historicize these bovine-encoded anxieties attending brahmin–ksatriya relations in their post-Mauryan context. Recognizing such themes at work in Harivamsa 113 can help us to see that, however much popular traditions may favour the playful and transgressive Krsna, his posture in the latter part of the Harivamsa is characterized by a complex conservatism informed by both historic and epic-mythological concerns.
{"title":"Deferential Krsna","authors":"C. Austin","doi":"10.1558/rosa.24396","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1558/rosa.24396","url":null,"abstract":"This paper examines the concluding scene (chapter 113) of the Harivamsa’s Krsna biography, in which Krsna tries to steal some cows, but then chooses not to. I argue that the episode should be understood first in connection with the Mahabharata’s amsavatarana frame of partial incarnations. Secondly, I bring to bear on Harivamsa 113 the multiple meanings of the cow in epic mythology, according to which the animal stands in for both the earth and the brahmin as paradigmatic objects of ksatriya protection. In so doing, I hope to provide a reading of Harivamsa 113 which illustrates its participation in a recurring epic theme of ksatriya transgression against the brahmin and subsequent retreat to a properly deferential position. I then historicize these bovine-encoded anxieties attending brahmin–ksatriya relations in their post-Mauryan context. Recognizing such themes at work in Harivamsa 113 can help us to see that, however much popular traditions may favour the playful and transgressive Krsna, his posture in the latter part of the Harivamsa is characterized by a complex conservatism informed by both historic and epic-mythological concerns.","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":"43213981","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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