About the Book
The fourth volume of ‘Sanskrit studies’ (2015) is a consecutive publication of the Special Centre for Sanskrit Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University. This publication from JNU is intended to throw the light on vast range of Sanskrit studies such as language and literature of Sanskrit, Grammar and linguistics, Vedanta and other ancient Indian Philosophies, Poetics, Dramaturgy, Historiography of Vedic Age, Purana and Dharmasastra, etc.
This anthology presents the profound views of experienced and young scholars from India and abroad. It addresses both traditional and modern systems prevailed in the area of Sanskrit Studies. Sanskrit is the source of great inspiration and treasure house of various knowledge systems. Its literature has spread the universal brotherhood and sustainable human relation in the world. Therefore Special Centre for Sanskrit determined to bring out this publication in this field of “Sanskrit Studies” on vast range of Sanskrit disciplines which cover not only Language, Literature, Grammar and Philosophy of Sanskrit, but also the related disciplines such as Pali, Prakrt and Apabhramsa studies.
The seventeen articles in this volume - fourteen in English and three in Sanskrit – cover topics as Champa in the Global Vision of Classical India; Kashmir’s Contribution to Sanskrit Literature; Concept of Nirvikalpaka and Savikalpaka; Reconstructing Abhiramamani; Legend of King Nimi and Uttarakanda of Valmiki Ramayana; A Dense Definition of Rupaka; Abduction and Marriage in Ithihasa and Purana; Problem of Iron in Rgvedic Society; Ancient Indian Mathodology of Authoring Textbooks; Bana: A Histographer; Vedantadarsne Brahmasvarupam; among others.
Prof. C. Upender Rao at present is the Chairperson of Special Centre for Sanskrit studies at JNU, New Delhi, India. He is engaged in teaching and research of Sanskrit and Pali languages and literatures in Special Centre for Sanskrit Studies. He wrote various scholarly articles in Sanskrit, Hindi, Telugu and English. He was presented the Kadambari Award, Delhi Gouravv Samman, Samskrita Seva Samman and Vidya Sagar Award. His research papers have been published in various reputed journals in India and abroad and he has authored/edited 15 books. He was the visiting professor in National University of Keiv, Belarusian State University, Minsk, and L.N. Gumilyov Eurasian National University, Astana, Kazakshtan, where he laught Sanskrit language and Vedic Buddhist philosophies. Prof. Rao held various administrative positions and he is member of Jury of World Sanskrit Award, ICCR, Government of India and executive, court and academic councils of JNU India.
Sanskrit is a source of great inspiration and a treasure house of various knowledge systems. The Sanskrit literature has spread the universal brotherhood and sustainable human relations in the world. I am very happy that Sanskrit is recovering largely in India. We have 8,000 college Sanskrit school, sixteen Sanskrit universities, 10,000 colleges which teach Sanskrit. Also at least 112 Indian universities have opened the Sanskrit departments.
Now, Sanskrit studies are carried out throughout the world. Directly or indirectly the Sanskrit and Indological studies are done almost in all continents. Research papers received for the present volume from all corners of the world prove this fact. This fourth volume of Sanskrit Studies is devoted to the progress of Sanskrit studies across the globe. Along with the images and interpretations of Sanskrit studies, this volume also includes and envisages the future prospects of Sanskrit studies in India and abroad.
The Special Centre for Sanskrit Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University brings out this publication on “Sanskrit Studies” on a vast range of Sanskrit disciplines which not only covers language, literature, grammar and philosophy of Sanskrit, but also related disciplines such as Pali, Prakrit and Apabhramsa studies.
This volume encompasses almost all branches of Sanskrit studies. I sincerely believe that this anthology would be able to present the views of Sanskrit scholars from India and abroad. I am extremely happy to place this volume in the hands of deserving readers of Sanskrit studies. I would like to extend my gratitude and thanks to each scholar who took great pains to prepare his/her research paper.
As mentioned above the present volume has been designed covering varied areas of Sanskrit studies, which contains the contributions of both traditional and modern subjects. The very aim of Special Centyre for Sanskrit Studies is to bring together the traditional knowledge and mainstream university system and to extend the classical theories of Indian and the Western academies in order to recover the theory of Indian thought by focusing on comparative research in Indian and Western traditions. The contribution incorporated in this volumes ably discuss various topics of Sanskrit studies.
Prof. Lokesh Chandra gives the information about “Champa”, which is on a major marine trade route from Kanci to Canton. Suvarnadvipa was a general term for utopian lands in South-East Asia. Buddhasthira of Champa, along with Bodhisena of India, taught Sanskrit to the Japanese for the first time. Sanskrit like sara (Skt. Sarava) for a plate, osewa (Skt. Seva) for an automat enshrine their memory. The most important inscritions from Champa are 128 in number They invoke ninety-two Saiva, seven Buddha, five Brahma and three Visnu deities. Twenty-one inscriptions have no deity. The Chams still remember Champa still remember Champa as Po Nagar (the Sovereign of the Realm) even when everything has been destroyed by the cruel hands of history. Cham village women in Central Vietnam continue to recount the exploits of Yan In, i.e. God Indra, with his strength and weaknesses.
Champa lays on two marine routes from India to China and from the Indonesian world to China. Thus Champa breathes centuries of history in the glittering silence of heer mind.
Prof. Satya Vrat Shastri gives a detailed picture of Kashmir’s contribution to Sanskrit literature. Kashmir deserves the highest position in the Indian Republic not simply for its natural beauty but for the remarkable contributions of Kashmiri people to Indian culture as well. Kashmiris have played aa vited role in the development of intellectual, moral, religious, spirituall and social life of India. Westen writers have often described that Indians lacked historical sense, and in fact, there are no work to be called truly historical except Kalhana’s Rajatarangini. Kashmri scholarship is produced from this land makes the heritage of India’s literary legacy priceless.
Prof. K.T. Pandurangi in his scholarly paper discusses the Indian epistemology by focusing on nirvikalpa and savikalpa forms of perceptual cognitions. In the context of this discussion the expression nirvikalpaka is introduced in Nyaya-Vartika Tatparya-Tika for altogether a different purpose and the concept of nirvikalpaka is utilized to achieve that purpose. It is well known that Bhartrhri propagated the view of sabdartha tadatmya. He claimed that all cognitions are necessarily accompanied by words. Buddhist philosophers and grammarians seem to be the source for nirvikalpaka and savikalpaka, respectively. Nyaya-Bhasya and Nyaya-Vartika do not explicitly state nirvikalpaka and savikalpaka concepts. The Advaita concept of nirvikalpaka is quite different from others. Visistadvaita and Dvaita philosophies rejected the need of perceptual cognition of attributes separately.
Prof. Radhavallabh Tripathi brings forth a new information on Abhiramamani, a play based on Ramayana- theme, one of the lost treasures of Sanskrit literature. The author of this play, Sundaramisra, flourished in sixteenth-seventeeth century. He has exhibited his proficiency in the appropriate use of metres. The rhythmic patterns of long metres like Sardulavikriditam and Sragdhara in this play enhance the experience of heroic sentiments. He also aptly uses small metres like Anustup to indicate swiftness and quick action.
Prof. Rama Nath Sharma from USA discusses vipratisedha. His paper enlightens us with the notion of vipratisedha (conflict among two rules of equal strength), and its general treatment as a guiding principle established in favour of a subsequent (para) rule blocking the application of a prior rule (purva). Here I remember a beautiful Sanskrit verse:
nijapatiradyah pranayijano dvitiyasca| smara sakkhi Panini sutram vipratisedhe param karyam || Prof. Sally J. Sutherland Goldman from University of California at Berkeley focuses on the legend of King Nimi and the Uttarakanda of Valmiki Ramayana. According to her the Uttarakanda of the Valmika Ramayana has long been viewed as scholars this reputation derives as much from its suspicious textual history as its disturbing content. Indeed much of the content and style of the text as it is constituted in any of its editions and in the manuscripts that were collated for the Critical Edition do not seem to be keeping in line with those of earlier books.
Prof. Tiziana Pontillo from University of Cagliari, Italy discusses the definition of rupaka by focusing on a word ruupyate used by Bhamaha in his Kavyalamkara. Interestingly her paper focuses on one of Bhamaha’s verse (Kavyalamkara 2.21):
upamanena yt tattvam upameyasya rupyate| gunanam samatam drstva rupakam nama tad viduh|| In this linguistic-speculative context, which one may reasonably assume to have been shared Bhamaha, we could also perhaps advance the hypothesis that the verbal form rupyate in Bahamaha’s definition actually had the Buddhist sense of “to be overwhelmed”, “to be changed into”.
Another scholar from Japan Dr Toru Yagi discusses adhisthana. The concept of adhisthana is explained exclusively depending on the Chiness and Tibetan translations rather than in tracing the semantic field of the word in Pali and Sanskrit literatures. He concludes that adhisthana, whose it is construed with cittam “[such-and such] thought”.
Dr Robert P. Goldman, Professor of Sanskrit in University of California at Berkeley focuses on apaharana of women in the Sanskrit epics and Puranas. Neither of the two most prominent examples of marriage in the epics – between Rama and Sita in Ramayana, and between Draupadi and the five Pandava brothers in Mahabharata – involves apaharana (abduction). Instead, they stand as the tradition’s flagship examples of what has come to be generally known as the svayamvara (self-choice ceremony), in which a desirable ksatriya girl is permitted to choose her mate for herself from among a group of appropriate suitors.
Dr Perzashkevich Aleh from Belausian Ste University, Minsk discusses the problem of in Rgvedic society based on the “ayas / ayasa / ayasi argument”. The “metal” aspect of possible dating of Rgveda, the most prominent of the sources is mentioned. The argument of ayas / ayasa / ayasai can be quite useful for the definition of time of Rgveda composition, including the data provided by modern archaeology. From this point of view, the Late Rgvedic Period should probably be dated as the beginning of third millennium BCE because it was the time when Indian economical life had been involving in metallurgy.
Dr Yelena. I. Rudenko from Almaty tries to established the spiritual unanimity and ecological morality of Hinduism and Tengrismas noted by Mahapandita Rahula Sankrityayana by raising the discussed Aeyan issue.
According to some researches, Aryans began their migration towards the South from Central Asia. Some Kazakh scientists even talk about the Aryan tribes’ homeland as northen and western Kazakhstan, in particular, along the eastern shore of the CASPIAN Sea, just as some Kyrgyz researchers look for their origins on the shores of Issyk-Kul Lake. According to the most common hypothese of the Aryans’ penetration into India, such an assumption about their Central Aian origin, should be considered as only partially accurate.
Both Hindus and Tengrian Turks had always thought of themselves as a part nature. Hinduism is one of th eoldest religions: it evolved from Vedic thought incorporating both the earlier proto-Indian and the later Buddhist, Jaina and other environmental elements. It is not surprising that these two religions have a lot in common, and what is more not because of any borrowings, but by virtue of unique I many components of their origination, formation and development.
Prof. Shrinivasa Varakhedi reviews the ancient Indian methodology of learning, Indian method of learning has had the foundation of oral tradition. Oral transmission method was inevitable in some disciplines like Vedic recitation and music. The disciplines like dance and medicine were also transmitted by the way of demonstration depending on oral tradition by the way of demonstration depending on oral tradition. The first of the paper deals with the general aspects of writing methods employed in the ancient Indian textbooks, and the latter part deals with one specific problem – problem of definition of definition, in pramana-paddhati (path of proof), a monograph dealing with the epistemological problems of various schools of thought.
Dr Gauri Mahulikar forcuses on Banabhatta, the great prose writer of Sanskrit literature. Her paper reviews a medieval Sanskrit text, Harsacarita, written by Banabhatta in seventh century and presents a view that obliges one to rethink Kosambi’s opinion. During the course of describing his father’s – Prabhakaravardhana’s – illness, Bana has development in the medieval India.
Dr Kanchan Mendwe writes on the poet-philosopher Vasudevanda Saraswati. Vasudevanandu Saraswati was born and brought up in Konkana in Mangoan, the illage in Sawantawadi district, in nineteenth century. Since his childhood his including was towards the experimental philosophy.
Prof. Abhiraja Rajendra Mishra ably presents the definition of Brahma in Vedanta Darsana in an attractive and articulatingstyle is Sanskrit language. Prof. Mishra with his natural, spontaneous style explains the secret of Brahma by adding the very deep and scholarly elaboration based on several treatises of Vedic literature.
Dr Satkadi Mukhopadhyaya discusses the history of Sanskrit literature in Bengal. In his own befitting learned style he correctly puts his arguments that Aryans from Saptasindhu region entered Bengal and further explains how rich Sanskrit literature was composed and spread in entire Bengal.
Prof. Ramesh Kumar Pandey discusses about the human values as accepted and depicted by great port Kalidasa. The existence of Sanskrit literature cannot be imagined without Kalidasa. Prof. Pandry elaborates the great values depicted by poet Kalidasa in a most elaborates the great values depicted by poet Kalidasa in a most elegant and enthralling style.
Thus, this volume of Sanskrit Studies presents the profound view of erudite scholars. I am happy for this accomplishment and at same time I am grateful to all these learned scholars for their scholarly contributions to this volume at my request. I express my deep thanks to our Vice- Chancellor for sanctioning the grant for this publication.
I express my deep sense of gratitude to my colleagues for their enconuragement and support. I must thank Shri Susheel K. Mittal of D.K. Printworld for his enthusiastic cooperation and positive efforts in ensuring hght quality of publication. I must also thank my student Mr Satyanarayan for his partial help in preparing index. Finally, I hope this volume with its seventeen papers will provide an enjoyable resding to the students and scholars of Sanskrit studies in India and abroad.
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