Vedic Studies: Language, Text, Culture and Philosophy (Proceedings of the 15th World Sanskrit Conference) (Transliteration with English Translation)

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The Vedas hold a position of prominence, both as the oldest documents of Sanskrit and as the most venerable texts of Hinduism.

This volume contains scholarly papers from the Veda Sessions of the 15th W orld Sanskrit Conference, touching a broad spectrum of the Vedic tradition and focusing on three major aspects of that tradition: language and linguistics; textual criticism and text edition; and culture, philosophy, mythology.

Language and linguistics papers range from syntax and semantics (Hock, Kuummel) to morphology (Tucker), onomastics (Pinault) and rhetorical structure (Klein). Remarkably, three of the articles in the second part deal with the tradition of Atharvaveda (Bahulkar, Kulkarni, and Rotaru and Sumant); the remaining two focus on 1J..gveda (Khare and Kohler). Two papers in the last part deal with matters of Vedic philosophy (Benedetti and Vedi), one is devoted to mythology and ritual (Gadgil), and one addresses ritual and material culture (Nishimura).

About the Author

The editor, Hans Henrich Hock, is Emeritus Professor of Linguistics and Sanskrit, University of Illinois. His major publications include the edited volume Studies in Sanskrit Syntax (Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 1991) and An Early Upanisadic Reader (Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 2007). He has published extensively on all aspects of Sanskrit language and linguistics, including "The Yajfiavalkya Cycle in the Brhadaranyaka-Upanisad". Festschrift for Stanley Insler, ed. S. Jamison and J. Brereton (special issue of Journal of the American Oriental Society, 122(2): 278- 86,2002).

Foreword

The 15th World Sanskrit Conference (WSC) was organized by Rashtriya Sanskrit Sansthan, New Delhi, in association with International Association of Sanskrit Studies (lASS) during 5 January - 10 January 2012. The Conference was conducted through twenty sections including Veda; Linguistics; Epics and Puranas: Tantra and Agamas; Vyakarana: Poetry, Drama and Aesthetics; Sanskrit and Asian Languages and Literatures; Sanskrit and Science; Buddhist Studies; Jain Studies; Philosophies; Religious Studies; Ritual Studies; Epigraphy; Sanskrit in Technological World; Modern Sanskrit Literature; Law and Society; and Manuscriptology along with the Panditaparisad and Kavisamavaya. Apart from these sections, the event was marked with some special panels on the themes - Models and Theories in Sanskrit Grammar and Linguistics; Electronic Concordance of the Great Epics; Re-interpreting PM,Uni; Natyasastra in Modem World; New Perspectives on Scientific Literature in Sanskrit; Boundaries of Yoga in Indian Philosophical Literature: Saiva Philosophy; Innovations in Sanskrit Pedagogy; Sanskrit Inscriptions in South-East Asian Countries; Manuscripts and Their Intellectual Preservation; and Sanskrit in Global Perspectives.

Right from its inception, Vedic studies have been essentially in focus of the WSc. I am happy to note that during the 15th WSC, the deliberations under the Veda section were marked with versatile and profound discussions, covering a vast range of topics.

lASS has authorized Rashtriya Sanskrit Sansthan to bring out all the volumes of the proceedings of the 15th WSc. We are grateful to Prof. Hock for making a very judicious selection and for having edited the papers presented in the Veda section of the Conference.

THE Veda Section was one of the most active of the 15th World Sanskrit Conference sections, with a total of thirty accepted contributions, of which twenty-five were presented. Presenters came from France, Germany, India, Japan, Rumania, the UK, and the US, with the largest contingent (sixteen) being from India.

The present volume contains selected papers, mainly by authors who presented their contributions at the Conference, but including two authors who were not able to attend the Conference for reasons beyond their control. Regretfully, several authors were not able to meet the final submission deadline and their papers had to be omitted. Even so, the resulting volume represents a broad cross-section of the issues and topics that were presented and discussed at the Conference.

The volume is organized in three major parts - Language and Linguistics; Textual Criticism and Text Edition; and Culture, Philosophy, Mythology. Language/linguistics papers range from syntax/semantics (Hock and Kummel) to morphology (Tucker), onomastics (Pinault), and rhetorical structure (Klein). Remarkably, three of the papers devoted to textual criticism and edition deal with the tradition of the Atharvaveda (Bahulkar, Kulkarni, and Rotaru/ Sumant); the remaining two address issues in the Rgvedic tradition (Khare and Kohler). Two papers in the last part of the volume address matters of Vedic philosophy (Benedetti and Vedi), one is devoted to mythology and ritual (Gadgil), and one addresses ritual and material culture (Nishimura).

Along the different stages, from original abstract submission and evaluation, to feedback on individual papers at the Conference and the final editing process, several organizations and persons have been helpful. First and most important, Prof. Radhavallabh Tripathi and his team at the Rashtriya Sanskrit Sansthan in Delhi, as well as Prof. Bruno Dagens of the International Association of Sanskrit Studies, were instrumental in 'organizing the Conference, including the publication of abstracts. My convener colleagues, Profs. Gaya Charan Tripathi, Sannidhanam Sudarshana Sarma, and especially Shrikant S. Bahulkar lent their support in evaluating the submitted abstracts and/ or chairing sessions at the Conference and providing feedback on presented papers. I owe special gratitude to Prof. Shrikant Bahulkar for his support in the final editing process, ranging from extensive personal discussions with some of the authors to editing a paper submitted in a font that is not editable on my Macintosh computer.

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