Sanskrit, culture, and power in Premodern India. The language of the gods in the world of men. Contributions to the history of the Sanskrit language (pp. Houben (Ed.), Ideology and status of Sanskrit. The Sanskrit cosmopolis, 300–1300: Transculturation, vernacularization, and the question of ideology. The Law Codes of Āpastamba, Gautama, Baudhāyana, and Vasiṣṭha. Published in book form by Ray Mears and Gordon C. A DVD accompanying the BBC Television series. See Olivelle (2005) in the General References. Malamoud (Eds.), Le sacrifice dans l’Inde ancienne (pp. See Fitzgerald, Smith, Sukthankar, and van Buitenen in the General References. The Kauṭilīya Arthaśāstra (2nd ed., 2 Vols.). (Printed originally in Calcutta at the Baptist Mission Press Reprinted Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass.) Lahore: University of the Panjab (Panjab University Oriental Publications Nos. Part 1, Sanskrit Text, Sargas 1–14 Part 2, Introduction and Translation Part 3, Translation of Cantos 15–28 from Tibetan and Chinese versions. Aśvaghoa’s Buddhacarita or Acts of the Buddha. See Fitzgerald in the General References. The integration of ascetic lineages into an order. In Proceedings of DICSEP 5, fifth Dubrovnik international conference on the Sanskrit Epics and Purāṇas, August 2008.Ĭlark, M. See Olivelle (2000).īaudhāyana Dharma Sūtra. Far from being a mere collection of stories and general good advice, it was an instrument in the hands of a group of people who were determined to change the world in ways that suited them, and who to a considerable extent succeeded in doing so during the centuries that lay ahead.
This paper will argue that the Mahābhārata can be looked upon as an element in this Brahminical project. Brahmanism underwent a transformation that enabled it to survive and ultimately flourish in changed circumstances. As a result Brahmanism as an institution was under threat it either had to face disappearance, or reinvent itself. Both the Nandas and the Mauryas had their home base in the region called Magadha and had no particular interest in brahmins and their sacrificial tradition. The most plausible hypothesis as to the reasons of this change sees a link with the political unification of northern India, begun by the Nandas and continued by the Mauryas. It was in this region that Brahmanism was at that time the culture of a largely hereditary class of priests, the brahmins, who derived their livelihood and special position in society from their close association with the local rulers. There are good reasons to think that Brahmanism initially belonged to a geographically limited area, with its heartland in the middle and western parts of the Gangetic plain.