Sarah Pierce Taylor | University of Chicago (original) (raw)
Papers by Sarah Pierce Taylor
"A Mirror and a Handlamp:" The Way of the Poet-King and the Afterlife of the Mirror in the World of Kannada Literature, 2023
Religions, 2021
To theorize Jain sovereignty, this essay takes up Ernst Kantorowicz’s underlying query of what ha... more To theorize Jain sovereignty, this essay takes up Ernst Kantorowicz’s underlying query of what happens when a king dies. In turning to medieval Jain authors such as Jinasena, we see how sovereignty and renunciation were mutually constituted such that the king’s renunciation completely subverts the problem of the king’s death. If the fiction of Jain kingship properly practiced culminates in renunciation, then such a movement yields up a new figure of the ascetic self-sovereign. Renunciation does not sever sovereignty but extends it into a higher spiritual domain. Worldly and spiritual sovereignty share a metaphorical language and set of techniques that render them as adjacent but hierarchical spheres of authority. In so doing, Jain authors provide a religious answer to a political problem and make the political inbuilt into the religious, thereby revealing their interpenetrating and bounded nature.
Brill's Encyclopedia of Jainism, 2020
Brill's Encyclopedia of Jainism, 2020
Book Reviews by Sarah Pierce Taylor
History of Religions , 2020
Teaching Documents by Sarah Pierce Taylor
Workshops by Sarah Pierce Taylor
The First Annual Summer School on Languages of Jainism University of Toronto-Mississauga The Fi... more The First Annual Summer School on Languages of Jainism
University of Toronto-Mississauga
The First Annual Summer School on Languages of Jainism will take place in at the University of Toronto from July 29th to August 2nd, 2019. The First Summer School will focus on reading and contextualizing the prabandha literature, a rich archive of Jain histories, biographies, and stories composed mainly in Sanskrit and Prakrit. These narratives often display a historical consciousness rarely seen in other genres of Sanskrit literature, making them essential resources for the social and religious history of the period. This year’s Summer School will survey the breadth of themes, figures and places in the Jain prabandha literature and to consider the historiographical challenges and potential rewards of writing the history of late medieval India using these sources. Daily reading sessions will examine themes emerging in a number of sources, such as Jain views of kingship; the roles of monks and laymen as social and political leaders; Jain technologies of power of mantras, tantras, and alchemy; the re-imagining of sacred space and sacred geography; and the relations between Jains and Islamicate polities.
The workshop will be led by Steven M. Vose, the Bhagwan Mahavir Assistant Professor of Jain Studies and Director of the Jain Studies Program at Florida International University in Miami, Florida, an expert in Jainism and a historian of medieval and early modern western India, whose research proposes new ways to use Jain prabandha literature as historical sources. Invited faculty include Shalin Jain and Sarah Pierce Taylor.
Each day will consist of three sessions: A morning reading session, an afternoon lecture or discussion, and an afternoon reading session. Readings will be mainly in Sanskrit with some in Prakrit, and an intermediate knowledge of Sanskrit is encouraged. Each day will also have a lecture and discussion meant to familiarize the participant with the debates spurring the field.
There are no fees associated with attending the workshop itself, and room and board will be provided gratis to a limited number of initial participants. Travel stipends may also be available for a few student participants; however, it is recommended that participants apply to their home institutions for financial aid before asking for travel accommodation assistance.
For registration details and additional information or inquiries please contact: Luther Obrock luther.obrock@utoronto.ca
"A Mirror and a Handlamp:" The Way of the Poet-King and the Afterlife of the Mirror in the World of Kannada Literature, 2023
Religions, 2021
To theorize Jain sovereignty, this essay takes up Ernst Kantorowicz’s underlying query of what ha... more To theorize Jain sovereignty, this essay takes up Ernst Kantorowicz’s underlying query of what happens when a king dies. In turning to medieval Jain authors such as Jinasena, we see how sovereignty and renunciation were mutually constituted such that the king’s renunciation completely subverts the problem of the king’s death. If the fiction of Jain kingship properly practiced culminates in renunciation, then such a movement yields up a new figure of the ascetic self-sovereign. Renunciation does not sever sovereignty but extends it into a higher spiritual domain. Worldly and spiritual sovereignty share a metaphorical language and set of techniques that render them as adjacent but hierarchical spheres of authority. In so doing, Jain authors provide a religious answer to a political problem and make the political inbuilt into the religious, thereby revealing their interpenetrating and bounded nature.
Brill's Encyclopedia of Jainism, 2020
Brill's Encyclopedia of Jainism, 2020
The First Annual Summer School on Languages of Jainism University of Toronto-Mississauga The Fi... more The First Annual Summer School on Languages of Jainism
University of Toronto-Mississauga
The First Annual Summer School on Languages of Jainism will take place in at the University of Toronto from July 29th to August 2nd, 2019. The First Summer School will focus on reading and contextualizing the prabandha literature, a rich archive of Jain histories, biographies, and stories composed mainly in Sanskrit and Prakrit. These narratives often display a historical consciousness rarely seen in other genres of Sanskrit literature, making them essential resources for the social and religious history of the period. This year’s Summer School will survey the breadth of themes, figures and places in the Jain prabandha literature and to consider the historiographical challenges and potential rewards of writing the history of late medieval India using these sources. Daily reading sessions will examine themes emerging in a number of sources, such as Jain views of kingship; the roles of monks and laymen as social and political leaders; Jain technologies of power of mantras, tantras, and alchemy; the re-imagining of sacred space and sacred geography; and the relations between Jains and Islamicate polities.
The workshop will be led by Steven M. Vose, the Bhagwan Mahavir Assistant Professor of Jain Studies and Director of the Jain Studies Program at Florida International University in Miami, Florida, an expert in Jainism and a historian of medieval and early modern western India, whose research proposes new ways to use Jain prabandha literature as historical sources. Invited faculty include Shalin Jain and Sarah Pierce Taylor.
Each day will consist of three sessions: A morning reading session, an afternoon lecture or discussion, and an afternoon reading session. Readings will be mainly in Sanskrit with some in Prakrit, and an intermediate knowledge of Sanskrit is encouraged. Each day will also have a lecture and discussion meant to familiarize the participant with the debates spurring the field.
There are no fees associated with attending the workshop itself, and room and board will be provided gratis to a limited number of initial participants. Travel stipends may also be available for a few student participants; however, it is recommended that participants apply to their home institutions for financial aid before asking for travel accommodation assistance.
For registration details and additional information or inquiries please contact: Luther Obrock luther.obrock@utoronto.ca