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Papers by Elena Mucciarelli

Cosmopolitanism and Regionalism in Indian Cultural Dynamics, 2016

Adaptive Reuse Aspects of Creativity in South Asian Cultural History, 2017

This chapter points at the different meanings that the motif of the chariot assumed in different ... more This chapter points at the different meanings that the motif of the chariot assumed in different historical strata of the Vedic corpus. Moreover, it aims at supplying a picture of the semantic fields that words for “chariot” and its
parts have been associated with. This provides the background for an analysis of the ways in which the motif was reused in later times, as for example, in South Asian medieval contexts. Throughout Vedic times, the “chariot was not merely a practical instrument for conveying persons, but an object vested with religious significance and symbolic values” (Sparreboom 1985: 1).
More precisely, this vehicle functioned as a sacred space “in motion.” In the
Ṛgvedic period, the chariot, representing an allegory of movement, figures in various poetic semantic fields. In the late Vedic period, against the background of a wider social and political re-casting, both the use and the image of this vehicle undergo a process of specialization: the chariot plays a role within the great royal rituals, already as an attribute of power, as it will remain in medieval times.

Cross-cutting South Asian studies : an interdisciplinary approach , 2016

This contribution deals with the Vedic period and although it does not consider two different rel... more This contribution deals with the Vedic period and although it does not consider two different religious streams, it still tries to question the idea of a single Vedic religion. This approach has been adopted by many scholars over the last decades, and has already resulted in a wider and more accurate understanding of the ancient cults among the tribes of Northern India in the period that goes from 1500 B.C. up to 500 C.E. Mucciarelli’s contribution focuses in particular on the two goddesses, namely Vāc and Sarasvatī, and attempts to analyze their features in the chronological strata, i.e. the old and middle Vedic periods. Examining the differences within historical development, the author aims at giving some pieces of evidence to show that both goddesses underwent a significant change as to
their representation and role, particularly with regard to the Ṛgvedasaṃhitā on the one hand, and the later Saṃhitās and Brāhmaṇas on the other. Finally, she focuses on the different perceptions of the concept of fertility in connection with both Vāc and Sarasvatī, and the latter aspect also entails the comparison with a different social strata from that of the brahmanical priesthood.

Journal of Indian Philosophy, 2014

Many stanzas of the Ṛgvedasaṃhitā are re-used in the liturgical literature, that is, mainly in th... more Many stanzas of the Ṛgvedasaṃhitā are re-used in the liturgical literature, that is, mainly in the Saṁ hitās of the Yajurveda and in the Brāhmaṅas. Most of them are quoted precisely and they are apportioned in each different rite; yet, there are quite a few cases in which some variations have been adopted and the material of the sourcetext has been manipulated. As to the cultural development that resulted in such a use of the hymns, one of the most intriguing question is whether it was a mere redactional enterprise, or if a clear intention guided the choices that the creators of the liturgies have taken, and eventually how deep was the consciousness of the brāhmaṅical redactors as for the poetic elements of the material they were dealing with. In order to approach this question, I decided to focus on a specific aspect that this issue entails, namely the different ways with which the Ṙ gvedic verses are integrated in the texts. Thus, the present paper aims at analysing various modalities of re-use and at examining their functions. The final part of the article takes into consideration some instances of quotations' marks.

Stylistic Devices in Indian Literature and Arts, Quaderni di Acme 135, 2013

Rivista degli Studi Orientali, 2011

Rivista di Studi Sudasiatici, 2009

167 pages. isbn 978-0-940490-21-5. I P roferes' book is based on the pivotal idea that the liturg... more 167 pages. isbn 978-0-940490-21-5. I P roferes' book is based on the pivotal idea that the liturgical hymns of Ṛgvedasaṃhitā were also an instrument to negotiate political claims. The author goes through the main motifs of sovereignty showing how this concept is working underneath the pure religious attitude, and analyses the central features of the ideal of power in the Vedic culture.

Workshop by Elena Mucciarelli

Though well aware of the risks that we incur into by applying to Asia a terminology developed for... more Though well aware of the risks that we incur into by applying to Asia a terminology developed for the periodization of western cultural history, we would like to challenge the concept of the uniqueness and exceptionality of the European Renaissance and explore the possibility that there might have been renaissances—or renascences—also in different Asian cultures.

Paul Thieme has been one of the most important personalities in the last century of Indological S... more Paul Thieme has been one of the most important personalities in the last century of Indological Studies and we would like thereby to celebrate the 111st anniversary of his birth – a number that might have pleased him more than the round number. He held for many years the Chair of Indology and Comparative Religion in Tübingen, and remained active long after retirement.
The purpose of this Summer School is to familiarize young scholars and researchers with the intellectual legacy of such disciplines as philology and cultural studies. The aim is to encourage interdisciplinary approaches, involving philology as an effective tool for investigating facts using, in Paul Thieme’s words, “The texts as our informants”.

17.-21.12.2015 University of Tübingen

Books by Elena Mucciarelli

Proceedings of the first Coffee Break Conference. Published on a special issue of the Rivista di ... more Proceedings of the first Coffee Break Conference. Published on a special issue of the Rivista di Studi Orientali (LXXXIV, 1.4, 2011). Edited by me (general editor) with Matilde Adduci, Cristina Bignami, Daniele Cuneo, Camillo Formigatti, Artemij Keidan, Elena Mucciarelli.
TOC:
Elisa Freschi, General Introduction;

Camillo Formigatti, Manuscript Studies: Crisis on Infinite Methods; Michela Clemente, From manuscript to block printing: in the search of stylistic models for the identification of tibetan xylographs;
Mark Schneider, The Difference Engine: Manuscripts, Media Change and Transmission of Knowledge in Premodern Japan;
Kengo Harimoto, In search of the oldest Nepalese manuscript;
Alessandro Graheli, The choice of the best reading in Bhatta Jayanta's Nyayamanjari;

Daniele Cuneo, Thinking literature: Emic and ethic approaches;
Elisabetta Benigni, Encounters between Arabic and Western literatures: emic translations and the etic formation of literary canons;
Elisa Ganser, Thinking Dance Literature from Bharata to Bharatanatyam;
Luca Milasi, History as it is or history ignored? The search for a "new" Historical Fiction in Meiji Japan;

Matilde Adduci, The Development Question in Asia: Policies and Processes;
Claudia Castiglioni, Economic Development and Political Authoritarianism: The Pahlavi Iran Path to Modernisation in the Framework of the Cold War;
Valentina Prosperi, Doing research among construction workers in Delhi;
Francesca Congiu, Taiwan: the Organized Labour Movement and its Obstacles;

Artemij Keidan, Language and linguistics as an analytic tool for the study of (oriental) cultures;
Luca Alfieri, A Radical Construction Grammar Approach To Vedic Adjective;
Carlo Vessella, Reconstructing Phonologies of Dead Languages. The Case of Late Greek ‹n›;
Artemij Keidan, The karaka-vibhakti device as a heuristic tool for the compositional history of Panini's Astadhyayi;
Leonid Kulikov, The Proto-Indo-European case system and its reflexes in a diachronic typological perspective: evidence for the linguistic prehistory of Eurasia;

Elena Mucciarelli, Earliest texts. How to interpret them;
Frank Kohler, Rgveda 1.160: The enigma of revealing and concealing identities;
Rosa Ronzitti, Sakti: Indo-European Horizons and Indian Peculiarities;
Paola Maria Rossi, Interpreting the term Rakti in the Vedic context;
Rosaria Compagnone, The Padmasamhita in the Pancaratra tradition: How texts and tradition are linked one to another?;

Cristina Bignami, Sources and artistic representation;
Elena Preda, The Sirohi Ragamalas: an Important Discovery;
Cristina Bignami, The Indian Huntresses: Nymphs or Goddesses?