2020 Navigating the Ocean of Dharma: The Composition of Sanskrit Scriptural Digests in the Dharmaśāstra and Śaiva Siddhānta Traditions (original) (raw)
2020, Journal of Abbasid Studies 7.2/Special Issue on Organizing and Finding Knowledge in the Fourth/Tenth Century, edited by Letizia Osti and James Weaver
Scholars of Sanskrit literature in the second millennium CE had to deal with sizeable collections of sources claiming authority on different branches of knowledge and human experience. The need for ordering such sources went hand in hand with the establishment of "canons" of authoritative texts. This article will explore the topic of the composition of digests in two main traditions-the Dharmaśāstra and the Śaiva Siddhānta-to illustrate the breadth of this phenomenon, both in terms of its popularity and of its chronological range.
Related papers
Mahāmudrā in India and Tibet, 2020
This chapter opens with a brief description of The Seven Siddhi Texts, a corpus of tantric works composed by seven Indian mahāsiddhas that is understood in Tibet to represent the oldest collection Indian treatises to provide detailed instructions on the Buddhist tantric practice of the "Great Seal" or Mahāmudrā. Sometime prior to their transmission to Tibet, The Seven Siddhi Texts were combined with another collection of works, The Sixfold Corpus on the Essence (Snying po skor drug), to constitute the oldest practical canon of Indian Mahāmudrā Works transmitted to Tibet under various permutations of the compound title Grub snying gi skor (alt. Grub snying, Grub snying skor). The data for the various transmissions of this corpus in Gö Lotsawa's Blue Annals (Deb ther sngon po) have gone unnoticed largely based on the misinterpretation of the compound Grub snying gi skor (and its various permutations) as a short-hand for Saraha's collection of three dohās. The chapter then turns to a detailed discussion of the role that The Seven Siddhi Texts played in a volley of Mahāmudrā polemical/curricular works composed by Tibetan scholars in the Sa-skya and Bka' brgyud schools. The Seven Siddhi Texts are evoked in this literature primarily around the topic of whether or not Mahāmudrā can be taught and understood outside of the context of a formal ritual performance of the complete set of four consecrations associated with the so-called highest yogatantra (bla na med pa'i rgyud). Here we see how authors on both sides of this debate at times manipulated or misrepresented their sources in support of their own positions. These observations highlight some of the consequences that accompany the tendency among Tibetan authors to imagine a homogenous "Indian" tradition in their appeals to textual authority and provide further data around the relationship between textual authority and scholastic innovation in the composition of Tibetan Buddhist curricular literature.
T A T T V A D È P A H Journal of Academy of Sanskrit Research Academy of Sanskrit Research
Vṛddhagārgīya Jyotiṣa (Part 1), 2019
Vṛddhagārgīyajyotiṣam aka Vrddha-garga-samhita is an ancient Sanskrit text originating before Common Era. Transmitted orally for several centuries before getting fixed in script and later copied in different places over centuries the available manuscripts demand careful critical study. The present paper is an attempt in that direction.
Loading Preview
Sorry, preview is currently unavailable. You can download the paper by clicking the button above.
Related papers
Orna Almogi (ed.), Evolution of Scriptures, Formation of Canons: The Buddhist Case. Indian and Tibetan Studies Series 13. Hamburg: Department of Indian and Tibetan Studies, Universität Hamburg, 2022, 43–62
An Updated Vedic Concordance. (2007)
"An Updated Vedic Concordance", Harvard Oriental Series 66 (2 vols and CD), Cambridge (Mass.)-Milano: Harvard University Press and Mimesis Edizioni, 2007.