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15 pages, 1049 KiB

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Rethinking Terms: Dohā, Vajra-, and Caryāgīti

by Julian Schott

Religions 2023, 14(8), 1076; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel14081076 - 21 Aug 2023

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1697

Dohās, vajragīti, and caryāgīti are key terms associated with the poetic writings of the Mahāsiddhas. This study focuses on Apabhraṃśa dohās, their commentaries, Tibetan translations, and collections containing them, shedding light on previously neglected aspects of this text type. By investigating the historical and original contexts of these three terms and comparing them to their later applications in traditional contexts and academia, this paper argues against the prevailing notion that they are genetically distinct and that this text type is primarily defined by orality and spontaneity. Consequently, it challenges the romanticized myth of certain origin narratives, such as student–teacher encounters. Instead, this brief presentation demonstrates that the often-repeated stereotypical definitions of these terms should be largely rejected, as they are merely different labels for the same text type with blurred and ill-defined subcategories. The analysis of primary sources reveals that various facets, e.g., compilation (an important but neglected aspect), go beyond the strongly emphasized oral component of this text type, thereby leading to the inaccurate definitions of the terms. In conclusion, intertextuality, compilation, and assigned authorship are crucial yet overlooked elements in defining the text type and understanding its function. Full article

(This article belongs to the Section Religions and Humanities/Philosophies)

15 pages, 382 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Ornament of Reality: Language Ideology in a Tantric Śākta Text

by Jackson Barkley Stephenson

Religions 2023, 14(4), 456; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel14040456 - 28 Mar 2023

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 2930

Abstract

The Mahānayaprakāśa of Śitikaṇṭha is an understudied text within Kashmir Śaivism, notable for its rich description of the inner structure of consciousness vis-à-vis the body and the natural world, and esotericization of Left-Handed Tantric Practice. Furthermore, it is also significant in its form; like the Buddhist dohākoṣas it consists of Apabhraṃśa verses with accompanying Sanskrit commentary. However, in the sporadic scholarship on this text it is consistently portrayed as an early attestation of “Old Kashmiri,” and siloed off into obscurity. This article demonstrates that these verses are definitively composed in Apabhraṃśa, and argues that they should be examined alongside their Buddhist counterparts, which also articulate a mystical cosmology of the sacred realm Uḍḍiyāna located within the body. Afterwards the fourth chapter of this text is translated and presented, in which the human body takes center stage as the pīṭha, the pilgrimage destination and practice space of Tantric ritual. Ultimately this article argues that within medieval Tantric traditions the Apabhraṃśa verse form served as a privileged vehicle of esoteric teachings, and that it commands a unique linguistic value by indexing mystical states of consciousness. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Tantric Studies for the Twenty-First Century)

12 pages, 355 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Bliss beyond All Limit: On the Apabhraṃśa Dohā in Tantric Buddhist Texts

by Jackson Barkley Stephenson

Religions 2021, 12(11), 927; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel12110927 - 25 Oct 2021

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 3313

Abstract

The Apabhraṃśa dohā is a literary medium from Indian antiquity, with early examples appearing in Kālidāsa’s plays around the 5th century and continuing in later Hindi-language Jain and Bhakti works in the early modern period. However, it was within Tantric Buddhist texts and traditions that the dohā truly came into its own as a literary genre. Particularly within the “Yoginī Tantra” strata of the Tantric Buddhist canon, Apabhraṃśa dohās appear in notable and formulaic ways, used within ritual contexts and other significant junctures, signaling the underexamined use of this literary form and its language of composition. This paper examines the use of dohās attributed to the mahāsiddha Saraha as they are used in the Hevajra Tantra, the Buddhakapāla Tantra, and some associated texts. In doing so, this paper demonstrates that as a literary genre, Apabhraṃśa dohās perform a similar function to mantras and dhāraṇīs, but are unique in their attention to phonology and discursive meaning. By examining the uses of these dohās during particular moments of Tantric Buddhist ritual syntax, this paper will then reflect on the later trajectory of these verses after the death of institutional Buddhism in India, and the reasons for their survival. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Exploring Buddhist Traditions in Literature)

19 pages, 2720 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Love me for the Sake of the World: “Goddess Songs” in Tantric Buddhist Maṇḍala Rituals

by Jackson Stephenson

Religions 2020, 11(3), 124; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel11030124 - 12 Mar 2020

Cited by 5 | Viewed by 5064

Abstract

The presence of Apabhraṃśa in tantric Buddhist texts has long been noted by scholars, overwhelmingly explained away as an example of “Twilight language” (saṃdhā-bhāṣā). However, when one looks closer at the vast number of Apabhraṃśa verses in this canon, one finds recurring patterns, themes, and even tropes. This begs for deeper study, as well as establishing a taxonomy of these verses based on their place and use. This paper focuses on a specific subset of Apabhraṃśa verses: “goddess songs” in maṇḍala visualization rituals. These verses are sung by yoginīs at specific moments in esoteric Buddhist ritual syntax; while the sādhaka is absorbed in enstatic emptiness, four yoginīs call out to him with sexually charged appeals, begging him to return to the world and honor their commitments to all sentient beings. When juxtaposed with other Apabhraṃśa verses in tantric Buddhist texts, these songs express an immediacy and intimacy that stands out in both form and content from the surrounding text. This essay argues that Apabhraṃśa is a conscious stylistic choice for signaling intimate and esoteric passages in tantric literature, and so the vast number of Apabhraṃśa verses in this corpus should be reexamined in this light. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Society for Tantric Studies Proceedings (2019))

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22 pages, 3213 KiB

Open AccessArticle

‘Examining Religion’ through Generations of Jain Audiences: The Circulation of the Dharmaparīkṣā

by Heleen De Jonckheere

Religions 2019, 10(5), 308; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel10050308 - 7 May 2019

Cited by 4 | Viewed by 6331

Abstract

Indian literary traditions, both religious and non-religious, have dealt with literature in a fluid way, repeating and reusing narrative motifs, stories and characters over and over again. In recognition of this, the current paper will focus on one particular textual tradition within Jainism of works titled Dharmaparīkṣā and will trace its circulation. This didactic narrative, designed to convince a Jain audience of the correctness of Jainism over other traditions, was first composed in the tenth century in Apabhraṃśa and is best known in its eleventh-century Sanskrit version by the Digambara author Amitagati. Tracing it from a tenth-century context into modernity, across both classical and vernacular languages, will demonstrate the popularity of this narrative genre within Jain circles. The paper will focus on the materiality of manuscripts, looking at language and form, place of preservation, affiliation of the authors and/or scribe, and patronage. Next to highlighting a previously underestimated category of texts, such a historical overview of a particular literary circulation will prove illuminating on broader levels: it will show networks of transmission within the Jain community, illustrate different types of mediation of one literary tradition, and overall, enrich our knowledge of Jain literary culture. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Jainism Studies)

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20 pages, 532 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Jain Narrative Literature in Brajbhāṣā: Discussions from an Understudied Field

by Adrian Plau

Religions 2019, 10(4), 262; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel10040262 - 11 Apr 2019

Cited by 4 | Viewed by 4484

Abstract

Jain narrative literature in Sanskrit, Prakrit, and Apabhraṃśa is rightly recognised as one of South Asia’s great cultural heritages and a vital source of material for insight into premodern Jain teachings, practices, and everyday life. However, Jain studies is yet to fully engage with the rich archive of Jain narrative literature in Brajbhāṣā, and a wealth of untapped manuscript material is waiting to be explored. In this article, I argue that by going beyond the too-broad moniker of “Jain Hindī literature” to recognise Jain narrative literature in Brajbhāṣā as a distinct category, we may better understand the Jains of early modern North India as partakers of a wider literary and religious culture. More particularly, by comparing the form and religious outlook of Rāmcand Bālak’s Sītācarit, a seventeenth-century Rāmāyaṇa treatment, with the works of the more well-known Banārsīdās, we see that even amongst the Jains who used Brajbhāṣā, considerable variety of outlooks and approaches existed. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Jainism Studies)

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