Indo-Iranian Journal 54,2-3 (2011)

Paul Dundas:

„A Digambara Jain Samskāra in the Early Seventeenth Century: Lay Funerary Ritual according to Somasenabhattāraka's Traivarnikācāra”. - In: Indo-Iranian Journal. - 54,2 (2011), S. 99 – 147 [Online]

Abstract: This paper examines the description of the funeral ritual to be performed for a lay Digambara Jain which is provided by Somasenabhattāraka in his Traivarnikācāra , written in Maharashtra in 1610. This description represents the fullest textual account hitherto available of premodern Jain mortuary ceremonial for a non-renunciant. Despite Jainism's consistent rejection of brahmanical śrāddha ceremonies intended to nourish deceased ancestors, Somasenabhattāraka clearly regards the performance of these as a necessary component of post-funerary commemoration. The paper focusses on Somasenabhattāraka's references to árāddha and the ancestors and suggests how categories deriving from brahman ritual ideology were maintained in a devalorised form in the Digambara Jain context.

Chizuko Yoshimizu:

„Western Explorations into Eastern Spiritual Worlds”. - In: Indo-Iranian Journal. - 54,2 (2011), S. 149 – 173 [Online]

Abstract: Two books, one by M. Kapstein, the other a joint effort headed up by E. Steinkellner, raise questions of the study of Indian philosophy, Buddhism and Confucianism. Although the two books were published eight years apart, they share a comparative perspective of and a reflection on the possibility of philosophy in Asia and Buddhism. The present review article first offers general considerations on the aims of authors with a brief survey of each article contributed to the second book. It then addresses various issues raised by Kapstein's discussions.

Andrea Acri:

„Glimpses of Early Śaiva Siddhānta. Echoes of doctrines ascribed to Brhaspati in the Sanskrit-Old Javanese Vrhaspatitattva”. - In: Indo-Iranian Journal. - 54,3 (2011), S. 209 – 229 [Online]

Abstract: Brhaspati is one of the earliest historical figures of the Śaiva Siddhānta. Although his works have not survived to us, fragments of textual evidence are found as quotations scattered over the Śaiva commentarial literature. These fragments have been gathered and thoroughly discussed in a recent article by Alexis Sanderson (2006), who has tentatively dated Brhaspati to the period between 650 and 750 AD. Drawing upon the data presented by Sanderson, I will compare some doctrinal themes ascribed to Brhaspati with similar ones found in the Sanskrit-Old Javanese Śaiva text Vrhaspatitattva and argue that Brhaspati's works might have been known in the pre-Islamic Indonesian Archipelago.

Satoshi Hiraoka:

„The Divyāvadāna in English“. - In: Indo-Iranian Journal. - 54,3 (2011), S. 231 – 270 [Online]

Abstract: This review article aims not only to evaluate the new translation of the Divyāvadāna (hereafter, Divy.) by Andy Rotman, but in the process to suggest better readings of the text first edited by E.B. Cowell and R.A. Neil in 1886. This edition, one of the first attempts to present a Buddhist Sanskrit text, was published before the Gilgit Manuscripts of the Mūlasarvāstivāda-vinaya were found. Moreover, though its Tibetan and Chinese translations were in principle available, the editors did not notice that these texts were related to the Divy. Accordingly, the edition has wrong readings in many places. A translation of the Divy. consequently entails at least in part a reedition of the text, with reference to all relevant sources. The references in Rotman's translation, however, are limited and not consistent, and as a result, his translation is sometimes based on an incorrect source text.