> Research Vedic Studies: Texts, Language and Ritual The form one of the oldest elaborate corpuses of texts in an Indo-European language, Research > connected to a ritual system still in use. In 2003, UNESCO declared the tradition of the Vedic Vedic studies chant, alive in present-day , a Masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of strengths and limitations, are basic to cated and thus cannot be tested by the Humanity. the work of Bharati Krishna Tirtha, the experimental method. But studying the philological method underlies the stud- same phenomenon from many differ- IIAS workshop and book launch the Atharvan, the fourth Veda, rich in Publications ies presented in Texts, Language and Rit- ent angles, from many disciplines, each Vedic Ritual and Recent Archaeological Studies unexplored textual, linguistic and ritual There has been no lack of interest in ual. Philology may be described as the of which supplies independent facts, has in Central Asia material. Improved editions of these Vedic studies over the last twenty years, art of ‘listening’ to a text; Witzel defined the value of largely independent repeti- 12 November 2004 texts are forthcoming. nor lack of publications catering to that it as ‘the study of a civilization based on tion. This makes the multidisciplinary Leiden interest. In view of the divergent uses of its texts’ (1997: v). Philology has a solid approach indispensable’. < - Griffiths, A. and Houben, J.E.M. eds. 2004. The localization debate the terms ‘Vedas’ and ‘Vedic’, it is use- background in the Western tradition of Vedic Studies: Texts, Language and Ritual: A fourth development consists of ful to point out that certain connotations textual scholarship, and also in a more References proceedings of the Third International Vedic advances in identifying when and where are not intended in Texts, Language and dispersed way in India (Katre 1954; - Bhaaratii K.r.s.na Tiirtha. 1965. Vedic Math- Workshop. Groningen: Egbert Forsten the people to whom we owe the Vedas Ritual. While the term Veda literally Colas 2001). It is perhaps the only dis- ematics or Sixteen simple Mathematical For- lived. The contributions by Michael means ‘knowledge’, here it primarily cipline in which the West and India are mulae from the Vedas (For One-line Answers J.E.M. Houben Witzel, Harry Falk and Wilhelm Rau in refers to a group of orally transmitted close to accepting overlapping basic to All Mathematical Problems). : Moti- the proceedings of the First Interna- texts that became canonical in the first principles - an important topic for future lal Banarsidass. he modern study of the Vedas has a tional Vedic Workshop (Witzel 1997) are millennium B.C.E. on the Indian sub- comparative research. - Cavalli-Sforza, Luigi Luca. 2000. Genes, Tsolid history in nineteenth-century a good introduction to the subject. The continent. The ‘knowledge’ is concerned Peoples and Languages. (Translated by Mark scholarship, when it stimulated devel- debate on the localization and the pos- with an intricate ritual system that is The researchers in this book agree on Seielstad). Berkeley: University of Califor- oping disciplines such as linguistics, sible displacements of the Vedic people regarded to have definite implications the importance of the philological nia Press. comparative religious studies and cul- dates back to the early days of Indology for man and the cosmos. These canon- method, where possible supplemented - Colas, Gérard. 2001. ‘Critique et transmis- tural anthropology. The field of Vedic and is of continuing interest to both ical texts became embedded in a tradi- by ‘Vedic fieldwork’ - the study of Vedic sion des textes dans la littérature san- studies has known periods of exciting scholars and a wider audience. tion that regards them as having indis- ritualists in South Asia who continue skrite’. Des Alexandries I: Du livre au texte developments, consolidation and dusti- putable authority. Justification for this the ritual tradition into which they were (sous la dir. de L. Giard et C. Jacob): 309- ness; today important developments Developments from outside Indology authority is usually derived from either, born. In addition, the study of the lin- 328. Paris: Bibliothèque nationale de inside and outside Vedic studies are have changed the terms of the debate: for logicians, the divine nature of the guistic and ritual aspects of the Vedas France. opening the way to new achievements. the work of modern geneticists may author(s), or, for Vedic exegetes, from requires disciplinary approaches rang- - Katre, S.M. 1954. Introduction to Indian Tex- shed light on the waves of immigration the absence of any author, human or ing from linguistics to the social sci- tual Criticism. Poona: Deccan College. Technological advances into the Indian subcontinent. Geneti- divine. Traditional texts directly dealing ences. - Oberlies, Thomas. 1998. Die Religion des Computer technology and the use of cists suggest these started from the with the canonical core texts, for .Rgveda. Erster Teil: Das religiose System des electronic texts greatly reduce the time In a recent overview of research on the .Rgveda. Wien: Institut fur Indologie der required for the extensive searches and philology is perhaps the only discipline in which oldest of the four Vedas, the .Rgveda, Universitat Wien. comparisons that form the basis for lin- Oberlies (1998, 1999 and 2001) raised - Oberlies, Thomas. 1999. Die Religion des guistic and textual research. Nowadays the West and India are close to accepting overlapping crucial issues in Religionswissenschaft. .Rgveda. Zweiter Teil: Kompositionsanalyse most Vedic scholars use computerized basic principles Oberlies’ work has given rise to a long der Soma-Hymnen des .Rgveda. Wien: Insti- data collections. Some contributions at due discussion on the theories and meth- tut fur Indologie der Universitat Wien. the workshop in Leiden were specifical- ods underlying Vedic research. Even if - Oberlies, Thomas. 2001: ‘Von Fach- und ly devoted to new computer applica- south, via the ocean, and later came instance the ritual texts devoted to the the value of Oberlies’ approach is unde- Sachgrenzen, von Exkursen und roten tions. from the north. Because the Vedas con- revealed ;sruti texts and hence called niable, Vedic studies should be explored Faden: Bemerkungen zur Religion des stitute such an old and elaborate corpus ;srauta, are still the subject of Vedic by different disciplines, which should .Rgveda.’ Wiener Zeitschrift fur die Kunde The availability of high-quality filming of texts, in a language that is ‘Indo-Euro- studies. cooperate without being conflated. Sudasiens, Band 45, 5-22. technology enables the recording of rit- pean’ but which has important remains - Smith, Frederick M. 1987. The Vedic Sacri- uals performed in India, which to date of substratum or adstratum languages, However, a modern work such as that The combination of different disciplines fice in Transition: A translation and Study of has been little done by ‘classically’ ori- the scientific relevance for investigation by Sri Bharati Krishna Tirtha (1884- (by scholars who are well-grounded in the Trikaa.n.dama.n.dana of Bhaaskara entated Indologists. The performances into the contacts between various waves 1960) on ‘Vedic mathematics’ (cf. edi- at least one of them) is an important tool Mi;sra. Poona: Bhandarkar Oriental usually structurally correspond to of early African emigrants meeting on tion by V.S. Agrawala, Bhaaratii K.r.s.na in overcoming a limitation of the philo- Research Institute. ancient sources (Smith 1987); this pro- the Indian subcontinent can be expect- Tiirtha 1965), whatever its intrinsic logical method. This limitation has led - Witzel, Michael, ed. 1997. Inside the Texts - vides us with the opportunity to analyse ed to increase. value as a set of easily learnt and appli- to criticism of its status as a scientific Beyond the Texts: New approaches to the rituals whose basic patterns go back to cable algorithms, is beyond the scope discipline: reliance on the personal study of the Vedas. Cambridge, Mass.: Dept. the pre-.Rgvedic period. Recently another breakthrough occurred of Vedic studies as intended here, even judgement of a critical mind, though of and Indian Studies, Harvard in a different area, which in time may though it informs us of the algorithmic formed over a long process of training University. New important Vedic manuscripts have have an impact on Indology and Vedic and pedagogic skills of the author and and research, makes subjectivism been found which, while long known by studies. In 2003, for the first time, India his convictions regarding the nature of inevitable. This problem exists for any- J.E.M. Houben is Directeur d’Etudes for name, were only available in imperfect became a creditor to the International the Veda as a still valid source of direct one who tries to reconstruct a past real- ‘Sources et Histoire de la Tradition Sanskrite’ form. This new manuscript material Monetary Fund. Indian economic revelation. ity on the basis of limited available tex- at the Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes, la concerns the ;Srautasuutra of the Vaad- growth will hopefully also bring new tual or other remains. In the words of Sorbonne, Paris. He has published several huulas, the Braahma.na of the Jaimini- government policies to stimulate solid Listening to texts Cavalli-Sforza (2000: VIII): ‘To some, books and articles on Vedic ritual and ancient iya branch of Saamaveda, and, last but scholarship in the field of Vedic and As much as methods of personal reve- history (including evolution) is not a sci- Indian philosophy of grammar. not least, the Paippalaada recension of other Indological studies. lation and intuition, with all their ence, because its results cannot be repli- [email protected] Fellowships at the International Institute for Asian Studies

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20 IIAS Newsletter | #36 | March 2005