The Blackwell Companion to Hinduism Blackwell Companions to Religion
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The Blackwell Companion to Hinduism Blackwell Companions to Religion The Blackwell Companions to Religion series presents a collection of the most recent scholarship and knowledge about world religions. Each volume draws together newly commissioned essays by distinguished authors in the field, and is presented in a style which is accessible to undergraduate students, as well as scholars and the interested general reader. These volumes approach the subject in a creative and forward-thinking style, providing a forum in which lead- ing scholars in the field can make their views and research available to a wider audience. Published 1. The Blackwell Companion to Judaism Edited by Jacob Neusner and Alan J. Avery-Peck 2. The Blackwell Companion to Sociology of Religion Edited by Richard K. Fenn 3. The Blackwell Companion to the Hebrew Bible Edited by Leo G. Perdue 4. The Blackwell Companion to Postmodern Theology Edited by Graham Ward 5. The Blackwell Companion to Hinduism Edited by Gavin Flood Forthcoming The Blackwell Companion to Political Theology Edited by William T. Cavanaugh and Peter Scott The Blackwell Companion to Religious Ethics Edited by William Schweiker The Blackwell Companion to Modern Theology Edited by Gareth Jones The Blackwell Companion to Christian Ethics Edited by Stanley Hauerwas and Sam Wells The Blackwell Companion to Eastern Christianity Edited by Ken Parry The Blackwell Companion to the Study of Religion Edited by Robert A. Segal The Blackwell Companion to Protestantism Edited by Alister E. McGrath The Blackwell Companion to Hinduism Edited by Gavin Flood Copyright © 2003 by Blackwell Publishing Ltd Editorial arrangement, selection and introduction © 2003 by Gavin Flood Introduction to “The Indian Sciences” and ch. 16 © 2003 by Frits Staal Editorial Offices: 108 Cowley Road, Oxford OX4 1JF, UK Tel: +44 (0)1865 791100 350 Main Street, Malden, MA 02148-5018, USA Tel: +1 781 388 8250 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, except as permitted by the UK Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, without the prior permission of the publisher. First published 2003 by Blackwell Publishing Ltd Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data The Blackwell companion to Hinduism / edited by Gavin Flood. p. cm. – (Blackwell companions to religion) Includes index. ISBN 0-631-21535-2 (alk. paper) 1. Hinduism. I. Flood, Gavin D., 1954- II. Series. BL1202 .B72 2002 294.5 – dc21 2002071220 A catalogue record for this title is available from the British Library. Set in 10.5/12.5 pt Photina by SNP Best-set Typesetter Ltd., Hong Kong Printed and bound in the UK by MPG Books Ltd., Bodmin, Cornwall. For further information on Blackwell Publishing, visit our website: http://www.blackwellpublishing.com To the memory of Norman Cutler and Wilhelm Halbfass Contents Contributors x Preface and Acknowledgments xii Introduction: Establishing the Boundaries Gavin Flood 1 Part I Theoretical Issues 21 1 Colonialism and the Construction of Hinduism Gauri Viswanathan 23 2 Orientalism and Hinduism David Smith 45 Part II Text and Tradition 65 The Sanskrit Textual Traditions 67 3 Vedas and Upanis.ads Michael Witzel 68 4 The Dharmas´a¯stras Ludo Rocher 102 5 The Sanskrit Epics John Brockington 116 6 The Pura¯n. as Freda Matchett 129 viii contents Textual Traditions in Regional Languages 144 7 Tamil Hindu Literature Norman Cutler 145 8 The Literature of Hinduism in Malayalam Rich Freeman 159 9 North Indian Hindi Devotional Literature Nancy M. Martin 182 Major Historical Developments 199 10 The S´aiva Traditions Gavin Flood 200 11 History of Vais.n. ava Traditions: An Esquisse Gérard Colas 229 12 The Renouncer Tradition Patrick Olivelle 271 13 The Householder Tradition in Hindu Society T. N. Madan 288 Regional Traditions 306 14 The Teyyam Tradition of Kerala Rich Freeman 307 15 The Month of Ka¯rtik and Women’s Ritual Devotions to Krishna in Benares Tracy Pintchman 327 Part III Systematic Thought 343 Introduction Frits Staal 345 The Indian Sciences 347 16 The Science of Language Frits Staal 348 17 Indian Mathematics Takao Hayashi 360 18 Calendar, Astrology, and Astronomy Michio Yano 376 contents ix 19 The Science of Medicine Dominik Wujastyk 393 Philosophy and Theology 410 20 Hinduism and the Proper Work of Reason Jonardon Ganeri 411 21 Restoring “Hindu Theology” as a Category in Indian Intellectual Discourse Francis Clooney, SJ 447 22 Mantra André Padoux 478 Part IV Society, Politics, and Nation 493 23 On the Relationship between Caste and Hinduism Declan Quigley 495 24 Modernity, Reform, and Revival Dermot Killingley 509 25 Contemporary Political Hinduism C. Ram-Prasad 526 26 The Goddess and the Nation: Subterfuges of Antiquity, the Cunning of Modernity Sumathi Ramaswamy 551 27 Gender in a Devotional Universe Vasudha Narayanan 569 Index 588 Contributors John Brockington is Professor of Sanskrit, Department of Sanskrit, University of Edinburgh, UK. Francis Clooney, SJ is Professor, Department of Theology, Boston College, Boston, USA. Gérard Colas is Directeur de recherche, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (Centre d’Études de l’Inde et de l’Asie du Sud), Paris, France. Norman Cutler was Chair, Department of South Asian Languages and Civilizations, University of Chicago, USA. Gavin Flood is Professor of Religion in the Department of Religious Studies, Stirling University, UK. Rich Freeman is research associate of the Center for South Asian Studies at the University of Michigan, USA. Jonardon Ganeri teaches in the Department of Philosophy, University of Liverpool, UK. Takao Hayashi is Professor of History of Science, Science and Engineering Research Institute, Doshisha University, Kyotanabe, Kyoto, Japan. Dermot Killingley, now retired, was Reader in Religious Studies, University of Newcastle, UK. T. N. Madan is Honorary (Emeritus) Professor of Sociology, Institute of Economic Growth (University of Delhi), Delhi, India. Nancy M. Martin is Associate Professor of Religious Studies, Chapman University, USA. contributors xi Freda Matchett is Honorary Research Fellow, Religious Studies Department, University of Lancaster, UK. Vasudha Narayanan is Professor, Department of Religion, University of Florida, USA and President of the American Academy of Religion. Patrick Olivelle is Professor of Sanskrit and Indian Religions, University of Texas at Austin, and Chair of the Department of Asian Studies, University of Texas, USA. C. Ram-Prasad teaches in the Department of Religious Studies, University of Lancaster, UK. Sumathi Ramaswamy is Associate Professor of History, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, USA. Ludo Rocher is Professor of South Asian Studies, University of Pennsylvania, USA. André Padoux is Directeur de recherche honoraire at the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Paris. Tracy Pintchman is an associate professor at Loyola University of Chicago, USA. Declan Quigley has taught at the universities of Cambridge and St. Andrews, and Queen’s University Belfast. David Smith is Reader in Religious Studies in the Department of Religious Studies, University of Lancaster, UK. Frits Staal is Professor Emeritus, Departments of Philosophy and of South and Southeast Asian Studies, University of California at Berkeley, USA. Gauri Viswanathan is Class of 1933 Professor of English and Comparative Literature at Columbia University, USA. Michael Witzel is Professor of Sanskrit, Department of Sanskrit and Indian Studies, Harvard University, USA. Dominik Wujastyk is Wellcome Senior Research Fellow, Wellcome Centre for the History of Medicine, at University College London. Michio Yano is Professor, Faculty of Cultural Studies, Kyoto Sangyo University, Japan. Preface and Acknowledgments The purpose of this volume is to make available to a wide audience some of the most recent scholarship on the religions of South Asia within the broad cate- gory of Hinduism. While many scholars here would wish to place that category under scrutiny, there are nevertheless continuities of tradition and common fea- tures that have persisted over very long periods in South Asia. The intention of the book is to cover the major historical trajectories of the traditions that have led to Hinduism and to present accounts of recent developments of Hinduism along with some of the contemporary traditions that comprise it. There are, of course, problems in applying the term “religion” to the history of South Asia, implying as it does in the West a distinction between religion and governance or between religion and science, which have not been universal distinctions. For this reason the book includes an account of historical developments in Indian science along with discussions of philosophy, religion, and politics. The book contains essays both about the past – stretching back to the time of the composition of the Veda – and about the contemporary situation. Text- historical, anthropological, philosophical, theological, and cultural-critical approaches are therefore represented. This is in line with the broad belief that textual study can contribute to anthropology in South Asia and anthropology can illumine texts. And tools derived from more recent cultural criticism – espe- cially feminism and postcolonial discourse – reveal dimensions to history and the study of texts that would not otherwise be seen. In these pages we also find theological and philosophical engagement with Hindu traditions. There are many ways