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・Session Reports•E Reports from the 18th Conference of Japanese Association for South Asian Studies, November 1-2, 2005

SessionReport 1 Reappraisal of the Interpretations of pratityasamutpada Shoryu Katsura (RyukokuUniversity, Kyoto)

Regardinghow to interpretthe Buddhistdoctrine of pratityasamutpada we haveseen a fiercedebate among modern Buddhist scholars in Japanat leasttwice. First duringthe 1920samong Taiken Kimura, Hakuju Ui, TetsuroWatsuji and ChizenAkanuma, and thenfor someperiod of time fromthe 1950samong Issai Funahashi, Mitsuyoshi Saigusa, KakueMiyaji and others.Almost half a centuryhas passedsince the last debateand the coordinatorof the present panel found that it wastime to reappraisethe doctrinefrom new perspectives.He askedthe four panelists to approachit fromthe fourdoctrinal viewpoints, viz. the Early Nikaya/Agama, , and Yogacara-vijnanavada. Beforethe panelistspresented their views,the coordinatorpointed out what he thought werethe sevenproblematic issues regarding the doctrineof pratityasamutpada. (1) Did the Buddharealize the doctrineat the time of his enlightenment?If so,in what formwas it realized?(2) Did the doctrinepresuppose the doctrineof transmigration(samsara)? If so, doesit not conflictwith the doctrineof non-soul?(3) Should the doctrinebe understood in the temporalframework or in a purelylogical way? (4) Doesthe term"idampratyayata" mean"mutual expectation/ dependence" or "causation"? (5) Howshould we interpret some of the difficultchains of the doctrine,viz. avidya, samskdra and bhava? (6) What is the in- tentionbehind the doctrine?(7) Is therelogical relation with otherbasic Buddhist doctrines suchas anityata?Afterthe presentationsof the panelists,Prof. Noritoshi Aramaki (Otani University)gave detailed comments on andcriticisms of eachpaper and thenwe received somecritical remarks from the floor.Here aresome of the basicpoints of eachpaper.

Fumio Enomoto (Osaka University) At the verybeginning of the Mahavaggaof Vinayapitaka,the Buddhais depictedas " pathamabhisambuddba" in the context of the twelve chains of pratityasamutpada. The term from its usage as well as the commentarial interpretations should mean "immediately after Session Reports 245 havingattained the enlightenment";not "havingattained the enlightenmentfor the first time" as usuallyinterpreted by Japanesescholars. Thus it becomesclear that the Buddha reflectedupon pratityasamutpada after having attained enlightenment and that it wasnot regardedas a part of his enlightenment.The meaning of the continuative"pratitya" in the term"pratityasamutpada" was examined in comparisonwith its usage in the Vedicand Jaina literature.Finally, it waspointed out that the temporalinterpretation of pratityasamutpada is preferredto the logicalone from the originaltexts as well as the commentaries.

Yoshifumi Honjo Accordingto IssaiFunahashi (Bukkyogaku Seminar Vol. 37), the EarlyNikaya/Agama had two kindsof pratityasamutpada, viz., one relatedto a sentientbeing (sattvasainkhya) andthe otherof all conditioneddharmas. But the orthodoxSarvastivada Abhidharma held thatpratityasamutpada related to a livingbeing only, and this wascriticized by . However,Funahashi's understanding should be corrected,for the Mahavibham(vol. 23) regardsthe pratityasamutpadaof all conditioneddharmas expounded in the Prakaranas the ultimatetruth and onerelated to a livingbeing in theJnanaprasthana as the conven- tionaltruth.

Kiyotaka Goshima Manyscholars understand that forNagarjuna "pratityasamutpada" means "the mutual expectation/dependenceofbeings", but his mainwork, the Mulamadhyamakakarika,does not presenteven the relationbetween agent and actionto be a caseof mutual expectation/ dependence.However, he later started to discussthe mutual expectation/dependence of existenceand non-existence,ignorance and karman,long and short and a lamp and illuminationand othersin the Yuktisastikaand Ratnavali.Many scholarsregard the last two chaptersof the Karikaas supplementaryparts of the text.But Nagarjuna's assertion of liberationfrom transmigration through the cessationof conceptual constructions (vikalpa) andprapanca, found in the Karikaas well as the g Sunyatasaptati,seems to suggesthow importantthe doctrineof pratityasamutpada was for him.

Yoshihito Muroji (Koyasan University) Theinterpretations of eachchain of pratityasamutpada transmitted in theMaulibhuimi of theYogacarabhumi canbe compared with thosein 'sPratityasamutpada -vyakhya, becauseboth the textscomment on the Agama-phraseof the Pratityasamutpadasutra.The formertext laysemphasis on the evanescence(anityata) of all conditioneddharmas related to a sentientbeing, while the lattermainly aims at rejectingthe viewof dtmanattached to all . 246 Journal of the Japanese Associationfor South Asian Studies, 18, 2006

Session Report 2

Indian Democracy and the 14th Lok Sabha Elections Takako Hirose

This sessionwas organised as part of the research project, Grant-in- Aid for Scientific Research, 2003-2005, "An Analysis of Elections in India", led by Takako Hirose. The sessionaimed at finding some recent features of Indian democracythrough the analysisof the 14thLok Sabha electionsheld in 2004. The sessionwas chaired by KyokoInoue and consisted of the following five papers. 1) "The Analysis of the 14thLok Sabha Elections by the GIS Method" by Takeshi Minamino 2) "The Transformation of the Indian Party System and the 14thLok Sabha Elections"by Hiroki Miwa 3) "The Election Results of a Wealthy State, Punjab" by Tohru Ito 4) "ATrend in 'Developing'States of North East" by Makiko Kimura 5) "The Development of Democracy and Elections in India" by Takako Hirose. The Minamino paper, by comparingthe 13thand the 14thLok Sabha elections,pointed out that whereas the BJP further consolidated its strongholds in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat and Uttaranchal, the Congress' strength dispersed without solid bases. In this sense, it can be said that the BJP had become more stable than the Congress in terms of support bases. The contrast was vividlyshown with the help of the GIS method. The Miwa paper dealt with the transformation of the party system in India since independenceusing the model developedby G. Sartori. Miwa argued that the Indian party system has shifted towards "the moderate multi-party system"since the end of the 1990s, and that the 2004 elections can be interpreted as part of this transitional process. Tohru Ito dealt with the election results of the Punjab state. Against the national trend, the Congress-Left alliance suffered a setback and the Akali Dal, a regional party and a coalition partner of the BJP, won the election in this state. Three factorswere considered important for the Congress defeat.The first factor was the intra-party situations.Whereas the Congress was plagued with factional fighting, the Akali Dal managed to re-unite factions. Secondly,the Congress could not reach a pre-poll agreement with the BSP, thus failing in coalition making in the state. Thirdly,the criticism against the achievement of the Congress government in Punjab turned into a large number of negativevotes against the Congress in the Lok Sabha elections.The last factor was considered most important as it showed that the electorate in recent years tends to decide which party to support based on the performance of the state government even in the Lok Sabha elections. Makiko Kimura pointed out that the election results of smaller states in the North East show different trends altogether. The state governments in these conflict ridden and economically "less developed" states depend heavily on subsidiesfrom the central Session Reports 247 government.Moreover, the ethnic conflicts and the resulting accommodationof the ethnic groups into the mainstream are bound to lead to corruption. Such vulnerable states, both economicallyand politically,tend to align with those parties in power at the centre. Thus some regional parties in this region switched over their allegiance from the BJP to the Congress after the election results came out. The Hirose paper located the 14thLok Sabha elections in the history of Indian democracy,arguing that although India has maintained parliamentary democracyfor over half a century, the way its democracy functions has changed substantially.The 14thLok Sabha elections showed three trends. Firstly, states gained more importance even in the Lok Sabha elections. Secondly, the identity politics somewhat receded, at least in some states, and the economic factor becamemore important in the electorate'sdecision. Thirdly, as states became more important, the differencesamong states widened between rich and poor and between large and small states.

Session Report 3

Kingship and Ritual in the Ancient Indian World Chair: Masato Fujii Speakers:Yasuhiro Tsuchiyama, Shingo Einoo, Muneo Tokunaga, Keiji Sadakaneand ToshiakiOji Commentator:Yasuke Ikari Theaim of this session was to explore the potential of interdisciplinary collaboration for studiesof ancient South Asia. The subject of this sessionhas been treated by Indologists, historians,anthropologists, and so on, mostly within the field of their own disciplines. As a subjectcovering a wide range of topics, however, it can be studied more effectively through a multi-prongedapproach. In this session, we had the following five papers on thissubject fromdifferent angles: politics, ritual, literature, art, and geography, together with overall commentsby thecommentator and discussions among the participants and audience.

Y.Tsuchiyama: "The Authority of Kingsin the Veda" Inorder to understand the authority of a kingin ancientIndia, it isimportant to consider themagico-ritual aspect. The powers (e.g., varcas, rastra)bestowed upon a kingas revealed in theAtharvaveda comprise the characteristic idea of a kingin comparisonwith what we readin theRgveda, in whichhis authority is chieflyascribed to that ofthe gods such as Indraand Varuna. The relationship between the king and the priests should be considered in viewof the sequence of ritual units. 248 Journal of the Japanese Associationfor South Asian Studies, 18, 2006

S. Einoo: "Rites for Battle in the Vedic Texts" In W. Caland, 1908, AltindischeZauberei, the following numbers prescribe the rites for battle: nos. 4-6, 14-16, 32-33, 48, 71-72, 79, 104, 114, 115,136-137,139, 147-148.W. Rau, 1957,Staat and Gesellschaftim alten Indien, p. 102, n. 9 collectsmany examples.We find them also in MS 4.2.11 [34,19-35,1],ManSS 9.5.6.20 and 9.5.5.17;AB 3.22.7 and 8.10.2-6,AgvGS 3.12.1-20, Kauss 14.1-16.26,28.1-4, 43.1-2 and 50.1-11.The rites in the Kauss are accompaniedby many battle-charms found in the Atharvaveda. M. Bloomfield enumerates them in his TheAtharvaveda, 1899,pp. 75-76.

M. Tokunaga: "From Ritualism to Shramanism: A New Approach" Although ancient India has been studied for more than one and a half centuries, our knowledgeof the history of that period is far from perfect. Perhaps philologistsare mainly responsiblefor this status quo. Since the Vedas are, in essence,religious and philosophical texts relating to Vedic sacrifices,Indologists have been interested in the history of Indian thought (human or internal culture) rather than social,political, and economic situations of ancient India (environmental or external culture). Besides,historians have not been free from the bias of philologists, as they depend upon philological researches in describing the history of ancient India. Through the study of the social and economic environment, however,we can hope to achievea deeper understanding about what happened in ancient India. The study of the social and economic situation will solve our long asked questions about ancient India such as why Vedic rituals flourished in the earlier part, and how Shramanism overpoweredritualism in the later part of the Vedicperiod-questions that cannot be answered by a philological and ideological study of the Vedicage.

K. Sadakane: "Abhiseka in Ancient Indian Arts" In ancient India, wall paintings were most closely connected with rulers. Mural paintings in the Buddhist caves at Ajanta were done by secular artists who served mainly the upper classes. Stylisticallythey can be regarded as fine examples of ancient Indian secular painting. There we find five scenes of "abhiseka" (unction) among Buddhist narrative paintings dating from the late fifth century to the early sixth century. All these scenes are representedvividly by secular painters, who had probably attended "abhiseka" ceremonies.

T. Oji: "Three topics on Indianisation in Southeast Asia" From the sixth to thirteenth century,Southeast Asia was Indianisedthrough the pervasionof Hinduismand ancientIndian culture,and SouthAsia and SoutheastAsia formedone large cultural world. Three topics were taken up hereconcerning Indianisation in SoutheastAsia. First, the pervasionof Hinduismwas accompaniedby the overseas migration of Brahmins.Second, the city designof the royal capitalAngkor Thom correspondswell with the Hindu cosmology.Third, Indianisationof agriculturein Session Reports 249

Southeast Asia is attested by the change of rice fromJaponica to Indica and the occurrence of the Indian type of plough.

Session Report 4

How does the study of literature contribute to South Asian studies? Yoshifumi Mizuno

This sessionaimed to investigatethe significanceof the study of South Asian literature by considering the function of literature in South Asian society and its relationship to South Asian history. The sessionwas chaired by Takanobu Takahashi (The University of Tokyo, Tamil literature). Six panelists read papers and three discussantsmade comments.They were all principal members of a project entitled "The Historical and Present Phases of Literature in a Multi-lingual Society-the Case of Indian literature"which began this year supported by the Grant-in-Aid for ScientificResearch. The session began with Yuko Yokochi's (Kyoto University, literature) introduction of Daud Ali's idea that Sanskrit classics improved the minds of high-class citizens who supported royal cultures outside palaces. Yokochi also emphasized the importance of studying the classics in order to gain an understanding of South Asian history. She focused on the trans-regional nature of Sanskrit literature. From the viewpoint of composers,readers, listeners and transmitters of medieval Hindi literature, Teiji Sakata (TakushokuUniversity, Hindi literature)reported that personal talk that had been transmitted from person to person for some reason and had been shared in a community consequentlyculminated in literary works in the form of narrative style. YoshifumiMizuno (TokyoUniversity of Foreign Studies, Sanskritand Hindi literature) discussed Indian poetics (kavya sastra), or the implicit agreements among poets (kavi samaya),as essentialinstruments for reading any type of Indian text, citing a metaphorical expressionin the Sukavatibhyuha-a Buddhist text-as an example. Akira Takahashi (Osaka University of Foreign Studies, Hindi literature) read a stimulating paper stating that literature itself is either history or has created history, and that history cannot exist without literature. Thus his paper suggested that the study of literature must be equivalent to the study of history. So Yamane (Osaka University of Foreign Studies, Urdu literature) introduced certain historical elements of Urdu literature, such as Mihr's poetry on Delhi. It is known that Urdu charactersimplicate each meaning as a number; therefore, a line of poetry can denote the date of its composition.Yamane also emphasized the realism of the works in Urdu as 250 Journal of the Japanese Associationfor South Asian Studies, 18, 2006 opposed to the works in Persian. Masayuki Usuda (Tokai University,History of modern India) consideredthe possibility of bridging the gap between studies of literature and history. By introducing an argument by Ranajit Guha, he suggestedthat Tagore's concept of "itihasa of that day" could be used to shed light on a sphere at the limits of world history. Taigen Hashimoto (ToyoUniversity, Hindi literature)presented comments for the first three panelists, and Takamitsu Matsumura (Osaka University of Foreign Studies, Urdu literature) and Hiroshi Hagita (TokyoUniversity of Foreign Studies, Urdu literature) did so for the last three panelists. Subsequently,in a debate including the floor members,we discussedthe ways in which we should trace the history of South Asian literature. How can literature be defined? Defining literature proved to be very difficult because literature involves the revelation of an entire culture, not only in written texts but also in oral traditions and forms of entertainment such as drama, dance,and music.We did not arriveat a conclusion;however , we did confirm the importance of the study of literature.