How the Brahmins Won : from Alexander to the Guptas

591 Pages·2016·2.24 MB·English

by  Johannes Bronkhorst

How the Brahmins Won: From Alexander to the Guptas
Handbook of Oriental Studies
Section Two South Asia
Edited by
Johannes Bronkhorst
VOLUME 30
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How the Brahmins Won
From Alexander to the Guptas
By
Johannes Bronkhorst
LEIDEN | BOSTON
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Contents
Preface xi
Abbreviations xiv
Introduction 1
I Catastrophe and New Departures 7
I.1 Catastrophe 7
I.1.1 Alexander and After 7
I.1.2 The End of Time 10
I.1.3 Brahmins in Gandhāra 17
I.1.4 The Vedic Tradition Reinterpreted 34
I.2 New Departures 42
I.2.1 Patañjali and Kātyāyana 42
I.2.2 Manu and His Predecessors 52
I.2.3 Literature on Statecraft 71
I.2.4 Literature on Domestic Ritual 74
I.2.5 The Mahābhārata 83
I.2.6 Literature on Phonology 98
I.3 Conclusions 107
II Brahmanism 109
IIA The Core Vision 109
IIA.1 Purity of Descent 113
IIA.1.1 The Rules 113
IIA.1.2 Brahmins of Foreign Origin: The Magas 121
IIA.1.3 Temple Priests and Other Bramins of Debatable
Origin 132
IIA.2 Admittance 140
IIA.2.1 Vedic Initiation (upanayana) and Other Sacraments
(saṃskāra) 140
IIA.2.2 Vedic Knowledge 156
IIA.2.3 The Ideal Brahmin 156
viii contents
IIA.3 Illiteracy 162
IIA.3.1 The Problem 163
IIA.3.2 Ordinary Memorisation versus Vedic
Memorisation 164
IIA.3.3 Pāṇini 168
IIA.3.4 The Mahābhāṣya 175
IIA.3.5 Systematic Philosophy 180
IIA.3.6 Conclusions 190
IIA.4 Sanskrit and the Veda 190
IIA.4.1 The Linguistic Background of Brahmanism 191
IIA.4.2 The Eternal Nature of Sanskrit 195
IIA.4.3 New Ideas about Sanskrit and the Veda 197
IIB Brahmins and Society 221
IIB.1 Imitatio Brahmanae 221
IIB.2 Brahmanical Power 225
IIB.2.1 The Atharva-Veda 225
IIB.2.2 The Authorship of the Mahābhārata 236
III External Influence 241
III.1 Karma and the Individual 241
III.2 Rationality 256
III.2.1 How Rationality Came to India 256
III.2.2 Brahmanism and Rationality 274
III.3 Patañjali’s Reinterpretation of Grammar 302
III.3.1 Earliest Buddhist Systematic Philosophy 302
III.3.2 Buddhist Influence on Patañjali 308
III.4 Brahmanical Philosophy 360
III.4.1 Vaiśeṣika 361
III.4.2 Self-contradictory Sentences 366
III.4.3 Language or Grammar? 382
III.5 The Origins of the Indian Theater 390
IV Conclusions: How did the Brahmins Win? 404
Appendix I Brahmins and Śramaṇas 413
Appendix II Vedic and Para-Vedic Texts on the Śunaskarṇa
Sacrifice 417
Appendix III Manu’s Final Chapter 423
Appendix IV Passages Dealing with Five-Nailed Animals 429
contents ix
Appendix V Liberation, Enlightenment and Death 431
Appendix VI The Ṛgveda Prātiśākhya and its Śākhā 444
Appendix VII Did Patañjali Know Pāṇini’s Original Text? 459
Appendix VIII Why did Buddhism and Jainism Develop Differently in
India? 465
Appendix IX Bhāskara’s Acquaintance with Grammatical
Literature 480
Appendix X W as there Buddhism in Gandhāra at the Time of
Alexander? 483
References 490
Index 565