Address: Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes
http://www.ephe.sorbonne.fr/
Mondes iranien et indien
http://www.iran-inde.cnrs.fr/
Axe "Langues et linguistiques des mondes iranien et indien"
Deliberation on Functions of Words and Meanings in ;Saastras, edited by Soumyajit Sen & Abhijit Mandal, 2024
Foreword -- Perspectives on Speech and Language in Ancient Indian ;Saastras. Foreword to the volu... more Foreword -- Perspectives on Speech and Language in Ancient Indian ;Saastras. Foreword to the volume Deliberation on functions of words and meanings in ;saastras, edited by Dr Soumyajit Sen & Dr Abhijit Mandal.
Visages du dharma. Collection Purusartha, 39. Paris: Éditions EHESS, 2023
Does classical Sanskrit dharma represent a homogeneous concept? or rather a heterogeneous concept... more Does classical Sanskrit dharma represent a homogeneous concept? or rather a heterogeneous concept, a fragmented, broken concept, the product of antagonisms in a domain, or in several contested domains? What is the history of this term starting from the Vedic language, the ancient Prakrit of Aśoka and the Pali of ancient Buddhism? Unlike other Rgvedic terms such as rtá 'cosmic order, justice, truth' and vratá 'observance' which had already obtained well-established special meanings, it turns out that the meaning of dhárman and dharmán remained largely yaugika in the Rigveda:, it remained transparent and comprehensible according to the simple and intuitive grammatical derivation (root plus primary suffix), for dhárman therefore, according to the context, 'act or fact of holding, supporting, maintaining, bearing, supporting, preserving, employing, practicing '. In the Avesta or in the ancient inscriptions of the Persian Empire there could have been a form comparable to dhárman and dharmán in the Rgveda, but no such form is attested there. The Rgvedic period is moreover followed by a long period when the word dhárman did not arouse any special interest. The theory of the Rgveda as a source of an orthogenetic conceptual development on the basis of the Rgvedic word dhárman is therefore entirely untenable. The emergence of specialized concepts and of dharma as a keyword for these concepts did not take place in the Rgveda, but rather in a milieu of ascetics, especially Buddhists. King Aśoka's propaganda then contributed significantly to spreading a specific concept of dharma, to which the 'dharmaśāstric' concept of dharma was a kind of response. This 'dharmaśāstric' concept of dharma is more or less the only one actively used in Patañjali's Vyākaraṇa-Mahābhāṣya, whereas dharma 'property' – part of a kind of response by Vaiśeṣikas and others to the Buddhists’ dharma ‘thing’ – is still almost entirely absent there. Later, in the work of Bhartrhari, the gap between the senses of dharma, a relatively rare ‘dharmaśāstric’ sense and a very frequent dharma ‘property’, is immense. During our study, we have thus been able to identify a concrete semantic transition of the term dharma among grammarians. We see these very divergent concepts which take dharma as their keyword – the traces of a fragmented concept – not only among grammarians who have contributed enormously to philosophical discourse over the centuries, but more widely in the philosophical vocabulary of the time.
Journal of South Asian Languages and Linguistics, 2021
Review article of:
Ole Holten Pind, Dignāga’s Philosophy of Language: Pramāṇasamuccayavṛtti V on... more Review article of: Ole Holten Pind, Dignāga’s Philosophy of Language: Pramāṇasamuccayavṛtti V on anyāpoha. Part 1: Text; Part 2: Translation and Annotation (Sitzungsberichte / Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften. Philosophisch-Historische Klasse, Bd. 871; Beiträge zur Kultur- und Geistesgeschichte Asiens, Nr. 92). Edited by Ernst Steinkellner. Vienna: Verlag der österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, 2015, lxxix + 63; 255 pp., ISBN 978-3-7001-7865-1
Vedic Śākhās: past, present, future – Proceedings of the Fifth International Vedic Workshop, Buch... more Vedic Śākhās: past, present, future – Proceedings of the Fifth International Vedic Workshop, Bucharest, 2011 Edited by Jan E.M. Houben, Julieta Rotaru, Michael Witzel
The way the Indian grammarian-philosopher Bhartrhari (5th century C.E.) deals with the liar parad... more The way the Indian grammarian-philosopher Bhartrhari (5th century C.E.) deals with the liar paradox and some other paradoxes is not without relevance to Western attempts to cope with similar paradoxes since the early Greeks. The philological study of the relevant verses and a discussion on the identification of the paradoxes and their treatment by Bhartrhari have appeared in earlier publications (Houben 1995a and 1995b). The present article recapitulates the argument and concentrates next on the paradox of unsignifiability. Suppose someone maintains: this is unsignifiable. One may understand that there is a this that is unsignifiable, but then one has to admit that this has become signifiable as unsignifiable. Otherwise: taking this immediately as unsignifiable even its unsignifiability cannot be signified, in other words, its unsignifiability is unsignifiable; again, the unsignifiability of this unsignifiability must be equally unsignifiable, etc., etc... H. and R. Herzberger (1981) have shown how the points presented by Bhartrhari can be developed into a stable paradox in the modern sense. Bhartrhari, however, identifies a hidden parameter that leads to a paradoxical situation if neglected, and that helps to solve the paradox if it arises. Bhartrhari was never confronted with anything similar to the strengthened paradoxes of modern logic, but the hidden parameter identified by him is not only suitable to Barwise's and Etchemendy's solution (1989) to paradoxes such as the liar, but even points to an important improvement of Barwise's and Etchemendy's theory in the area of paradoxical universalistic statements where their current approach flounders. According to its immediate context, Bhartrhari's treatment of paradoxes applies to relations in general and more specifically to significance relations (between signifier and signified); but it has direct implications for the potential problem of the paradoxality of universalistic statements. Here it
L'A. examine les differentes etapes dans le developpement du terme sanskrit ahimsā qui est as... more L'A. examine les differentes etapes dans le developpement du terme sanskrit ahimsā qui est associe aujourd'hui a la notion de non-violence. Il analyse sa signification principale ainsi que les changements et les variations dans son utilisation et dans ses connotations, en se basant sur un passage du Taittirīya Brāhmana qui decrit le sacrifice d'un cheval
In view of the date of the Abhinavacintāmaṇi and the historical phase that can be assumed for Āyu... more In view of the date of the Abhinavacintāmaṇi and the historical phase that can be assumed for Āyurveda and medical knowledge and practice at that time, two questions present themselves: (1) whether, and, if yes, to what extent, this text participates in the new developments in India, and (2) to what extent it participates in the “post-classical” (post-Aṣṭāṅga-hdaya) tradition of Āyurveda of more than a millennium.
L'A. examine six references a un personnage respectable du MBhD (Mahābhāsya-Dīpikā) de Bhartr... more L'A. examine six references a un personnage respectable du MBhD (Mahābhāsya-Dīpikā) de Bhartrahri, ainsi que trois references dans le Vrtti sur le VP (Vākyapadīya) de Bhartrhari. Le mot employe dans le MBhD est «ihabhavantah», tandis que celui utilise dans le VP-Vrtti est «tatrabhavat». On a decouvert que les deux termes se referent a un grammairien de la tradition Pāninian. Toutes les affirmations du MBhD et probablement aussi celles du VP-Vrtti ont le MBh de Patanjali comme point de depart. L'argument des affirmations attribuees a ce grammairien est tres sophistique, car il cherche generalement a parvenir a une justification optimale d'un passage du MBh.
Page 1. THE RITUAL PRAGMATICS OF A VEDIC HYMN: THE "RIDDLE HYMN" AND THE PRAVAR... more Page 1. THE RITUAL PRAGMATICS OF A VEDIC HYMN: THE "RIDDLE HYMN" AND THE PRAVARGYA RITUAL JAN EM HOUBEN LEIDEN UNIVERSITY The present paper explores the relation of the "riddle hymn," Rgveda ...
et methode dans l’histoire intellectuelle de l’Inde—Seminar Theory and Method in Indian Intellect... more et methode dans l’histoire intellectuelle de l’Inde—Seminar Theory and Method in Indian Intellectual History,’’ which took place in June, 2004, at the Ecole pratique des hautes etudes (EPHE), Paris. The workshop was conceived as the collective exercise of 11 scholars who had been working for several years in the largely unexplored domain of sixteenthto eighteenth-century scientific texts in Sanskrit. Previous meetings of the Sanskrit Knowledge Systems research group had been devoted to discussions of the materials—texts, manuscripts, inscriptions, prosopography—investigated by each scholar, but the present seminar aimed at introducing a moment of reflection in another dimension, reflection not on the material under investigation but on the theoretical and methodological presuppositions in our investigations. We also wanted to invite critical reflection on contemporary theories and methods of intellectual history and of the anthropology and sociology of knowledge, and to ask to what extent they are relevant to premodern India, where the production, reception and transmission of texts took place in configurations and conditions often entirely different from those in Europe. It goes without saying that we viewed our discussions as only the beginning of a long and complex but fascinating conversation. The Paris colloque was made possible by funds from the United States National Science Foundation (grant SES-0135069) and the National Endowment for the Humanities (grant RZ-20701). Both of us would like to express our gratitude to the International Institute of Asian Studies, Leiden, and especially to its then director,
The Vedic Pravargya is a ritual that is optiionally performed in connection with a Soma sacrifice... more The Vedic Pravargya is a ritual that is optiionally performed in connection with a Soma sacrifice. It is a unique Indo-Aryan development, without parallels in Iran or in areas of Indo-Europeans, and it can be traced back as far as 1500 B.C.E. (cf. Houben 2000a and b). The central object in the ritual is an earthenware pot that is placed on a fire until it is burning hot. At that moment the pot is identified with the sun, but also with the inner light of the inspired Vedic poet. As I argued recently (Houben 2006), the myths associated with the Pravargya do have Indo-European parallels, especially in Celtic stories on a magic cauldron (continued in the legend of the Holy Grail). (...) <br> <br>
1. One of the striking features of intellectual discussions of Sanskrit authors in the centuries ... more 1. One of the striking features of intellectual discussions of Sanskrit authors in the centuries preceding South Asia's colonial period is the importance of semantic issues, and the sophistication with which these are approached. Major philosophical and religious topics are commonly discussed with reference to the semantic properties of relevant terms. The sophistication had developed in various directions, especially in the directions of grammar, logic, and exegesis, each with a long history in the Sanskrit tradition. The proper evaluation of discussions taking place "on the eve of colonialism" generally requires familiarity with the intellectual achievements in these directions. Major landmarks in the Sanskrit tradition pertaining to semantics have been reviewed in Houben 1997a. At this place a brief evaluative survey is given with special attention to the period presently under discussion.
Epigrafika vostoka, Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences, 2021
The earliest stages in the history of the study of Indian palaeography, as perceived by A.H. Dani... more The earliest stages in the history of the study of Indian palaeography, as perceived by A.H. Dani in the Introduction to his manual Indian Palaeography (1963, 1986), were the “period of the discovery of the inscriptions and the decipherment of the scripts used in them”(from the late eighteenth century onwards), culminating in the work of James Prinsep (1799-1840), and a period when “Indian palaeography became a recognized study,” with copies of numerous inscriptions accompanied by extensive studies being published in specialized journals, but this was also a period in which the evolutionary character of Indian scripts was discovered, analysed and explored. The third period started with Georg Bühler’s Indische Palaeographie (1896), in which this “evolutionary character of Indian scripts” is accepted but there is a further analysis of their “regional and chronological variations.” Here we make a small contribution to a specific regional variant of the ancient Indian Siddham script in China. From the research of scholars such as Walter Liebenthal (1886-1982) and R.H. van Gulik (1910-1967), we know that “the study of the Sanskrit language never flourished in either China or Japan” (van Gulik 1956: 5) but that nevertheless “the Indian script – in a variety of Brāhmī called Siddham – played an important role in Far Eastern Buddhism ever since the introduction of this script into China in the 8th century CE” (ibid.). In this article we discuss and analyze a few objects which we encountered during a trip to the Yunnan province in China, in autumn 2016. As is usual, these inscriptions in Siddham have no “reporting” or “administrative” value, they do not report a remarkable political event or donation, etc. Frequently they express a prayer formula or brief text, a mantra or a dhāraṇī, which is connected to some ritual. We study here the ritual context of the object and the palaeographic connection with scripts in India.
Deliberation on Functions of Words and Meanings in ;Saastras, edited by Soumyajit Sen & Abhijit Mandal, 2024
Foreword -- Perspectives on Speech and Language in Ancient Indian ;Saastras. Foreword to the volu... more Foreword -- Perspectives on Speech and Language in Ancient Indian ;Saastras. Foreword to the volume Deliberation on functions of words and meanings in ;saastras, edited by Dr Soumyajit Sen & Dr Abhijit Mandal.
Visages du dharma. Collection Purusartha, 39. Paris: Éditions EHESS, 2023
Does classical Sanskrit dharma represent a homogeneous concept? or rather a heterogeneous concept... more Does classical Sanskrit dharma represent a homogeneous concept? or rather a heterogeneous concept, a fragmented, broken concept, the product of antagonisms in a domain, or in several contested domains? What is the history of this term starting from the Vedic language, the ancient Prakrit of Aśoka and the Pali of ancient Buddhism? Unlike other Rgvedic terms such as rtá 'cosmic order, justice, truth' and vratá 'observance' which had already obtained well-established special meanings, it turns out that the meaning of dhárman and dharmán remained largely yaugika in the Rigveda:, it remained transparent and comprehensible according to the simple and intuitive grammatical derivation (root plus primary suffix), for dhárman therefore, according to the context, 'act or fact of holding, supporting, maintaining, bearing, supporting, preserving, employing, practicing '. In the Avesta or in the ancient inscriptions of the Persian Empire there could have been a form comparable to dhárman and dharmán in the Rgveda, but no such form is attested there. The Rgvedic period is moreover followed by a long period when the word dhárman did not arouse any special interest. The theory of the Rgveda as a source of an orthogenetic conceptual development on the basis of the Rgvedic word dhárman is therefore entirely untenable. The emergence of specialized concepts and of dharma as a keyword for these concepts did not take place in the Rgveda, but rather in a milieu of ascetics, especially Buddhists. King Aśoka's propaganda then contributed significantly to spreading a specific concept of dharma, to which the 'dharmaśāstric' concept of dharma was a kind of response. This 'dharmaśāstric' concept of dharma is more or less the only one actively used in Patañjali's Vyākaraṇa-Mahābhāṣya, whereas dharma 'property' – part of a kind of response by Vaiśeṣikas and others to the Buddhists’ dharma ‘thing’ – is still almost entirely absent there. Later, in the work of Bhartrhari, the gap between the senses of dharma, a relatively rare ‘dharmaśāstric’ sense and a very frequent dharma ‘property’, is immense. During our study, we have thus been able to identify a concrete semantic transition of the term dharma among grammarians. We see these very divergent concepts which take dharma as their keyword – the traces of a fragmented concept – not only among grammarians who have contributed enormously to philosophical discourse over the centuries, but more widely in the philosophical vocabulary of the time.
Journal of South Asian Languages and Linguistics, 2021
Review article of:
Ole Holten Pind, Dignāga’s Philosophy of Language: Pramāṇasamuccayavṛtti V on... more Review article of: Ole Holten Pind, Dignāga’s Philosophy of Language: Pramāṇasamuccayavṛtti V on anyāpoha. Part 1: Text; Part 2: Translation and Annotation (Sitzungsberichte / Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften. Philosophisch-Historische Klasse, Bd. 871; Beiträge zur Kultur- und Geistesgeschichte Asiens, Nr. 92). Edited by Ernst Steinkellner. Vienna: Verlag der österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, 2015, lxxix + 63; 255 pp., ISBN 978-3-7001-7865-1
Vedic Śākhās: past, present, future – Proceedings of the Fifth International Vedic Workshop, Buch... more Vedic Śākhās: past, present, future – Proceedings of the Fifth International Vedic Workshop, Bucharest, 2011 Edited by Jan E.M. Houben, Julieta Rotaru, Michael Witzel
The way the Indian grammarian-philosopher Bhartrhari (5th century C.E.) deals with the liar parad... more The way the Indian grammarian-philosopher Bhartrhari (5th century C.E.) deals with the liar paradox and some other paradoxes is not without relevance to Western attempts to cope with similar paradoxes since the early Greeks. The philological study of the relevant verses and a discussion on the identification of the paradoxes and their treatment by Bhartrhari have appeared in earlier publications (Houben 1995a and 1995b). The present article recapitulates the argument and concentrates next on the paradox of unsignifiability. Suppose someone maintains: this is unsignifiable. One may understand that there is a this that is unsignifiable, but then one has to admit that this has become signifiable as unsignifiable. Otherwise: taking this immediately as unsignifiable even its unsignifiability cannot be signified, in other words, its unsignifiability is unsignifiable; again, the unsignifiability of this unsignifiability must be equally unsignifiable, etc., etc... H. and R. Herzberger (1981) have shown how the points presented by Bhartrhari can be developed into a stable paradox in the modern sense. Bhartrhari, however, identifies a hidden parameter that leads to a paradoxical situation if neglected, and that helps to solve the paradox if it arises. Bhartrhari was never confronted with anything similar to the strengthened paradoxes of modern logic, but the hidden parameter identified by him is not only suitable to Barwise's and Etchemendy's solution (1989) to paradoxes such as the liar, but even points to an important improvement of Barwise's and Etchemendy's theory in the area of paradoxical universalistic statements where their current approach flounders. According to its immediate context, Bhartrhari's treatment of paradoxes applies to relations in general and more specifically to significance relations (between signifier and signified); but it has direct implications for the potential problem of the paradoxality of universalistic statements. Here it
L'A. examine les differentes etapes dans le developpement du terme sanskrit ahimsā qui est as... more L'A. examine les differentes etapes dans le developpement du terme sanskrit ahimsā qui est associe aujourd'hui a la notion de non-violence. Il analyse sa signification principale ainsi que les changements et les variations dans son utilisation et dans ses connotations, en se basant sur un passage du Taittirīya Brāhmana qui decrit le sacrifice d'un cheval
In view of the date of the Abhinavacintāmaṇi and the historical phase that can be assumed for Āyu... more In view of the date of the Abhinavacintāmaṇi and the historical phase that can be assumed for Āyurveda and medical knowledge and practice at that time, two questions present themselves: (1) whether, and, if yes, to what extent, this text participates in the new developments in India, and (2) to what extent it participates in the “post-classical” (post-Aṣṭāṅga-hdaya) tradition of Āyurveda of more than a millennium.
L'A. examine six references a un personnage respectable du MBhD (Mahābhāsya-Dīpikā) de Bhartr... more L'A. examine six references a un personnage respectable du MBhD (Mahābhāsya-Dīpikā) de Bhartrahri, ainsi que trois references dans le Vrtti sur le VP (Vākyapadīya) de Bhartrhari. Le mot employe dans le MBhD est «ihabhavantah», tandis que celui utilise dans le VP-Vrtti est «tatrabhavat». On a decouvert que les deux termes se referent a un grammairien de la tradition Pāninian. Toutes les affirmations du MBhD et probablement aussi celles du VP-Vrtti ont le MBh de Patanjali comme point de depart. L'argument des affirmations attribuees a ce grammairien est tres sophistique, car il cherche generalement a parvenir a une justification optimale d'un passage du MBh.
Page 1. THE RITUAL PRAGMATICS OF A VEDIC HYMN: THE &quot;RIDDLE HYMN&quot; AND THE PRAVAR... more Page 1. THE RITUAL PRAGMATICS OF A VEDIC HYMN: THE &quot;RIDDLE HYMN&quot; AND THE PRAVARGYA RITUAL JAN EM HOUBEN LEIDEN UNIVERSITY The present paper explores the relation of the &quot;riddle hymn,&quot; Rgveda ...
et methode dans l’histoire intellectuelle de l’Inde—Seminar Theory and Method in Indian Intellect... more et methode dans l’histoire intellectuelle de l’Inde—Seminar Theory and Method in Indian Intellectual History,’’ which took place in June, 2004, at the Ecole pratique des hautes etudes (EPHE), Paris. The workshop was conceived as the collective exercise of 11 scholars who had been working for several years in the largely unexplored domain of sixteenthto eighteenth-century scientific texts in Sanskrit. Previous meetings of the Sanskrit Knowledge Systems research group had been devoted to discussions of the materials—texts, manuscripts, inscriptions, prosopography—investigated by each scholar, but the present seminar aimed at introducing a moment of reflection in another dimension, reflection not on the material under investigation but on the theoretical and methodological presuppositions in our investigations. We also wanted to invite critical reflection on contemporary theories and methods of intellectual history and of the anthropology and sociology of knowledge, and to ask to what extent they are relevant to premodern India, where the production, reception and transmission of texts took place in configurations and conditions often entirely different from those in Europe. It goes without saying that we viewed our discussions as only the beginning of a long and complex but fascinating conversation. The Paris colloque was made possible by funds from the United States National Science Foundation (grant SES-0135069) and the National Endowment for the Humanities (grant RZ-20701). Both of us would like to express our gratitude to the International Institute of Asian Studies, Leiden, and especially to its then director,
The Vedic Pravargya is a ritual that is optiionally performed in connection with a Soma sacrifice... more The Vedic Pravargya is a ritual that is optiionally performed in connection with a Soma sacrifice. It is a unique Indo-Aryan development, without parallels in Iran or in areas of Indo-Europeans, and it can be traced back as far as 1500 B.C.E. (cf. Houben 2000a and b). The central object in the ritual is an earthenware pot that is placed on a fire until it is burning hot. At that moment the pot is identified with the sun, but also with the inner light of the inspired Vedic poet. As I argued recently (Houben 2006), the myths associated with the Pravargya do have Indo-European parallels, especially in Celtic stories on a magic cauldron (continued in the legend of the Holy Grail). (...) <br> <br>
1. One of the striking features of intellectual discussions of Sanskrit authors in the centuries ... more 1. One of the striking features of intellectual discussions of Sanskrit authors in the centuries preceding South Asia's colonial period is the importance of semantic issues, and the sophistication with which these are approached. Major philosophical and religious topics are commonly discussed with reference to the semantic properties of relevant terms. The sophistication had developed in various directions, especially in the directions of grammar, logic, and exegesis, each with a long history in the Sanskrit tradition. The proper evaluation of discussions taking place "on the eve of colonialism" generally requires familiarity with the intellectual achievements in these directions. Major landmarks in the Sanskrit tradition pertaining to semantics have been reviewed in Houben 1997a. At this place a brief evaluative survey is given with special attention to the period presently under discussion.
Epigrafika vostoka, Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences, 2021
The earliest stages in the history of the study of Indian palaeography, as perceived by A.H. Dani... more The earliest stages in the history of the study of Indian palaeography, as perceived by A.H. Dani in the Introduction to his manual Indian Palaeography (1963, 1986), were the “period of the discovery of the inscriptions and the decipherment of the scripts used in them”(from the late eighteenth century onwards), culminating in the work of James Prinsep (1799-1840), and a period when “Indian palaeography became a recognized study,” with copies of numerous inscriptions accompanied by extensive studies being published in specialized journals, but this was also a period in which the evolutionary character of Indian scripts was discovered, analysed and explored. The third period started with Georg Bühler’s Indische Palaeographie (1896), in which this “evolutionary character of Indian scripts” is accepted but there is a further analysis of their “regional and chronological variations.” Here we make a small contribution to a specific regional variant of the ancient Indian Siddham script in China. From the research of scholars such as Walter Liebenthal (1886-1982) and R.H. van Gulik (1910-1967), we know that “the study of the Sanskrit language never flourished in either China or Japan” (van Gulik 1956: 5) but that nevertheless “the Indian script – in a variety of Brāhmī called Siddham – played an important role in Far Eastern Buddhism ever since the introduction of this script into China in the 8th century CE” (ibid.). In this article we discuss and analyze a few objects which we encountered during a trip to the Yunnan province in China, in autumn 2016. As is usual, these inscriptions in Siddham have no “reporting” or “administrative” value, they do not report a remarkable political event or donation, etc. Frequently they express a prayer formula or brief text, a mantra or a dhāraṇī, which is connected to some ritual. We study here the ritual context of the object and the palaeographic connection with scripts in India.
... AV Atharva-Veda-Samhita (Saunaka); ed. R. Roth, WD Whitney and M. Lindenau, Bonn 31966; tr. W... more ... AV Atharva-Veda-Samhita (Saunaka); ed. R. Roth, WD Whitney and M. Lindenau, Bonn 31966; tr. WD Whitney, HOS 7-8, 1905; partly tr. M. Bloomfield, SBE 42, 1879. BSS Baudhayana-Srauta-SOtra; ed. W. Caland, Calcutta, I 1904, II 1907, III 1913. ...
... authors (several of whom wrote their paper before the project of the book had started ... tur... more ... authors (several of whom wrote their paper before the project of the book had started ... turning the other cheek&amp;#x27;): it even provides&amp;#x27; non-violent&amp;#x27;methods for protection against the ... his assassination in 1948, with as a most unequivocal contrapunto India&amp;#x27;s atomic bomb testings, now ...
... its Staff, Prof. WAL Stokhof, Mrs. Sabine Kuiper, Mrs. Karin van Belle, Mrs. Kitty Yang and M... more ... its Staff, Prof. WAL Stokhof, Mrs. Sabine Kuiper, Mrs. Karin van Belle, Mrs. Kitty Yang and Mrs. Maya Gal, and the editor-in-chief of all IIAS-publications, Paul van der Vel-Page 14. Viii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS de. It is hoped ...
Table of Contents of VEDIC ŚĀKHĀS PAST, PRESENT, FUTURE Harvard HOS Opera Minora IX, 2016, edited... more Table of Contents of VEDIC ŚĀKHĀS PAST, PRESENT, FUTURE Harvard HOS Opera Minora IX, 2016, edited by Jan E.M. Houben, Julieta Rotaru, Michael Witzel
Students study the Rig Veda (here the first hymn to Agni 'Fire') in Barsi, Maharashtra, in the Sh... more Students study the Rig Veda (here the first hymn to Agni 'Fire') in Barsi, Maharashtra, in the Shri Yogiraj Vedavigyan Ashram. The setting is somewhat formal, with the students introducing themselves first to the teacher before the actual repetition starts. The continuous text (samhita) is here learned and repeated paadashah 'foot by foot', the sandhi between the paadas is resolved. Intended public: students in Indology, Indian Studies, Ritual Studies, History of Education. With thanks to Pdt. Dixit Vijay N. Manerikar and students and to the staff of the Shri Yogiraj Vedavigyan Ashram, Barsi. Filmed by Jan Houben, February 2002.
Pre-dawn study of the Saamaveda by Pdt. Mukund R. Joshi and students in Barsi, Maharashtra, in th... more Pre-dawn study of the Saamaveda by Pdt. Mukund R. Joshi and students in Barsi, Maharashtra, in the Shri Yogiraj Vedavigyan Ashram. A few days before the performance of one of the major forms of the Soma-ritual, the Atyagnistoma, the Saaman practiced here is the Mahavaisvanaravratam-Saaman. Having arrived in the Barsi Ashram the day before in order to study and film the upcoming Atyagnistoma, I was woken up by the sound of the chant which gave me an experience that evoked William Wordsworth's lines "... And heard that instant in an unknown tongue, Which yet I understood ..."
The Vedic school followed is the rare Ranayaniya. In the planned Atyagnistoma (19-24 February 2001), Pdt. Joshi functioned as Prastotar and was in charge of singing this and other Saamans in the Pravargya that is performed on the days preceding the pressing day.
Another teacher at the Ashram, Pdt. Sunil C. Limaye (who will be Adhvaryu in the planned Atyagnistoma), explained me the general principle behind the study in early morning hours: an hour or so before sunrise is suitable for repeating what was learned up to one or two weeks ago; after breakfast the later hours in the morning are for studying entirely new matter; after lunch, the afternoon is either for repeating older chapters or for playing cricket.
For those who are still in need of a confirmation of the predominantly oral nature of Vedic education (see my articles ), the present clip provides a significant illustration. After around three minutes there is a power failure and the light goes off. Teacher and students are not in the least disturbed as they already master the text and melody by heart.
See the following moments:
minute 3:26 power failure
minute 4:25 someone brought a torch
minute 5:39 light goes on
minute 5:43 I find the button "nightshot" on my camera
On the orality of the Vedic tradition see also my studies
(1)
J.E.M. HOUBEN, 2011, « Vedic ritual as medium in ancient and pre-colonial South Asia: its expansion and survival between orality and writing », in J.E.M. HOUBEN – J.ROTARU (dir.), Veda-Vedāṅga et Avesta entre oralité et écriture. Travaux de symposium international : Le livre. La Roumanie. L’Europe. Troisième édition – 20-24 septembre 2010, III/A, Bucarest, Bibliothèque de Bucarest, pp. 147-183.
(2)
« Les perfectibles (sādhyá) entre circularité et causalité du rituel védique. », in Silvia D’Intino and Caterina Guenzi (dir.), Aux Abords de la Clairière : études indiennes et comparées en l’honneur de Charles Malamoud, Turnhout, Brepols, pp. 11-43.
Intended public: students in Indology, Indian Studies, Ritual Studies, History of Education.
With thanks to the staff and students of the Shri Yogiraj Vedavigyan Ashram, Barsi.
Filmed by Jan Houben, February 2001.
Pre-dawn study of the Saamaveda by Pdt. Mukund R. Joshi and students in Barsi, Maharashtra, in th... more Pre-dawn study of the Saamaveda by Pdt. Mukund R. Joshi and students in Barsi, Maharashtra, in the Shri Yogiraj Vedavigyan Ashram (ctd.). The millennia old Saamans (chants) practiced here are Candram, Gharmarocanam, Ausanam and Pravad-bhaargavam (first part). The matrix mantra (yoni-mantra) on which the Candram is sung is SV 1.2.2.1.3, parallel to RV 1.84.15, in the translation of Louis Renou (1969 p. 33):
"C'est là que (les sages) comprirent le nom secret de la vache de Tvastr, (qui résidait) dans la maison de la lune."
["This is where (the sages) understood the secret name of the cow of Tvastr, (who lived) in the house of the moon."]
The Vedic school followed is the rare Ranayaniya, which in its chants differs marginally from the better known school of Kauthuma, whose Samhita they share. In the planned Atyagnistoma (19-24 February 2001), Pdt. Joshi functioned as Prastotar and was in charge of singing, together with students and assistants, these and other Saamans that are employed in the Prayaniyesti (Praayaniiyaa-isti), the Atithyesti (Aatithyaa-isti) and in the Pravargya on the days preceding the pressing day.
A Western music tradition that can be to some extent compared to the Sama-Veda is Gregorian chant, in which a line from the Psalms is the basis for a chant which lengthens and occasionally modifies syllables and puts them to several notes, sung by a choir monophonically.
Intended public: students in Indology, Indian Studies, Ritual Studies, History of Education, History of Music, Ethnomusicology.
With thanks to the staff and students of the Shri Yogiraj Vedavigyan Ashram, Barsi. Filmed by Jan Houben, February 2001.
The Pravad-Bhaargava-Saaman, which was practiced in preceding days and weeks (see: Vedic Movie 00... more The Pravad-Bhaargava-Saaman, which was practiced in preceding days and weeks (see: Vedic Movie 002B: Studying SV 1.2.2.1.3 Candram ... Pravad-Bhaargavam), is here chanted in the Atyagnistoma (AAg) Soma-samsthaa (Barsi, 19-24 February 2001). Within the morphology of this complex ritual, the overall structure of which can be schematically rendered as (P(Q(RS)T)U), the immediate context of the Pravad-Bhaargava-Saaman is the Praayaniiya-Isti (Episode p15 in part P), which has its counterpart in the Udayaniiya-Isti (part U). (The Saaman chanted in the Udayaniiya-Isti and corresponding to the Pravad-Bhaargava-Saaman is the Udvad-Bhaargava-Saaman.) The Aty-Agnistoma (AAg) Soma-samsthaa is entirely parallel to the Agnistoma Soma-samsthaa (Ag), but it contains a few elements of the Sodasin Soma-samsthaa, notably the sixteenth round of Soma-offering with accompanying recitation and chant. The Aty-Agnistoma contains therefore thirteen Soma rounds: the twelve Soma-rounds of the Agnistoma plus the one which is no. sixteen in the Sodasi. The Vedic school followed by the team of Saamavedins in this performance of the Aty-Agnistoma is the rare Raanaayaniiya. The main executor in this chant of secondary (preparatory) importance in the ritual as a whole is the Udgaatar’s assistant, the Prastotar, Pdt. Mukund R. Joshi.
The matrix mantras (yoni-mantras) on which the Pravadbhaargava Saaman is sung are SV 1.6.2.2.4 = 2.4.2.7.1, 2.4.2.7.2, 2.4.2.7.1.3 (557=1152, 1153, 1154), parallel to RV 9.86.16-18 except for the beginning of 1153 and the last word of 1154.
Louis Renou (1961 p. 33) translated the first of the mentioned RV mantras and the first line of the second as follows:
"Il s'est avancé au rendez-vous d'Indra, le suc-de-soma; l'ami n'enfreint pas l'accord-verbal de l'ami.
Comme un garçon (court) avec les jeunes-filles, le soma coule avec (les eaux) dans le vase, par le chemin au cent cours.
Elles se sont avancées, vos pensées-poétiques, harmonieuses, laudatrices, célébrées dans les sessions-rituelles."
["Forward he stepped to his appointment with Indra, the soma juice; the friend does not transgress against the oral agreement with his friend.
As a young man (rushes) together with damsels, the soma flows together with (the waters) in the vessel, by the way of a hundred courses.
Forward they have come, your poetic thoughts, harmonious, laudatory, celebrated in ritual sessions."]
The chanting of this Saaman is interwoven with the main action of offering cooked rice (caru) into the fire for the specific deity of this Isti, Aditi. To be noted is the cooperation between the Saamavedins and the Adhvaryu (Pdt. Sunil C. Limaye), the Hotar (Pdt. Raghunatha N. Kale) and the Agniidh (Pdt. Santosh S. Ghotanakar).
A modern representation of Parasurama, one of the ten Avataras of Visnu, was placed behind the eastern door of the Praaciinavamsa. Since this is not prescribed in any of the Srauta-suutras and is not directly related to the Praayaniiya-Isti or to the chanting of the Saaman, I have blurred this representation except at the beginning and end of the clip.
Intended public: students in Indology, Indian Studies, Ritual Studies, History of Music, Ethnomusicology.
With thanks to Shri Narayana G. Kale and to the then staff and students (Feb. 2001) of the Shri Yogiraj Vedavigyan Ashram, Barsi.
Filmed by Jan E.M. Houben, February 2001.
Analysis and presentation by Jan E.M. Houben, Paris.
La formule de Versteegh dans les anciens mondes indien et iranien
The Versteegh formula in the an... more La formule de Versteegh dans les anciens mondes indien et iranien The Versteegh formula in the ancient Indian and Iranian worlds Jan Houben, Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes, PSL, Paris Paper to be presented at the 17th World Sanskrit Conference Vancouver, 9-13 July 2018 (Section: Linguistics)
(Expanded Abstract) (with Summary in Sanskrit संग्रहश्लोकाष्टकम्)
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Papers by Jan E M Houben
Ole Holten Pind, Dignāga’s Philosophy of Language: Pramāṇasamuccayavṛtti V on anyāpoha. Part 1: Text; Part 2: Translation and Annotation (Sitzungsberichte / Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften. Philosophisch-Historische Klasse, Bd. 871; Beiträge zur Kultur- und Geistesgeschichte Asiens, Nr. 92). Edited by Ernst Steinkellner. Vienna: Verlag der österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, 2015, lxxix + 63; 255 pp., ISBN 978-3-7001-7865-1
Ole Holten Pind, Dignāga’s Philosophy of Language: Pramāṇasamuccayavṛtti V on anyāpoha. Part 1: Text; Part 2: Translation and Annotation (Sitzungsberichte / Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften. Philosophisch-Historische Klasse, Bd. 871; Beiträge zur Kultur- und Geistesgeschichte Asiens, Nr. 92). Edited by Ernst Steinkellner. Vienna: Verlag der österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, 2015, lxxix + 63; 255 pp., ISBN 978-3-7001-7865-1
The Vedic school followed is the rare Ranayaniya. In the planned Atyagnistoma (19-24 February 2001), Pdt. Joshi functioned as Prastotar and was in charge of singing this and other Saamans in the Pravargya that is performed on the days preceding the pressing day.
Another teacher at the Ashram, Pdt. Sunil C. Limaye (who will be Adhvaryu in the planned Atyagnistoma), explained me the general principle behind the study in early morning hours: an hour or so before sunrise is suitable for repeating what was learned up to one or two weeks ago; after breakfast the later hours in the morning are for studying entirely new matter; after lunch, the afternoon is either for repeating older chapters or for playing cricket.
For those who are still in need of a confirmation of the predominantly oral nature of Vedic education (see my articles ), the present clip provides a significant illustration. After around three minutes there is a power failure and the light goes off. Teacher and students are not in the least disturbed as they already master the text and melody by heart.
See the following moments:
minute 3:26 power failure
minute 4:25 someone brought a torch
minute 5:39 light goes on
minute 5:43 I find the button "nightshot" on my camera
On the orality of the Vedic tradition see also my studies
(1)
J.E.M. HOUBEN, 2011, « Vedic ritual as medium in ancient and pre-colonial South Asia: its expansion and survival between orality and writing », in J.E.M. HOUBEN – J.ROTARU (dir.), Veda-Vedāṅga et Avesta entre oralité et écriture. Travaux de symposium international : Le livre. La Roumanie. L’Europe. Troisième édition – 20-24 septembre 2010, III/A, Bucarest, Bibliothèque de Bucarest, pp. 147-183.
(2)
« Les perfectibles (sādhyá) entre circularité et causalité du rituel védique. », in Silvia D’Intino and Caterina Guenzi (dir.), Aux Abords de la Clairière : études indiennes et comparées en l’honneur de Charles Malamoud, Turnhout, Brepols, pp. 11-43.
Intended public: students in Indology, Indian Studies, Ritual Studies, History of Education.
With thanks to the staff and students of the Shri Yogiraj Vedavigyan Ashram, Barsi.
Filmed by Jan Houben, February 2001.
"C'est là que (les sages) comprirent le nom secret de la vache de Tvastr, (qui résidait) dans la maison de la lune."
["This is where (the sages) understood the secret name of the cow of Tvastr, (who lived) in the house of the moon."]
The Vedic school followed is the rare Ranayaniya, which in its chants differs marginally from the better known school of Kauthuma, whose Samhita they share. In the planned Atyagnistoma (19-24 February 2001), Pdt. Joshi functioned as Prastotar and was in charge of singing, together with students and assistants, these and other Saamans that are employed in the Prayaniyesti (Praayaniiyaa-isti), the Atithyesti (Aatithyaa-isti) and in the Pravargya on the days preceding the pressing day.
A Western music tradition that can be to some extent compared to the Sama-Veda is Gregorian chant, in which a line from the Psalms is the basis for a chant which lengthens and occasionally modifies syllables and puts them to several notes, sung by a choir monophonically.
Intended public: students in Indology, Indian Studies, Ritual Studies, History of Education, History of Music, Ethnomusicology.
With thanks to the staff and students of the Shri Yogiraj Vedavigyan Ashram, Barsi. Filmed by Jan Houben, February 2001.
The matrix mantras (yoni-mantras) on which the Pravadbhaargava Saaman is sung are SV 1.6.2.2.4 = 2.4.2.7.1, 2.4.2.7.2, 2.4.2.7.1.3 (557=1152, 1153, 1154), parallel to RV 9.86.16-18 except for the beginning of 1153 and the last word of 1154.
Louis Renou (1961 p. 33) translated the first of the mentioned RV mantras and the first line of the second as follows:
"Il s'est avancé au rendez-vous d'Indra, le suc-de-soma; l'ami n'enfreint pas l'accord-verbal de l'ami.
Comme un garçon (court) avec les jeunes-filles, le soma coule avec (les eaux) dans le vase, par le chemin au cent cours.
Elles se sont avancées, vos pensées-poétiques, harmonieuses, laudatrices, célébrées dans les sessions-rituelles."
["Forward he stepped to his appointment with Indra, the soma juice; the friend does not transgress against the oral agreement with his friend.
As a young man (rushes) together with damsels, the soma flows together with (the waters) in the vessel, by the way of a hundred courses.
Forward they have come, your poetic thoughts, harmonious, laudatory, celebrated in ritual sessions."]
The chanting of this Saaman is interwoven with the main action of offering cooked rice (caru) into the fire for the specific deity of this Isti, Aditi. To be noted is the cooperation between the Saamavedins and the Adhvaryu (Pdt. Sunil C. Limaye), the Hotar (Pdt. Raghunatha N. Kale) and the Agniidh (Pdt. Santosh S. Ghotanakar).
A modern representation of Parasurama, one of the ten Avataras of Visnu, was placed behind the eastern door of the Praaciinavamsa. Since this is not prescribed in any of the Srauta-suutras and is not directly related to the Praayaniiya-Isti or to the chanting of the Saaman, I have blurred this representation except at the beginning and end of the clip.
Intended public: students in Indology, Indian Studies, Ritual Studies, History of Music, Ethnomusicology.
With thanks to Shri Narayana G. Kale and to the then staff and students (Feb. 2001) of the Shri Yogiraj Vedavigyan Ashram, Barsi.
Filmed by Jan E.M. Houben, February 2001.
Analysis and presentation by Jan E.M. Houben, Paris.
The Versteegh formula in the ancient Indian and Iranian worlds
Jan Houben, Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes, PSL, Paris
Paper to be presented at the
17th World Sanskrit Conference
Vancouver, 9-13 July 2018
(Section: Linguistics)
(Expanded Abstract)
(with Summary in Sanskrit संग्रहश्लोकाष्टकम्)