Papers by Alejandro Jiménez Cid
Pervivencia y transmisión de elementos grecolatinos en el mito de Alejandro en la literatura Indo-Persa, Sep 28, 2020
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
In the last decade before the turn of the century, a group of Indian historians claimed the ident... more In the last decade before the turn of the century, a group of Indian historians claimed the identification of the course of river Ghaggar-Hakra, home to a number of important Bronze Age sites, with Vedic Sarasvatī, a sacred river in Hindu mythology. The settlements in the Ghaggar-Hakra basin were abandoned not later than 4000 years ago, as a consequence of a desertification process; therefore, identifying this stream with mythic Sarasvatī implies recognizing that Indus Valley Civilization and Vedic culture were one and the same. This is a highly controversial assumption, challenging mainstream chronologies of Indian protohistory and current theories about the origin and spread of Indoeuropean peoples. But beyond the academic sphere, there is a connection between this view of the past of the Subcontinent and the claims of Hindu nationalism (Hindutva) which lay the foundation of the ideological grounds of the BJP, the ruling party of India during the years 1998-2004. In this term, the government supported several projects (including a hydrological plan) aimed to the revitalisation of river Sarasvatī, empowered as a religious symbol: an ideological construction intended as legitimation of nationalist and fundamentalist discourses.
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Indialogs, 2016
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Indi@logs, vol. 3, 2016
Several 17th century sources (European travel literature and Mughal historiography) record the pr... more Several 17th century sources (European travel literature and Mughal historiography) record the practice of self-mutilation, and possibly ritual suicide, at the Hindu temple of Vajreśvarī (Kāngṛā, HP), an important place of pilgrimage related to the Śakti cult. Blood-spilling, symbolizing fertility, played a central role in these sacrifices, which were discontinued in the 18th century as they became discordant with the non-violent representation of Hinduism supported by urban elites.
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
La difusión de la Novela de Alejandro en Oriente a lo largo de la Antigüedad tardía y la Edad Med... more La difusión de la Novela de Alejandro en Oriente a lo largo de la Antigüedad tardía y la Edad Media ha de ser considerada como parte inseparable de un movimiento mucho más amplio: la transmisión en bloque de la cultura grecolatina a Oriente, y en especial su absorción y apropiación por el mundo islámico. Este trabajo estudia la presencia de elementos de origen griego, no necesariamente procedentes de la tradición del Pseudo-Calístenes, en seis obras sobre la vida de Alejandro/Eskandar escritas en persa en el período 1000-1300: los libros 33-35 del Šāhnāmé de Ferdōsí, el Šarafnāmé y el Eqbālnāmé de Neẓāmí Ganŷaví, el Dārābnāmé de Ṭarsusí, el Eskandarnāmé en prosa anónimo y el Āyiné-ye Sekandarí de Amir Josró. A partir del análisis de estos elementos, algunos de los cuales aparecen intactos y otros significativamente alterados, podemos hacernos una idea de la incidencia y recepción de la cultura grecolatina en la Persia medieval, así como de las vías por las que se operó su transmisión y su fusión con las tradiciones locales sobre Alejandro.
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
In the last decade before the turn of the century, a group of Indian historians claimed the ident... more In the last decade before the turn of the century, a group of Indian historians claimed the identification of the course of river Ghaggar-Hakra, home to a number of important Bronze Age sites, with Vedic Sarasvatī, a sacred river in Hindu mythology. The settlements in the Ghaggar-Hakra basin were abandoned not later than 4000 years ago, as a consequence of a desertification process; therefore, identifying this stream with mythic Sarasvatī implies recognizing that Indus Valley Civilization and Vedic culture were one and the same. This is a highly controversial assumption, challenging mainstream chronologies of Indian protohistory and current theories about the origin and spread of Indoeuropean peoples. But beyond the academic sphere, there is a connection between this view of the past of the Subcontinent and the claims of Hindu nationalism (Hindutva) which lay the foundation of the ideological grounds of the BJP, the ruling party of India during the years 1998-2004. In this term, the government supported several projects (including a hydrological plan) aimed to the revitalisation of river Sarasvatī, empowered as a religious symbol: an ideological construction intended as legitimation of nationalist and fundamentalist discourses.
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Talks by Alejandro Jiménez Cid
Las sucesivas narraciones de la vida de Alejandro escritas a lo largo de la Antigüedad y de la Ed... more Las sucesivas narraciones de la vida de Alejandro escritas a lo largo de la Antigüedad y de la Edad Media constituyen un caso de estudio único que nos permite seguir con detalle la progresiva transformación de un discurso histórico (como el que encontramos en Arriano, Diodoro o Curcio) en un relato mítico (la tradición del Romance de Alejandro que deriva del Pseudo-Calístenes). Al cambiar de esta forma la naturaleza del texto, aun refiriéndose a un mismo núcleo de acontecimientos, cambia también la construcción del contexto temporal en el que estos acontecimientos se sitúan. El marco diacrónico que ofrecen los relatos históricos de época helenística queda desmontado por completo en la transmisión de la tradición épica que hunde sus raíces en el Pseudo-Calístenes, y en especial en su rama más oriental, donde se funde con la memoria histórica de Alejandro como invasor en la tradición autóctona irania (el Šāhnāme de Ferdosí, el Eskandarnāme de Nezamí y el Āyine-ye Sekandari de Amir Josrō de Delhi). En estas narraciones, las aventuras de Alejandro (el Sekandar de la literatura indo-persa) transcurren en un tiempo mítico, aplanado, en el que flotan indistinta y sincrónicamente los distintos personajes de una heterogénea reconstrucción alternativa de la Antigüedad, que no por improbable carece de sentido: no se trata de mera ficción, sino que se vive como mito. Junto a figuras reconocidas y reconocibles del entorno de Alejandro (Aristóteles, Filipo, Ptolomeo), aparecen en la trama numerosos personajes anacrónicos (Platón, Apolonio de Tiana), ajenos a la tradición helénica (Mani, Elías) e imaginarios (el profeta Jez̤r, la reina Candace, el arcángel Esrāfil), reivindicando así la condición del pasado como provincia de la fantasía. Tanto la construcción histórica como la mítica son, al fin y al cabo, formas igualmente artificiales de fabricar la imagen de un tiempo no accesible a través de la experiencia. Se trata de dos caminos diferentes, que no excluyentes, para la recuperación de la memoria de la Antigüedad, entre los cuales se produce un fenómeno de polinización cruzada: el mito fecunda a la historia, la historia fecunda al mito.
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
The rivers comprising the Eastern branch of the Indus system represent the main landmark used as ... more The rivers comprising the Eastern branch of the Indus system represent the main landmark used as a reference by Ancient Greek geographers for the mapping of the Panjāb area. The reports of those who accompanied Alexander the Great in his Indian campaign (326-325 BCE) are regarded as the foremost source of knowledge that the Greeks had about the area covered by this drainage basin. Although modern observation has proved that many of the measurements and course descriptions found in this corpus of sources are surprisingly accurate and reliable, they are basically a report of campaign geographers, mostly interested in geo-military issues. On the other hand, Ptolemy's Geography (ca. 150 CE), a work written in the golden age of Indo-Roman trade, offers us a more complete depiction of the structure of the Panjāb river system. The hydronims in Ptolemy's work, generally unrelated to those used by Alexander's historians in their geographical accounts, are remarkably close to Sanskrit river names as found in Purāṇa literature. This literary evidence points to the existence of closer contact and cultural exchange between the Mediterranean shores and the Indus basin in the 2nd century CE, and disproves the commonplace in Classical Studies which states that all the knowledge the Greeks had of India was a result of Alexander's expedition.
Bookmarks Related papers MentionsView impact
Uploads
Papers by Alejandro Jiménez Cid
Talks by Alejandro Jiménez Cid