A Śaiva Utopia

Peter C. Bisschop; Nirajan Kafle; Timothy Lubin

doi:10.6093/978-88-6719-215-1

A Śaiva Utopia: The Śivadharma’s Revision of Brahmanical Varṇāśramadharma

Authors

Peter C. Bisschop

Leiden University

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6355-9800

Nirajan Kafle

University of Naples L'Orientale

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7750-0607

Timothy Lubin

Washington and Lee University

https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8352-5870

DOI: https://doi.org/10.6093/978-88-6719-215-1

Keywords:

Śaivism, Śivadharma, Indian religion, Dharmaśāstra, medieval Indian society

Synopsis

Publisher: UniorPress

Series: Studies on the History of Śaivism

Pages: 202

Language: English

NBN: http://nbn.depositolegale.it/resolver.pl?nbn=urn:nbn:it:unina-28032

Abstract: A Śaiva Utopia centers on the eleventh chapter of the Śivadharmaśāstra, known as the Chapter on Śiva’s Discipline (Śivāśramādhyāya). A critical edition and annotated English translation of the Sanskrit text of this chapter is preceded by a comprehensive study of the Śivadharma’s revision of the Brahmanical ‘laws on class and discipline’ (varṇāśramadharma), tracing its utopian vision of a society bound by Śiva devotion. An edition and English translation of a Sanskrit commentary on the chapter, preserved on a unique palm leaf manuscript in Malayalam script, is included as well. The book concludes with an appendix, which addresses the revision of the Śivāśramādhyāya in the Bhaviṣyapurāṇa, where the Śivadharma has been turned into a Sauradharma ('religion of the Sun'). A Śaiva Utopia should be of interest to all historians of Indian religions.

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Author Biographies

Peter C. Bisschop, Leiden University

Peter C. Bisschop is Professor of Sanskrit and Ancient Cultures of South Asia at the Leiden University Institute for Area Studies. The main focus of his research concerns the historical development and spread of early Hindu religious traditions, in particular Śaivism, based, first of all, on the philological study of Sanskrit texts. He is particularly interested in the composition and transmission of the anonymous Purāṇa literature, and the historical, religious and social contexts of Purāṇic mythology. He is a member of the international research team preparing a critical edition of the Skandapurāṇa.

Nirajan Kafle, University of Naples L'Orientale

Nirajan Kafle is postdoctoral researcher at the University of Naples L’Orientale, in the frame of the ERC SHIVADHARMA Project. His research focuses on the study of lay religious practices in Early Medieval India, with particular focus on historical development and exchanges between the main branches of Hinduism, Śaivism and Vaiṣṇavism. His research also engages with other Sanskrit textual traditions, mainly Purāṇas and the Mahābhārata, as well as other lay materials, while his interests also cover Śaiva Tantra, Kāvya, inscriptions and Vedic texts.

Timothy Lubin, Washington and Lee University

Timothy Lubin is Professor of Religion at Washington and Lee University. His research spans late Vedic and early Śaiva religious texts, the formation and spread of Dharmaśāstra (“Hindu law”), and South and Southeast Asian legal history based on Sanskrit and Old Javanese textual sources as well as inscriptions. He is a collaborator on Task-force D of the ERC DHARMA project, working on an edition of the Old Javanese Svayambhu and other legal texts in Indonesia, and their relationship to the epigraphy.