Dharma : its early history in law, religion, and narrative / Alf Hiltebeitel.

By:

Hiltebeitel, Alf

Material type: Text

TextSeries: South Asia research (New York, N.Y.)Publication details: New York : Oxford University Press, c2011.Description: xvii, 747 p. ; 25 cmISBN:

9780195394238 (hardcover : alk. paper)
0195394232 (hardcover : alk. paper)

Subject(s):

DDC classification:

294.52 HIL 23 006853

LOC classification:

BL1213.52 .H55 2011

Online resources:

Table of contents

Contents:

Introduction -- Aśoka Maurya -- A Vedic history of dharma -- Early Buddhism : three baskets of dharma -- Post-Vedic Brahmanical dharma -- Dharma over time, I : big time dharma -- Dharma over time, II : prophesies of disaster -- Women's dharma : Śāstric norms and epic narratives -- Two dharma biographies? Rāma and Yudhiṣṭhira -- Draupadī and Sītā : dharmapatnīs of two different kinds -- Dharma and the Bhagavad Gītā -- Dharma and bhakti -- Aśvaghoṣa's Buddhacarita : a Buddhist reading of the Sanskrit epics and their treatments of dharma.

Summary: "Between 300 BCE and 200 CE, concepts and practices of dharma attained literary prominence throughout India. Both Buddhist and Brahmanical authors sought to clarify and classify their central concerns, and dharma proved a means of thinking through and articulating those concerns. Alf Hiltebeitel shows the different ways in which dharma was interpreted during that formative period: from the grand cosmic chronometries of kalpas and yugas to narratives about divine plans, gendered nuances of genealogical time, royal biography (even autobiography, in the case of the emperor Asoka), and guidelines for daily life, including meditation. He reveals the vital role dharma has played across political, religious, legal, literary, ethical, and philosophical domains and discourses about what holds life together. Through dharma, these traditions have articulated their distinct visions of the good and well-rewarded life. This insightful study explores the diverse and changing significance of dharma in classical India in nine major dharma texts, as well some shorter ones. Dharma proves to be a term by which to make a fresh cut through these texts, and to reconsider their own chronology, their import, and their relation to each other."--Publisher's description

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Holdings
Item type	Current library	Call number	Status	Date due	Barcode
Book	Indian Institute for Human Settlements, Bangalore	294.52 HIL 006853 (Browse shelf(Opens below))	Available		006853

Includes bibliographical references.

Introduction --
Aśoka Maurya --
A Vedic history of dharma --
Early Buddhism : three baskets of dharma --
Post-Vedic Brahmanical dharma --
Dharma over time, I : big time dharma --
Dharma over time, II : prophesies of disaster --
Women's dharma : Śāstric norms and epic narratives --
Two dharma biographies? Rāma and Yudhiṣṭhira --
Draupadī and Sītā : dharmapatnīs of two different kinds --
Dharma and the Bhagavad Gītā --
Dharma and bhakti --
Aśvaghoṣa's Buddhacarita : a Buddhist reading of the Sanskrit epics and their treatments of dharma.

"Between 300 BCE and 200 CE, concepts and practices of dharma attained literary prominence throughout India. Both Buddhist and Brahmanical authors sought to clarify and classify their central concerns, and dharma proved a means of thinking through and articulating those concerns. Alf Hiltebeitel shows the different ways in which dharma was interpreted during that formative period: from the grand cosmic chronometries of kalpas and yugas to narratives about divine plans, gendered nuances of genealogical time, royal biography (even autobiography, in the case of the emperor Asoka), and guidelines for daily life, including meditation. He reveals the vital role dharma has played across political, religious, legal, literary, ethical, and philosophical domains and discourses about what holds life together. Through dharma, these traditions have articulated their distinct visions of the good and well-rewarded life. This insightful study explores the diverse and changing significance of dharma in classical India in nine major dharma texts, as well some shorter ones. Dharma proves to be a term by which to make a fresh cut through these texts, and to reconsider their own chronology, their import, and their relation to each other."--Publisher's description

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