First Words, Last Words: New Theories for Reading Old Texts in Sixteenth-Century India

209 Pages·2021·9.079 MB·English

by  Yigal Bronner and Lawrence McCrea

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First Words, Last Words
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RELIGION IN TRANSLATION
Series Editor
John Nemec, University of Virginia
A Publication Series of
The American Academy of Religion
and
Oxford University Press
THE STUDY OF STOLEN LOVE THE PRISON NARRATIVES OF
Translated by David C. Buck and K. Paramasivam JEANNE GUYON
Ronney Mourad and Dianne Guenin- Lelle
THE DAOIST MONASTIC MANUAL
A Translation of the Fengdao Kejie DISORIENTING DHARMA
Livia Kohn Ethics and the Aesthetics of Suffering in the
Mahābhārata
SACRED AND PROFANE BEAUTY Emily T. Hudson
The Holy in Art
Gerardus van der Leeuw THE TRANSMISSION OF SIN
Preface by Mircea Eliade Augustine and the Pre- Augustinian Sources
Translated by David E. Green Pier Franco Beatrice
With a New Introduction and Bibliography by Translated by Adam Kamesar
Diane Apostolos- Cappadona
FROM MOTHER TO SON
THE HISTORY OF THE BUDDHA’S The Selected Letters of Marie de l’Incarnation to
RELIC SHRINE Claude Martin
A Translation of the Sinhala Thūpavamsa Translated and with Introduction and Notes by
Stephen C. Berkwitz Mary Dunn
DAMASCIUS’ PROBLEMS & SOLUTIONS DRINKING FROM LOVE’S CUP
CONCERNING FIRST PRINCIPLES Surrender and Sacrifice in the Vārs of Bhai
Translated and with Introduction and Notes by Sara Gurdas Bhalla
Ahbel- Rappe Selections and Translations with Introduction and
Commentary by Rahuldeep Singh Gill
THE SECRET GARLAND
Āṇṭāḷ's Tiruppāvai and Nācciyār Tirumoḻi THE AMERICAS’ FIRST THEOLOGIES
Translated and with Introduction and Commentary Early Sources of Post- Contact Indigenous Religion
by Archana Venkatesan Edited and Translated by Garry Sparks, with Frauke
Sachse and Sergio Romero
PRELUDE TO THE MODERNIST CRISIS
The “Firmin” Articles of Alfred Loisy GODS, HEROES, AND ANCESTORS
Edited and with an Introduction by C. J. T. Talar An Interreligious Encounter in Eighteenth- Century
Translated by Christine Thirlway Vietnam
Anh Q. Tran
DEBATING THE DASAM GRANTH
Robin Rinehart POETRY AS PRAYER IN THE SANSKRIT
HYMNS OF KASHMIR
THE FADING LIGHT OF ADVAITA Ācārya
Hamsa Stainton
Three Hagiographies
Rebecca J. Manring THE UBIQUITOUS ŚIVA, VOLUME II
Somānanda’s Śivadṛṣṭi and His Tantric
THE UBIQUITOUS ŚIVA
Interlocutors
Somānanda’s Śivadṛṣṭi and His Tantric Interlocutors John Nemec
John Nemec
FIRST WORDS, LAST WORDS
PLACE AND DIALECTIC
New Theories for Reading Old Texts in Sixteenth-
Two Essays by Nishida Kitarō Century India
Translated by John W. M. Krummel and Yigal Bronner and Lawrence McCrea
Shigenori Nagatomo
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First Words,
Last Words
New Theories for Reading Old
Texts in Sixteenth- Century India
z

YIGAL BRONNER AND
LAWRENCE McCREA
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1
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Library of Congress Cataloging- in- Publication Data
Names: Bronner, Yigal, author. | McCrea, Lawrence, author.
Title: First words, last words : new theories for reading old texts in sixteenth-century
India / Yigal Bronner and Lawrence McCrea.
Description: New York : Oxford University Press, 2021. |
Series: Aar religion in translation |
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2021016412 (print) | LCCN 2021016413 (ebook) |
ISBN 9780197583470 (hb) | ISBN 9780197583494 (epub) | ISBN 9780197583500
Subjects: LCSH: Sacred books—History and criticism. | Vedas—Hermeneutics—History. |
Religions. | Philosophy. | Hermeneutics. | Methodology. |
Sanskrit literature—History and criticism—History.
Classification: LCC BL71.B 76 2021 (print) | LCC BL71 (ebook) |
DDC 208/.2—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021016412
LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021016413
DOI: 10.1093/ oso/ 9780197583470.001.0001
1 3 5 7 9 8 6 4 2
Printed by Integrated Books International, United States of America
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In memory of Allison Busch, 1969– 2019
A scholar, friend, and fellow traveler
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Contents
Acknowledgments ix
Abbreviations xi
1. Newness in Scholastic Traditions: Sequence and Scripture 1
2. The Origins of the Debate 31
3. The New Math: Vyāsatīrtha’s Rewriting of Mīmāṃsā’s Case Law 49
4. The New Hermeneutics: Appayya’s Reinvention of
Cognitive Theory 82
5. The New Attitude: Vijayīndra’s Calling the Game 119
6. Behind the Veil of the Old: New Directions in the Study of
Scholastic Innovation 144
Bibliography 171
Index 181
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Acknowledgments
We would like to thank the following friends and colleagues who
have read and commented on earlier drafts of this book or sections thereof
and made excellent suggestions, particularly with regard to the comparative
sections: Amit Gvaryahu, Hillel Mali and Naphtali Meshel (both of whom
welcomed us to their amazing chavruta), Yakir Paz, Guy Stroumsa, and Joseph
Witztum (who introduced us to the intricate and fascinating world of naskh).
Maya Rosen helped standardize the references to Jewish texts.
We presented the first versions of what ended up being chapters 3 and 4
at a panel at the 43rd Annual Conference on South Asia held at Madison,
Wisconsin, in October 2014. We are grateful to the other participants of the
panel— Elaine Fisher and Ajay Rao— and to those in the audience for their
helpful comments. Yigal Bronner presented some of the main findings of the
book to the European Research Council-s ponsored group, the New Ecology
of Expressive Modes in Early- Modern South India, in June 2019, and we are
grateful to David Shulman and the members of the group for their comments.
We are indebted to both of our anonymous reviewers for their valuable
input. We are also deeply in debt to the series editor, John Nemec, for his faith
and support and his many useful suggestions and corrections.
Our work on this book took inspiration from our participation in the
Sanskrit Knowledge System on the Eve of Colonialism project, organized and
led by our mentor and guru, Sheldon Pollock. An ongoing source of inspira-
tion and conversation has been the Age of Vedānta project, co- organized by
Ajay Rao and Lawrence McCrea, and we wish to thank all the participants—
Manasicha Akepiyapornchai, Michael Allen, Arun Brahmabhatt, Patrick
Cummins, Elaine Fisher, Elisa Freschi, Anna Golovkova, Christopher
Minkowski, Parimal Patil, Jonathan Peterson, Ajay Rao, Valerie Stoker, Gary
Tubb, and Anand Venkatkrishnan— for their insight and support.
Yigal Bronner’s work on this book was supported by a generous grant
from the Israel Science Foundation, grant number 1485/ 12.