The Impact of Inscriptions on the Interpretation of Early Śaiva Literature

This paper considers the limitations of the Śaivas’ prescriptive literature as evidence of the reality of their religion and stresses the benefits of reading it in the light of inscriptions and other forms of non-prescriptive evidence. It utilizes these other sources to address a number of questions...

Full description

Saved in:  
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Indo-Iranian journal
Main Author: Sanderson, Alexis (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
Check availability: HBZ Gateway
Journals Online & Print:
Drawer...
Fernleihe:Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste
Published: Brill 2013
In: Indo-Iranian journal
Year: 2013, Volume: 56, Issue: 3/4, Pages: 211-244
Further subjects:B Early Śaivism Atimārga Mantramārga Kulamārga chronology of Śaivism royal patronage royal initiation the Āmardaka monastery ascetics and officiants the dominance of Śaivism Indian inscriptions non-prescriptive evidence
Online Access: Presumably Free Access
Volltext (Verlag)

MARC

LEADER 00000caa a22000002 4500
001 1561985589
003 DE-627
005 20220604141647.0
007 cr uuu---uuuuu
008 170808s2013 xx |||||o 00| ||eng c
024 7 |a 10.1163/15728536-13560308  |2 doi 
035 |a (DE-627)1561985589 
035 |a (DE-576)491985584 
035 |a (DE-599)BSZ491985584 
040 |a DE-627  |b ger  |c DE-627  |e rakwb 
041 |a eng 
084 |a 0  |2 ssgn 
100 1 |a Sanderson, Alexis  |4 aut 
245 1 0 |a The Impact of Inscriptions on the Interpretation of Early Śaiva Literature 
264 1 |c 2013 
300 |a Online-Ressource 
336 |a Text  |b txt  |2 rdacontent 
337 |a Computermedien  |b c  |2 rdamedia 
338 |a Online-Ressource  |b cr  |2 rdacarrier 
520 |a This paper considers the limitations of the Śaivas’ prescriptive literature as evidence of the reality of their religion and stresses the benefits of reading it in the light of inscriptions and other forms of non-prescriptive evidence. It utilizes these other sources to address a number of questions that the prescriptive texts do not or cannot address. The first is that of the early history of Śaivism between the Mauryas and the Guptas. It concludes that when initiatory Śaivism achieved its dominance, as it did after the Gupta period, it did so on the basis of a widespread tradition of popular devotion that goes back at least to the second century bc, and that while the ingenuity and adaptability of the emerging Śaiva traditions were instrumental in this rise, a more fundamental cause may have been that in investing in these traditions their patrons were adopting an idiom of self-promotion that would be efficacious in the eyes of an already predominantly Śaiva population. It then presents evidence of this rise to dominance, explains the contradiction between the power and wealth of the Atimārga’s pontiffs seen in inscriptions and the ascetic disciplines prescribed in its literature, shows that the Āmardakamaṭha, the Mantramārga’s earliest monastic centre, at Auṇḍhā, was already active in the sixth century, argues that it was the initiation of rulers, seen in inscriptions from the seventh century on, that enabled the Mantramārga to spread throughout the subcontinent, and demonstrates that already in the seventh century Śaiva initiation had become routinized as a calendrically fixed duty imposed on temple-attached officiants as a condition of their tenure, thus illustrating how inscriptions can reveal mundane realities that the high-minded prescriptive literature is designed to conceal and transcend. 
601 |a Interpretation 
601 |a Literatur 
650 4 |a Early Śaivism  |x Atimārga  |x Mantramārga  |x Kulamārga  |x chronology of Śaivism  |x royal patronage  |x royal initiation  |x the Āmardaka monastery  |x ascetics and officiants  |x the dominance of Śaivism  |x Indian inscriptions  |x non-prescriptive evidence 
773 0 8 |i In  |t Indo-Iranian journal  |d Leiden [u.a.] : Brill, 1957  |g 56(2013), 3/4, Seite 211-244  |h Online-Ressource  |w (DE-627)32052972X  |w (DE-600)2015608-X  |w (DE-576)105704504  |x 1572-8536  |7 nnns 
773 1 8 |g volume:56  |g year:2013  |g number:3/4  |g pages:211-244 
856 |u https://brill.com/downloadpdf/view/journals/iij/56/3-4/article-p211_3.pdf  |x unpaywall  |z Vermutlich kostenfreier Zugang  |h publisher [open (via page says license)] 
856 4 0 |u http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/15728536-13560308  |x Verlag  |3 Volltext 
935 |a mteo 
936 u w |d 56  |j 2013  |e 3/4  |h 211-244 
951 |a AR 
ELC |a 1 
ITA |a 1  |t 1 
LOK |0 000 xxxxxcx a22 zn 4500 
LOK |0 001 2976842116 
LOK |0 003 DE-627 
LOK |0 004 1561985589 
LOK |0 005 20170808150820 
LOK |0 008 170808||||||||||||||||ger||||||| 
LOK |0 040   |a DE-Tue135  |c DE-627  |d DE-Tue135 
LOK |0 092   |o n 
LOK |0 852   |a DE-Tue135 
LOK |0 852 1  |9 00 
LOK |0 935   |a bril 
OAS |a 1 
ORI |a SA-MARC-ixtheoa001.raw 
REL |a 1 
SUB |a REL