Purāṇa Pañcalakṣaṇa as Genealogy and Jātipurāṇa
This paper investigates the extent and significance of a genealogical component within all the narratives dealing with the five famous characteristic topics (pañcalakṣaṇa) of the Purāṇas: creation, re-creation, lineage, periods of Manu, and the histories of dynasties. Whilst there is some evidence o...
| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Equinox
2011
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| In: |
Religions of South Asia
Year: 2011, Volume: 5, Issue: 1/2, Pages: 319-337 |
| Further subjects: | B
Social Inclusion
B Purāṇa B Lineage B pañcalakṣaṇa B class mobility |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Summary: | This paper investigates the extent and significance of a genealogical component within all the narratives dealing with the five famous characteristic topics (pañcalakṣaṇa) of the Purāṇas: creation, re-creation, lineage, periods of Manu, and the histories of dynasties. Whilst there is some evidence of a concern with genealogy in the narratives of creation and re-creation, lineage as both subject and framing device is far more in evidence in the other three, as these deal with a distinctive ‘social and political history’ of Jambudvīpa portrayed in a mythological mode. Two lineage narratives from the Mārkaṇḍeya Purāṇa are studied, and on the basis of these it is shown that there is a much greater concern with resolving breaks in the lineage and dealing with new infusions into a lineage than with giving a simple account of lineal succession. Such a concern may reflect a realistic assessment by the Purāṇic composers of the complex socio-political situation they actually confronted and the attempts they had to make in order to validate (and translate) this in terms of Brahmanical social theory. Finally, a similar example of lineage problems and class mobility is illustrated from a near contemporary Jātipurāṇa from Maharashtra. |
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| ISSN: | 1751-2697 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Religions of South Asia
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1558/rosa.v5i1/2.319 |