Challenged by the teaching of Vatican II about the "seeds of the Word" in non-Christian religions, this book investigates the sacred character of the Saddharmapuṇḍarika Sūtra and its relation to the fundamental theological category of scriptural inspiration. In applying the methods of modern exegesis, the Sūtra in its ingenious composition is disclosed as a religious drama about the inspirational experience of the Buddha. The draft of a theology of inspiration along the guide lines of the Dogmatic Constitution Dei Verbum of Vatican II elaborates a...

In 1788 Nestor Ambodik brought out a Russian edition of the well-known emblem book, Symbola et Emblemata, originally published in Holland in 1705 under the auspices of Peter the Great. In particular, Ambodik added what was to be the first treatise in Russian on Emblems, heraldry and classical iconology. The present edition is a facsimile of Ambodik's Emvlemy I Simvoly, with a translation of his Russian text and an exhaustive index of all the 840 emblems. Anthony Hippisley also prefaces the edition with an introductory article throwing light on the sources of the emblem book and...

In the Dragon's Brain Perfume (a Chinese description of Camphor) once more the existence and importance of world systems of exchange becomes clear. In the pre-industrial world aromatic substances have always counted among the most prominent items of long-distance trade. The finest camphor came from Malaya, Borneo and Sumatra, but long-distance trade took it to societies at the geographical poles of demand - China and the medieval West already in late Antiquity (ca. 6th century A.D.). In India it was in use at an even much earlier period. The present monograph opens with a...

Between 1916 and 1947 power structures in present-day Gujarat were determined by three political factors: the princes of these states of Western India, the nationalist politicians, and the British paramount power. This book pictures the patterns of interaction between the three agents. The author first defines the interests of the three parties. In several case studies it becomes clear how their relationship was shaped by the typical pursuit of sovereignty by the rulers, power by the politicians, and control by the British. Essential topics such as the princes' right to...

The Parsis of India examines a much-neglected area of Asian Studies. In tracing keypoints in the development of the Parsi community, it depicts the Parsis' history, and accounts for their ability to preserve, maintain and construct a distinct identity. For a great part the story is told in the colonial setting of Bombay city. Ample attention is given to the Parsis' evolution from an insular minority group to a modern community of pluralistic outlook. Filling the obvious lacunae in the literature on British colonialism, Indian society and history, and, last but not least,...

In recent years maṇḍalas have attracted much interest among a wider public. The main focus of such interest has been directed toward Tibetan maṇḍalas, specimens of which have been included in numerous publications. But maṇḍalas are found across a wide spectrum of South Asian religious traditions, including those of the Hindus and Jains. Hindu maṇḍalas and yantras have hardly been researched. This book attempts to fill this gap by clarifying important aspects of maṇḍalas and yantras in specific Hindu traditions through investigations...

This exciting and thought-provoking volume, written by a small number of outstanding scholars on colonial and medieval Indian history, ethnohistory and the new military history of South Asia forms the best tribute thinkable to one of the leading scholars in the field of Indian History, Professor Dirk Kolff.
Focusing on wider geographical as well as on more specific social and military aspects, the first section deals with issues of Islamic and European expansion in South Asia. The second section examines specific medieval topics such as military service and slavery, legitimacy and...

The Mahāhabhārata, a vital Indic epic and a flourishing influence on Indian culture past and present, has surprisingly enough hardly got much attention from scholars in the West. This latest volume in Brill's Indological Library convincingly fills this hiatus. At that, at the hand of the hero Karna, Kevin McGrath develops a view on the nature and function of the hero in epic Indic poetry. Making use of models taken from Indo-European and preliterate studies, a model emerges for 'heroic religion', having to a large extent shaped not only the Indic epics, but also cognate...

This book is about how mythology may be purposively adapted in the service of theology. It does so at the hand of Hayagrīva, since the 14th century C.E. revered as a full form of the Supreme Lord Viṣṇu in the local Śrīvaiṣṇava tradition of South India, but originally a relatively minor pan-Indian deity. Convincingly laying bare the complexity in respect of the pan-Indian images of Hayagrīva, it makes clear that there is no single unilinear history of this deity. It subsequently reconstructs the 'Śrīnivaiṣṇava History' of...

The Indo-Islamic architecture subject of this book is not the result of a 'clash of civilizations', but to be seen as innovations of the local architectural tradition, a product of local craft traditions. Alka Patel here brings together two architectural corpora in a careful analysis of the 12th- through 14th-century Islamic ritual buildings of southeastern Sindh, Gujarat and Rajasthan. The new social and ritual demands of Islam led local craftspeople to initiate rejuvenation and expansion of their skills and knowledge. Moreover, the commonality of building practices among "religions" led to...