The two main constituents of the Hindu ritual-speculative tradition, the Vedic and the Tantric, are often considered to be more or less antagonistic. The actual situation is less simple: there are resemblances, intersections and combinations, which tend to fuse both elements into a continuous tradition. The Kubjikā Upaniṣad is a unique document which illustrates this continuity. The text consists of twenty-five chapters, which have never before been edited or translated. It belongs to the corpus of the younger, so-called 'sectarian' Upaniṣads. The critical edition was...

This work presents a new edition of two kāṇḍas ("books") of the Paippalādasaṃhitā, generally considered to be among the most important Vedic texts, yet still only partially available in published form. In so doing, it aims to provide a model for future first and new editions of other kāṇḍas. The edition constituted in this work is a new edition, that constitutes a major improvement on the editio princeps, including dozens of improved readings, providing a more methodical presentation of the transmitted...

This book presents a comprehensive study of the region where Krishna, one of the most popular gods of devotional Hinduism, is believed to have spent his early years as a cowherd boy. The area of Braj, lying between Delhi and Agra, is visited annually by hundreds of thousands of pilgrims, who come to see the sacred sites associated with the romantic legends of Krishna's youth. Many of them follow a pilgrimage circuit over 300 km in length that takes up to eight weeks to complete and includes such famous places as Mathura, Vrindaban, and Gokul. For many centuries the Krishna legends have been a...

Skandapurāṇa 167 is concerned with a description of Śaiva sacred sites and may be dated to the latter half of the 6th or first half of the 7th century. As such it is a very valuable source for the history and topography of early Saivism. In addition it contains an account of the origins of the Pasupata movement in its descriptions of Karohana, the site of Siva's descent as Lakulisa. The present volume contains a critical edition of two different versions of Skandapurāṇa 167, one transmitted in early Nepalese palm-leaf manuscripts, another transmitted...

In this unique verse novel, "The Bawd's Counsel," Dāmodaragupta paints a vivid tableau of eighth-century urban life in Northern India. Instead of the gods, sages and heroes of legend that people the Sanskrit literary epics, here gurus, princes and merchants jostle upon the streets of Benares, Patna and in the gardens of Mount Abu with bawds, prostitutes, rakes and rustics, and they are shown grappling with matters of life, death, love, lovelessness and livelihood. These mortal actors have been woven into tales that are narrated with considerable grace and wit. The author, a minister at...