Phenomenology is one of the most important developments in philosophy in the twentieth century that has had a deep impact on Theology and Religious Studies. This reading group seeks to engage with developments in Phenomenology as they pertain to theology and religion. It is a continuation of the reading project begun several years ago. The overall concern is a reconceptualisation of phenomenology in the wake of both deconstruction and cognitivsm. This reconceptualisation has been inspired partly by the publication of the English translation of Heidegger’s Phenomenology of the Religious Life a few years ago, which reflected the philosopher’s earlier views. A second inspiration is the imperative for the academy to engage with other civilizations and the apparent proximity of some Indian philosophical thinking to Phenomenology. The overall theme of this reading group will be human practices. The particular texts that we read are fluid but we will begin with Peter Sloterdijk’s Your Must Change Your Life (Du musst dein Leben ändern) (2009).
Archives: Lectures
Readings in the Netra Tantra (Session Four) (HT 14)
The Netra Tantra is an important early medieval Śaiva text. We will read and discuss sections of the text based on the two manuscripts in the NGMPP Library and compare these with the published KSTS edition. Apart from reading the text we will discuss its meaning.
Hinduism 2: Hindu Traditions (Paper 21): Week Four (HT 14)
Beginning with the early medieval period, this paper traces the development of Hinduism in devotional (bhakti) and tantric traditions. The paper examines the development of Śaiva, Śākta, and Vaiṣṇava traditions along with ideas about liberation, ritual, asceticism, yoga and devotion. There will be some exploration of Hinduism and Modernity and there may also be reference to major schools of Hindu philosophy such as Vedānta.
Pāṇini’s grammar and the destiny of Sanskrit around the beginning of the Common Era (HT 14)
Grammar (vyākaraṇa) has been generally considered to be at the very core of Brahmanical culture, to which it provided a template for systematic thought and intellectual discourse long before any other system of knowledge. And there is consensus about the fact that grammar, and especially Pāṇini’s grammar, helped legitimising the use of Sanskrit and making it the linguistic medium that dominated the literary culture of pre-modern South Asia for more than two millennia. However, until now this role has been mainly described in rather vague terms as related to the prestige attached to Sanskrit as the language of the Vedas and the priestly class. In light of the content and structure of Pāṇini’s grammar, on the one hand, and of the Buddhists’ early adoption of Sanskrit (followed, some time later, by the Jains), this explanation appears overly simplistic. I will look at the early history of the Pāṇinian tradition and suggest that, together with a number of other complex factors, it played a much more fundamental role in shaping the destiny of Sanskrit in South Asian history than has been recognised until now.
Vincenzo Vergiani is lecturer in Sanskrit at the Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies, University of Cambridge. His main areas of research are the Sanskrit grammatical tradition and the history of linguistic ideas in ancient South Asia. He is the director of the project “The intellectual and religious traditions of South Asia as seen through the Sanskrit manuscript collections of the University Library, Cambridge” (http://sanskrit.lib.cam.ac.uk/), funded by the UK Arts and Humanities Research Council. He has co-edited Studies in the Kāśikāvṛtti. The section on pratyāhāras. Critical edition, translation and other contributions (2009), and Bilingual Discourse and Cross-Cultural Fertilisation: Sanskrit and Tamil in Medieval India (2013).
An Introduction to Vedantic Hermeneutics: Vedānta Deśika’s commentary on the Īśā Upaniṣad (Session Four) (HT 14)
Hindu theology, and particularly Vedānta, is grounded in the reading of sacred texts and has been largely developed in commentaries on those texts. This Sanskrit reading class will explore the way Vaiṣṇava Vedānta develops its theology through a careful reading of the Upaniṣads. We will read the commentary on the Īśā Upaniṣad by Vedānta Deśika (1269–1370), the most prominent Viśiṣṭādvaita theologian after Rāmānuja, paying particular attention to the way he formulates his theology and develops his hermeneutics. This reading class aims to introduce students with an intermediate knowledge of Sanskrit to the style and reasoning of Sanskrit commentaries as well as the fundamentals of Vaiṣṇava Vedānta.
Elementary Sanskrit: Week Three (HT 14)
The course continues an introduction to Sanskrit for the preliminary paper in Elementary Sanskrit. The class is designed to introduce students of Theology and Religion to the basics of the Sanskrit grammar, syntax and vocabulary. By the end of the course students will have competency in translating simple Sanskrit and reading sections of the story of Nala. The course book is Maurer’s The Sanskrit Language.
Readings in Phenomenology and Religion (Session Three) (HT 14)
Phenomenology is one of the most important developments in philosophy in the twentieth century that has had a deep impact on Theology and Religious Studies. This reading group seeks to engage with developments in Phenomenology as they pertain to theology and religion. It is a continuation of the reading project begun several years ago. The overall concern is a reconceptualisation of phenomenology in the wake of both deconstruction and cognitivsm. This reconceptualisation has been inspired partly by the publication of the English translation of Heidegger’s Phenomenology of the Religious Life a few years ago, which reflected the philosopher’s earlier views. A second inspiration is the imperative for the academy to engage with other civilizations and the apparent proximity of some Indian philosophical thinking to Phenomenology. The overall theme of this reading group will be human practices. The particular texts that we read are fluid but we will begin with Peter Sloterdijk’s Your Must Change Your Life (Du musst dein Leben ändern) (2009).
Readings in the Netra Tantra (Session Three) (HT 14)
The Netra Tantra is an important early medieval Śaiva text. We will read and discuss sections of the text based on the two manuscripts in the NGMPP Library and compare these with the published KSTS edition. Apart from reading the text we will discuss its meaning.
Hinduism 2: Hindu Traditions (Paper 21): Week Three (HT 14)
Beginning with the early medieval period, this paper traces the development of Hinduism in devotional (bhakti) and tantric traditions. The paper examines the development of Śaiva, Śākta, and Vaiṣṇava traditions along with ideas about liberation, ritual, asceticism, yoga and devotion. There will be some exploration of Hinduism and Modernity and there may also be reference to major schools of Hindu philosophy such as Vedānta.
Communalism, Nationalism and the Limits of Secularism in India (HT 14)
This is an analysis of the influence that the Indian Constitution of 1950 has had on the sociopolitical situation in the Indian Republic. The Reason that informs the spirit of the Constitution is an extension of the rationality that the Enlightenment scientists and philosophers considered to be infallible. This view of Reason is at variance with the Vedic-Samkhyan notion of rationality. Similarly, the law as enshrined in the Constitution preserves the system imposed by British alien rule: it is not in harmony with the spirit of classical indigenous jurisprudence. The new legal vision consequently becomes a handicap in the hands of the ruling establishment whenever a religious or linguistic rift threatens the stability of the body politic. The need to integrate the vital elements of Hindu culture, in particular those elements that foster social harmony and peace, into the law and political management of the Republic becomes imperative.
Professor Sushil Mittal is a fellow philosophical traveler with Mahatma Gandhi, Sushil Mittal is (full) Professor of Religion in the Department of Philosophy and Religion and Founding Director of the Mahatma Gandhi Center for Global Nonviolence at James Madison University, a post he held for five years (2005–2010). Dr. Mittal joined JMU in Fall 2004.
He earned his B.A. from McGill University in Montreal, M.A. from Carleton University in Ottawa, and Ph.D. from University of Montreal. He has served on the faculties of the University of Florida in Gainesville and Millikin University in Decatur, Illinois.
His discipline by training is cultural anthropology, but he is located in a department of religion where he teaches Hinduism and Gandhian thought. He has conducted archival and field research in Canada, India, South Africa, and the United States at intervals during the last two decades. The recipient of numerous grants and fellowships, his book publications include Development and Change in India (1993), Surprising Bedfellows: Hindus and Muslims in Medieval and Early Modern India (2003), The Hindu World (2004), Religions of South Asia: An Introduction (2006), and Studying Hinduism: Key Concepts and Methods (2008).
His current work-in-progress includes The Living Hindu World, Encyclopedia of Hindu Studies, and The Gandhi Reader.
He is the (Founding) Editor of the International Journal of Hindu Studies (1997- ) and the International Journal of Gandhi Studies (2012- ).
Professor Mittal was born in Canada (his “janma-bhumi”) buthas now dedicated himself to working in the United States(his “karma-bhumi”) and he looks to India as the mainsource of his spiritual inspiration (his “dharma-bhumi”).