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The Hindus

Page 91

by Wendy Doniger

33 Dundes, The Flood Myth.

  34 Shatapatha Brahmana 1.8.1.1-6 ; Doniger O’Flaherty, Hindu Myths, 180.

  35 Matsya Purana 1.11-34; 2.1-19; Doniger O’Flaherty, Hindu Myths, 181-4.

  36 Mahabharata 3.56.4-6, 1.169.16-26 ; 1.170.1-21; 1.171.1-23.

  37 Doniger O’Flaherty, Siva.

  38 Mahabharata 10.18.21.

  39 Matsya Purana 175.23-63; Harivamsha 1.45.20- 64; Doniger O’Flaherty, Women, 226-72.

  40 Skanda Purana 7.1.32.1-128, 33.1-103; Doniger O’Flaherty, Women, 228-33; Siva, 289-92.

  41 The idea of a submarine fire is pre-Vedic, Indo-Iranian (West, Indo-European Poetry, 270).

  42 Sumathi Ramaswamy, The Lost Land of Lemuria , 233. According to the note on p. 276, this research was carried out by the Institute of Geophysics at UT-Austin and MIT.

  43 MIT Professor Fred Frey, quoted in the MIT news office bulletin, “Team Finds Surprising Volcanic Clues to Indian Ocean Formation,” Deborah Halber, News Office, December 8, 1999.

  44 Thomas Babington Macaulay in 1835; Keay, India, 431.

  45 Jonathan Z, Smith, Map Is Not Territory.

  46 Wolpert, India, 5.

  47 Ibid., 19-20.

  48 Ramanujan, Speaking of Siva, 24.

  49 Doniger, Splitting the Difference, 204-31.

  50 Mary Douglas, Purity and Danger.

  51 Woody Allen, “Fabulous Tales and Mythical Beasts,” 193.

  CHAPTER 3 . CIVILIZATION IN THE INDUS VALLEY 1 Klostermaier, A Survey, 34-35.

  2 Neumayer, Prehistoric Indian Rock Paintings; Vatsyayan, “Prehistoric Paintings.”

  3 Wolpert, India, 10.

  4 Flood, Introduction, 25.

  5 McEvilley, The Shape of Ancient Thought.

  6 Farmer, “Mythological Functions”; Erdosy, ed., The Indo-Aryans.

  7 Knipe, Hinduism, 22; Parpola, Deciphering the Indus Script, 248-50.

  8 W. Norman Brown, “The Indian Games of Pachisi, Chaupar, and Chausar,” 32-35.

  9 Marshall, Mohenjo-Daro, pl. CLIII, 7-10 and 551-52.

  10 Dales, “Of Dice and Men,” 17-18. 11. Keay, India, 9

  12 Mitter, Indian Art, 8.

  13 Keay, India, 10.

  14 Kenoyer, “Socio-Economic Structures of the Indus Civilization”; “Harappan Craft Specialization and the Question of Urban Segregation and Stratification”; “Specialized Crafts and Culture Change.”

  15 Knipe, Hinduism, 20.

  16 Hopkins, The Hindu Religious Tradition, 6.

  17 Possehl, The Indus Age.

  18 Witzel, cited in Bryant, The Quest, 184.

  19 Farmer, Sproat, and Witzel, “The Collapse of the Indus-Script Thesis.”

  20 Keay, India, 16.

  21 Farmer, “Mythological Functions.”

  22 Keay, India, 26.

  23 Ibid., 13

  24 K. M. Sen, Hinduism,14.

  25 Wolpert, India, 16.

  26 Thapar, Early India, 92.

  27 Marshall, Mohenjo-Daro, 351.

  28 Knipe, Hinduism, 21.

  29 Wolpert India, 20.

  30 Ibid, 11.

  31 Marshall, Mohenjo-Daro, 348.

  32 Ibid., 352.

  33 Bollee, Gone to the Dogs, 7.

  34 Wolpert, India, 20.

  35 Hopkins, The Hindu Religious Tradition, 5-6.

  36 Ibid, 5-8.

  37 Ibid., 5.

  38 Marshall, Mohenjo-Daro, 355.

  39 Hopkins, The Hindu Religious Tradition, 7.

  40 Bollee, Gone to the Dogs, 8, citing Marshall.

  41 Keay, India, 17, quoting Shireen Ratnagar.

  42 Thapar, Early India, 85.

  43 Hopkins, The Hindu Religious Tradition, 6.

  44 Farmer, “Mythological Functions.”

  45 Wolpert, India, 23, citing M. S. Vats, who directed the latter phase of the Harappan dig.

  46 Hopkins, The Hindu Religious Tradition, 6-7.

  47 Ibid.

  48 Wolpert, India, 18.

  49 Hopkins, The Hindu Religious Tradition, 7.

  50 Marshall, Mohenjo-Daro, 52-56.

  51 Keay, India, 14.

  52 Doniger O’Flaherty, Siva.

  53 Hopkins, The Hindu Religious Tradition, 8.

  54 Flood, Introduction, 29.

  55 Hopkins, The Hindu Religious Tradition, 9-10.

  56 Knipe, Hinduism, 22.

  57 Marshall, Mohenjo-Daro, 129.

  58 Doniger O’Flaherty, Siva.

  59 A good summary appears in Bryant, The Quest, 162-64. I am indebted to Brian Collins for rounding up this list and more of them for me.

  60 Sullivan, “A Re-examination.”

  61 Hiltebeitel, “The Indus Valley ‘Proto-Shiva’ Reexamined.”

  62 Krishna Rao, Indus Script Deciphered.

  63 Singh, “Rgvedic Base of the Pasupati Seal of Mohenjo-Daro,” citing RV 1.64.

  64 S. R. Rao, Dawn and Devolution of the Indus Civilization, 288.

  65 Fairservis, The Harappan Civilization and Its Writing.

  66 Parpola, “Deciphering the Indus Script,” 248-50.

  67 Richter-Ushanas, The Indus Script and the Rigveda.

  68 Keay, India, 14.

  69 Thapar, Early India, 86.

  70 But against this, see Flood, Introduction, 28.

  71 Hopkins, The Hindu Religious Tradition, 6-7.

  72 Keay, India, 14.

  73 Hopkins, The Hindu Religious Tradition, 5.

  74 Ibid., 9.

  75 Doniger O’Flaherty, Siva, 238.

  76 Keay, India, 14.

  77 Farmer, “Mythological Functions.” Seal H-180-A-B.

  78 Ibid.

  79 Knipe, Hinduism, 21.

  80 Thapar, Early India, 86.

  81 Flood, Introduction, 28.

  82 Ibid.

  83 Wolpert, India, 21.

  84 Thapar, Early India, 94.

  85 Ibid.

  86 Keay, India, 15.

  87 Wolpert, India, 17.

  88 Mitter, Indian Art, 8.

  89 Keay, India, 15.

  90 Flood, Introduction, 28.

  91 Knipe, Hinduism, 21.

  92 Flood, Introduction, 28.

  93 Michaels, Hinduism, 31.

  94 Thapar, Early India, 86.

  95 Ibid., 85.

  96 Wolpert, India, 16.

  97 Keay, India, 14.

  98 Michaels, Hinduism, 31.

  99 Debiprasanna Chattopadhyaya, Lokayata.

  100 Farmer, Sproat, and Witzel, “The Collapse of the Indus-Script Thesis.”

  101 Wolpert, India, 20.

  102 Thapar, Early India, 87.

  103 Knipe, Hinduism, 23

  104 Keay, India, 5.

  105 Metcalf, A Concise History, 3.

  106 Thapar, Early India, 86.

  107 Ibid., 88.

  108 Hopkins, The Hindu Religious Tradition, 8.

  109 Thapar, Early India, 85.

  110 Wolpert, India, 17.

  CHAPTER 4 : BETWEEN THE RUINS AND THE TEXT 1 Kurma Purana 1.9.

  2 Sir William Jones, “On the Gods of Greece, Italy, and India.”

  3 West, Indo-European Poetry and Myth, 388.

  4 Ibid., 386.

  5 Ibid., 1.

  6 Lincoln, “The Indo-European Cattle-Raiding Myth,” 24; also Priests, Warriors and Cattle.

  7 West, Indo-European Poetry and Myth, 191.

  8 Ibid., 2.

  9 Ibid., 9 and 10.

  10 Ibid., 2.

  11 But cf. Bryant, The Quest, 60-62.

  12 Witzel, “Rgvedic History,” 325.

  13 Thapar, Early India, 86-88.

  14 Ibid.

  15 West, Indo-European Poetry, 388.

  16 Thapar, Early India, 89.

  17 West, Indo-European Poetry, 447.

  18 Witzel, “Indocentrism,” 347.

  19 Klostermaier, Hinduism, 38.

  20 Thapar, Early India, 86-87.

  21 West, Indo-European Poetry; Witzel, “Indocentrism.”

  22 Knott, Hinduism, 7, and Flood, Introduction, 31,
report, but do not endorse, the theory.

  23 Hasenpflug (“a retired German defense ministry linguist”), The Inscriptions of the Indus Civilization.

  24 Klostermaier, Hinduism, 36.

  25 Hasenpflug, The Inscriptions of the Indus Civilization.

  26 Subhash C. Kak, cited by Klostermaier, Hinduism, 38.

  27 David Frawley, cited in ibid.

  28 Klostermaier, Hinduism, 36.

  29 Bryant, The Quest, 195.

  30 Thapar, Early India, 110.

  31 Ibid., 109.

  32 Keay, India, 25.

  33 Elst, “Linguistic Aspects,” 260 and 262.

  34 Ibid., 260.

  35 Keay, India, 24.

  36 Thapar, Early India, 109, 113.

  37 Flood, Introduction, 34.

  38 Bryant, The Quest, 15, 120.

  39 Thapar, Early India, 85, 88, 92, 95-96, 107.

  40 B. B. Lal, cited by Bryant, The Quest, 173.

  41 Aasko Parpola, cited by Flood, Introduction, 34.

  42 Flood, Introduction, 34.

  43 Keay, India, 25.

  44 Bryant, The Quest, 119-20, 174, 228.

  45 Keay, India, 25.

  46 Elst, cited by Bryant, The Quest, 119.

  47 Bryant, The Quest, 116.

  48 West, Indo-European Poetry, 467

  49 Ibid., 465.

  50 Thapar, Early India, 109; Flood 34.

  51 Thapar, Early India, 85.

  52 Jha and Rajaram, The Deciphered Indus Script.

  53 Witzel and Farmer, “Horseplay in Harappa,” Frontline, October 13, 2000.

  54 Subhash C. Kak, cited by Klostermaier, Hinduism, 38

  55 Flood, Introduction, 31.

  56 Klostermaier, Hinduism, 39.

  57 Staal, Agni.

  58 Thapar, Early India, 130.

  59 Keay, India, 5.

  60 Klostermaier, Hinduism, 31.

  CHAPTER 5 : HUMANS, ANIMALS, AND GODS IN THE RIG VEDA 1 Thapar, Early India, 109. All translations are from Doniger O’Flaherty, The Rig Veda and Hindu Myths, unless otherwise noted.

  2 Keay, India, 24.

  3 Mitter, Indian Art, 9.

  4 Doniger O’Flaherty, Other Peoples’ Myths, chapter 3.

  5 Aitareya Aranyaka 5.5.3, cited by Staal, “The Concept of Scripture,” 122-23.

  6 For a discussion of the oral transmission of the Rig Veda, see Louis Renou, The Destiny of the Veda in India, 25-26 and 84.

  7 For a fuller discussion of the relationship between shruti and smriti, see Brian K. Smith, “Exorcising the Transcendent: Strategies for Defining Hinduism and Religion” and “The Unity of Ritual: The Place of the Domestic Sacrifice in Vedic Ritualism.”

  8 Müller, The Rig Veda, ix.

  9 Taittiriya Samhita 7.5.25.2.

  10 West, Indo-European Poetry, 161.

  11 Thapar, Early India, 113.

  12 Romila Thapar’s phrase, after George Michell’s “portable temple.”

  13 Jamison, Sacrificed Wife, 9.

  14 Heesterman, The Broken World.

  15 William Buck’s apt phrases, in his translation of the Mahabharata, 9.

  16 Doniger O’Flaherty, Siva, 96.

  17 Chandogya Upanishad 8.7-12.

  18 West, Indo-European Poetry, 246.

  19 Ibid.

  20 Jamison, Ravenous Hyenas, 258-59.

  21 RV 10.148.5; 10.94.14; 8.9.10 ; cf. 1.112.13; 10.123.1-5, 5.52.16 1.84.10-11; 8.6.19, 2.34.2, 5.60.5, 34-36 ; Doniger O’Flaherty, Origins of Evil, 322.

  22 Mahabharata 12.59.99-128; Atharva Veda 8.10.22-29; etc. Doniger O’Flaherty, Origins of Evil, 321-48.

  23 Doniger O’Flaherty, Women; West, Indo-European Poetry, 417.

  24 Thapar, Early India, 115.

  25 Gommans, “The Rise of the Indo-Afghan Empire,” 71.

  26 Ibid., 69.

  27 Thapar, Early India, 114.

  28 Shatapatha Brahmana 14.1.1.18-24; Doniger O’Flaherty, Hindu Myths, 56-59.

  29 Schmidt, “The Origin of Ahimsa.”

  30 West, Indo-European Poetry, 469

  31 Ibid., 467.

  32 Ibid., 490.

  33 Thapar, Early India, 116.

  34 Parpola, “The Coming of the Aryans to Iran and India.”

  35 Thapar, Early India, 112.

  36 Ibid., 122.

  37 Ambatta Sutta of the Sutta Nikaya.

  38 Lincoln, Myth, Cosmos and Society.

  39 West, Indo-European Poetry, 100.

  40 Flood, Introduction, 79.

  41 Witzel, “Early Sanskritization.”

  42 Such as the vratyastoma; Atharva Veda 15; Nath, Puranas and Acculturation, 41.

  43 Scheuer, “Rudra-Siva et la destruction du sacrifice.”

  44 Doniger O’Flaherty, “The Post-Vedic History of the Soma Plant.”

  45 U.S. Patent and Trademark Office appeal no. 2005-1337, application no. 10/227,006.

  46 Wasson, Soma; Flood, Introduction, 41.

  47 As R. Gordon Wasson called it.

  48 Shatapatha Brahmana 5.5.4.10 ; Doniger O’Flaherty, Origins of Evil, 153.

  49 Jamison, Sacrificed Wife, 256.

  50 Ghosha as the author of 10.40, Apala as the author of 8.91; Doniger O’Flaherty, The Rig Veda, 246-46, 256.

  51 Jamison, Sacrificed Wife.

  52 Ibid., 92.

  53 For sibling incest, see Yami’s unsuccessful attempt to seduce her brother Yama in Rig Veda 10.10.

  54 West, Indo-European Poetry, 500, citing J. P. Mallory, in a section labeled “Suttee.”

  55 Ibid., citing Atharva Veda 18.3.1.

  56 Doniger O’Flaherty, The Rig Veda, 245-63.

  57 RV 10.135, 10.51, 10.124, 4.26-7, 10.108, 10.28, etc.

  58 Yami, the twin sister of Yama, in 10.10; Lopamudra, the wife of Agastya, in 1.179.

  59 Pururavas, the husband of Urvashi, in 10.95; Doniger O’Flaherty, The Rig Veda, 245.

  60 Yami is rejected by Yama, Lopamudra by Agastya, Pururavas by Urvashi.

  61 Doniger O’Flaherty, The Rig Veda, 312. For the porcupine, see Atharva Veda 6.13, Shaunaka recension, Bloomfield ed.

  62 Doniger, Splitting the Difference.

  63 Doniger O’Flaherty, Women.

  64 RV 10.9, 7.49, 10.146, 10.71, 10.125; Doniger O’Flaherty, The Rig Veda, 61-63, 179-182, 199-200, 231-32, 242-45.

  65 West, Indo-European Poetry, 139.

  66 Flood, Introduction, 179; West, Indo-European Poetry, 139.

  67 Bolon, Forms of the Goddess Lajja Gauri in Indian Art, figure 52; Kramrisch, “An Image of Aditi-Uttanapad,” 259-70.

  68 RV 10.72.1-5; O’Flaherty, The Rig Veda, 30, 37- 40 ; Sayana on, citing Yaska’s Nirukta 11.23.

  69 Doniger O’Flaherty, Textual Sources, 28-29.

  70 Dorson, “The Eclipse of Solar Mythology.”

  71 Staal, Agni.

  72 Lincoln, “The Indo-European Cattle-Raiding Myth,” 18.

  73 Thapar, Early India,130.

  74 Ibid.

  75 Jurewicz, “Prajapati, the Fire and the pancagnividya ,” 188; Gombrich, “Thought on Karma.”

  CHAPTER 6: SACRIFICE IN THE BRAHMANAS 1 The date is sometimes said to be 3102 BCE or 1400 BCE. West, Indo-European Poetry, 13; Brockington, The Sanskrit Epics.

  2 Jaiminiya Brahmana 2.182-83; Doniger O’Flaherty, Tales of Sex and Violence, 40-42.

  3 Aitareya Brahmana 3.21.

  4 Shatapatha Brahmana 1.1.1.6: idam aham ya evaasmi so ‘smi.

  5 Sayana’s commentary on the Rig Veda 1.121.

  6 Erdosy, The Indo-Aryans of Ancient South Asia.

  7 Bhandarkar, Ancient History of Índia, 153-54, citing Kautilya and the Lalita Vistara.

  8 Stein, A History of India, 51.

  9 Flood, An Introduction, 53

  10 Mitter, Indian Art, 13; Thapar, Early India, 109.

  11 Thapar, Early India, 112

  12 Ibid., 89-90.

  13 Flood, An Introduction, 33; Keay, India, 41.

  14 Flood, An Introduction, 80-81.

  15 Witzel, “The De
velopment of the Vedic Canon,” 313, 321, 333.

  16 Thapar, Early India, 130.

  17 Maitrayani Samhita 4.8.1; Kathaka Samhita 30.1.

  18 Aitareya Brahmana 2.19 (8.1); Kaushitaki Brahmana 12.3.

  19 Manu 7.130-31.

  20 Shatapatha Brahmana 13.2.9.6-9; Doniger O’Flaherty, Textual Sources, 17-18.

  21 Thapar, Early India, 129.

  22 Heesterman, The Inner Conflict of Tradition.

  23 Jaiminiya Brahmana 3.94-96; Doniger O’Flaherty, Tales of Sex and Violence, 81-84.

  24 Dumézil, The Destiny of the Warrior.

  25 Brihaddevata; Doniger O’Flaherty, Tales of Sex and Violence, 83; Sieg, Sagenstoffe,

  26 RV 10.119-2-3, 9, 11-12.

  27 Katha Upanishad 3.3-6.

  28 Jaiminiya Brahmana 3.94-96; Doniger O’Flaherty, Tales of Sex and Violence, 81-84.

  29 Jamison, Sacrificed Wife.

  30 Thapar, Early India, 122.

  31 Shatapatha Brahmana 13.3.8.1-6; Doniger O’Flaherty, Textual Sources, 18-19.

  32 Shatapatha Brahmana 13.2.9.9 and 13.5.2.10; Doniger O’Flaherty, Tales of Sex and Violence, 17-18. The mantra is from RV 4.39, a prayer to a racehorse named Dadhikravan.

  33 Debroy, Sarama and Her Children.

  34 Taittiriya Brahmana 3.8.4.2; Doniger O’Flaherty, Textual Sources, 14-17.

  35 Jamison, Sacrificed Wife, 78, 99, citing Maitrayani Samhita 2.1.19-23 and 3.12.1.

  36 White, “Dogs Die,” 283-303.

  37 Jaiminiya Brahmana 2.440-42; Doniger O’Flaherty, Tales of Sex and Violence, 97-98.

  38 Kathaka Samhita 29.1; Maitrayani Samhita 3.10.6; Aitareya Brahmana 2.22.10.

  39 Jaiminiya Brahmana 1.161-2; Doniger O’Flaherty, Tales of Sex and Violence, 101-02.

  40 Kaushitaki Brahmana 23.4.

  41 Jaiminiya Brahmana 1.161-3, Doniger O’Flaherty, Tales of Sex and Violence, 101-02.

  42 Jaiminiya Brahmana 1.42-44, Doniger O’Flaherty, Tales of Sex and Violence, 32-34.

  43 Kaushitaki Brahmana 11.3; Doniger O’Flaherty, Tales of Sex and Violence, 39.

  44 Shatapatha Brahmana 12.9.1.1; Doniger O’Flaherty, Tales of Sex and Violence, 40.

  45 Nandy, Exiled at Home, 47 and 63; Doniger O’Flaherty, Tales of Sex and Violence, 36-37.

  46 Thapar, Early India, 115.

  47 Shatapatha Brahmana 11.7.1.3; cf. 12.8.3.12.

  48 D. N. Jha, The Myth of the Holy Cow, 30-36; Keith, Religion and Philosophy, 324-26; Heesterman, The Broken World, 194, 283, n. 32; Renou, Vedic India, 109.

  49 D.N. Jha, The Myth of the Holy Cow, 47; Taittiriya Samhita 5.6.11-20.

  50 Cf. Ashvalayana Grihya-sutra 1.24, 31-33, for the ritual of killing a cow on the arrival of a guest.

  51 Apastamba Dharmasutra 1.17.30 31.

 

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