Anand Venkatkrishnan on Vedānta, bhakti and Mīmāṃsā through the history of the family of Āpadeva and Anantadeva in 16th–17th c. Banaras

When, where and how did bhakti become acceptable within the Indian intellectual élites?

What is unreal?

The term tuccha means in Classical Sanksrit “worthless”, “insignificant”. In Vedānta, however, it gets a more specific technical meaning, to denote the absolute unreality of chimeral entities, such as the khapuṣpa (flower in the air), which will not and cannot Continue reading What is unreal?

Veṅkaṭanātha’s contribution to Viśiṣṭādvaita Vedānta

Veṅkaṭanātha (traditional dates 1269–1370 (see Neevel 1977 for a convincing explanation of these too long life spans) is a complex figure who can be interpreted in different ways according to the facet one is focusing on. What is sure is Continue reading Veṅkaṭanātha’s contribution to Viśiṣṭādvaita Vedānta

The accidental Gītā

A strange coincidence surprised me as I designed this spring’s course in Indian philosophy – but one that I suspect is quite significant. The coincidence resulted from three of my primary concerns in selecting content for the course syllabus, and Continue reading The accidental Gītā

शब्दविषये रसेल(Russell)मत: संस्कृतायां वाचि निरूपितः

Once a month, I publish on my personal blog a post in Sanskrit. Last month, Matthew Dasti suggested to cross-post one here, too. Thus, if you enjoy what follows, praise Matthew, if you don’t blame me (or at least let Continue reading शब्दविषये रसेल(Russell)मत: संस्कृतायां वाचि निरूपितः

How many texts are comprised in the Mimamsa Sastra? And why is this relevant?

(apologies in advance for the lack of diacritics, I am home, ill, with no access to a unicode keyboard) Purva Mimamsa authors are generally not interested in the topic, whereas several Uttara Mimamsa (i.e. Vedanta) ones deal at length with Continue reading How many texts are comprised in the Mimamsa Sastra? And why is this relevant?

Scripture, authority and reason —About a new book edited by Vincent Eltschinger and Helmut Krasser

How do reason and authority interact and trace each other’s boundaries? Which one is the first to be allowed to delimit its territory and, by means of that, also the other one’s one?