In my previous post on this topic, I had neglected an important source and I am grateful for a reader who pointed this out. The relevant text is a verse of Kumārila’s (one of the main authors of the Mīmāṃsā school, possibly 7th c.) lost Bṛhaṭṭīkā preserved in the Tattvasaṅgraha:
The one who jumps 10 hastas in the sky,
s/he will never be able to jump one yojana, even after one hundred exercises! (TS 3167)
Does sense-perception have natural limitations? Or can it be improved through practice and still be perceptual?
Curator, South Indian Collections
Salary range is £31,858 – £36,087 per annum
Full time (36 hours per week)
Permanent
St Pancras, London
Start date on or after 14th September 2015
The British Library’s collections from and relating to South Asia are the most extensive in the world outside the region, and they are among the British Library’s most important resources. This role will focus on the collections from southern India, and will combine elements of collection development, research, cultural engagement, digital and digitisation projects, and international partnerships, all working towards ensuring that the broadest possible audiences can access the South Indian collections held at the British Library.
The major languages represented in these collections are Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam, and the ideal candidate will have a good knowledge of one or more of these. They will also have a degree-level qualification in a relevant discipline, and a deep interest in the history and cultures of South Asia, and particularly of South India. These will be underpinned by research or employment experience in a research library, museum, academic or other appropriate environment, and by academic study or research. Although not essential, experience of or interest in international partnerships or project management would be an advantage.
For further information and to apply, please visit www.bl.uk/careers quoting vacancy ref: COL00206
Closing Date: 13th July 2015
An interview date is to be confirmed
https://gs10.globalsuccessor.com/fe/tpl_britishlibrary01.asp?
Readers may have noted that I am working on the hypothesis that Veṅkaṭanātha/Vedānta Deśika priviledged the Pūrva Mīmāṃsā system, on the basis of which it rebuilt Viśiṣṭādvaita Vedānta. This would be proved by the preeminence of Mīmāṃsā doctrines in Veṅkaṭanātha’s works, but also by his several works dedicated to Mīmāṃsā. But then, one might argue, what about Veṅkaṭanātha’s engagement with Nyāya? Is Nyāya just a further addition or does Nyāya (also) lie at the center of Veṅkaṭanātha’s project?
Why does a devotee love God? Because He is good, merciful, omniscient…? Or just out of love?
This seems to be one of the moot issues between the two currents within the form of Vaiṣṇavism later to be known as Śrīvaiṣṇavism, since Piḷḷai Lokācārya (13th c.) stresses that loving without reason is superior to loving with a reason, just like Sītā’s ungrounded love for Rāma is superior to that of Lakṣmaṇa, who loves Rāma for his good qualities (see Mumme 1988, p. 150).
In the last week, two students have asked me about the distinction between jñā- and vid- and this made me think that it might be worth adding a new section to Andrew’s collaborative enterprise (see here and here) of mapping the technical vocabulary of Sanskrit. Since jñā- (and its derivatives, such as jñāna) and vid- (and vidyā, etc.) have different acceptations in various areas of Sanskrit, let me state, once again, that I will only focus on śāstric, philosophical Sanskrit.
Well, yes… isn’t it?
The problem is less easy than it may look like and amounts to the problem of non-committal understanding. Is it the normal attitude while listening to a speaker or just an exception or an a posteriori withdrawal of belief once one notices that the speaker is in any way non reliable?
If you have read post-Classical śāstra, you will have certainly encountered the formulation above, describing the three foundational disciplines as focusing on
words (pada), i.e., grammatical analysis in Vyākaraṇa
sentences (vākya), i.e., textual linguistics in Mīmāṃsā
means of knowledge (pramāṇa), i.e., epistemology in Nyāya
Call for Proposals: The Gonda Fund for Indology
The Gonda Fund supports the scholarly study of Sanskrit, other Indian languages and literatures, and Indian cultural history. The Gonda Fund awards:
1. Fellowships to promising young Indologists at post-doctorate level, that enable them to spend one to six months at the International Institute for Asian Studies (IIAS) in Leiden, the Netherlands.
2. Funding to scientists, scholars and scientific publishers for publications and research projects.
3. Gonda-grants to PhD students in the Netherlands for scientific projects or working visits.
The deadlines for applications are 1 April and 1 October of every year.
The Gonda Fund is a foundation of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences.
More information is available at www.knaw.nl/gonda-fund.
Deadline: 15 July 2015
Thanks to the generosity of the B.C. Mehta Trust, SOAS is pleased to offer one Jaina Studies Scholarship. The scholarship is for a first year MPhil/PhD in the Study of Religions with a research proposal on Jaina Studies. The candidate must be a new admission (starting in September 2015).
The candidate must be eligible to pay the full time overseas tuition fee for 2015/16.
The total value of the scholarship for 2015/16 is £14,100 to be used for the first year tuition fee only.The Jaina Studies Scholarship is for one year only and cannot be renewed.
Further information is available here: http://www.soas.ac.uk/registry/scholarships/elap-scholarship.html