قدرت و معنا در ادیان هندی: هندوئیسم و مورد والمی‌کی

This title was first published in 2003. Can a text be used either to validate or to invalidate contemporary understandings? Texts may be deemed'sacred', but sacred to whom? Do conflicting understandings matter? Is it appropriate to try to offer a resolution? For Hindus and non-Hindus, in India and beyond, Valmiki is the poet-saint who composed the epic Rà mà yaÃμa. Yet for a vocal community of dalits (once called'untouchables'), within and outside India, Valmiki is God. How then does one explain the popular story that he started out as an ignorant and violent bandit, attacking and killing travellers for material gain? And what happens when these two accounts, Valmiki as God and Valmiki as villain, are held simultaneously by two different religious groups, both contemporary, and both vocal? This situation came to a head with controversial demonstrations by the Valmiki community in Britain in 2000, giving rise to some searching questions which Julia Leslie now seeks to address. Cover 1 Dedication 4 Title 5 Copyright 6 Contents 7 List of Illustrations 9 Acknowledgements 11 1. Situating the Problem 13 1. Introduction 13 2. The Dispute 18 3. The Legend 24 4. Fact, Text and Religious Meaning 29 2. Contextualizing the Person 37 1. Introduction 37 2. Untouchability: Terms and Meanings 39 3. Self-Representation: Myths and Politics 52 4. The Valmikis of North India 59 5. Religion and Politics in Twentieth-Century Panjab 65 6. The Valmikis in Britain 76 7. Making Meaning 86 3. Identifying ‘Vālmīki’ in Early Sanskrit Texts 89 1. The Text-Historical Approach 89 2. The Taittirīya Prātiśākhya 92 3. The Mahābhārata 94 4. The Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa 106 5. The Yogavāsiṣṭha 116 6. Concluding Remarks 123 4. Tracing Motifs in Sanskrit and Vernacular Texts 127 1. Orality and Text 127 2. The Ascetic Overgrown 146 3. The Sinner Redeemed 156 4. A Special Mantra for the Unworthy 167 5. The ‘Untouchable’ as Exemplar 174 5. Drawing Conclusions for Today 179 1. Introduction 179 2. The Role of Vernacular Tellings 180 3. Worshipping Vālmīki 193 4. Caste and Salvation 206 5. Sacred Text and Religious Meaning 212 Glossary 217 Bibliography 225 Index 257 Hinduism and the Case of Valmiki "This title was first published in 2003. Can a text be used either to validate or to invalidate contemporary understandings? Texts may be deemed 'sacred', but sacred to whom? Do conflicting understandings matter? Is it appropriate to try to offer a resolution? For Hindus and non-Hindus, in India and beyond, Valmiki is the poet-saint who composed the epic Rà mà yaÃμa. Yet for a vocal community of dalits (once called 'untouchables'), within and outside India, Valmiki is God. How then does one explain the popular story that he started out as an ignorant and violent bandit, attacking and killing travellers for material gain? And what happens when these two accounts, Valmiki as God and Valmiki as villain, are held simultaneously by two different religious groups, both contemporary, and both vocal? This situation came to a head with controversial demonstrations by the Valmiki community in Britain in 2000, giving rise to some searching questions which Julia Leslie now seeks to address."--Provided by publisher Beginning by describing a broadcast by a local radio station in Birmingham, England, that suggested that the great saint Valmiki might have been a dacoit or thief, the author explores the background to the story and attempts to unravel the complexities of the dispute that angered so many Hindus.