The Language of the Gods in the World of Men : Sanskrit, Culture, and Power in Premodern India

In this work of impressive scholarship, Sheldon Pollock explores the remarkable rise and fall of Sanskrit, India's ancient language, as a vehicle of poetry and polity. He traces the two great moments of its transformation: the first around the beginning of the Common Era, when Sanskrit, long a sacred language, was reinvented as a code for literary and political expression, the start of an amazing career that saw Sanskrit literary culture spread from Afghanistan to Java. The second moment occurred around the beginning of the second millennium, when local speech forms challenged and eventually replaced Sanskrit in both the literary and political arenas. Drawing striking parallels, chronologically as well as structurally, with the rise of Latin literature and the Roman empire, and with the new vernacular literatures and nation-states of late-medieval Europe, __The Language of the Gods in the World of Men__ asks whether these very different histories challenge current theories of culture and power and suggest new possibilities for practice. In this work of impressive scholarship, Sheldon Pollock explores the remarkable rise and fall of Sanskrit, India's ancient language, as a vehicle of poetry and polity. He traces the two great moments of its transformation: the first around the beginning of the Common Era, when Sanskrit, long a sacred language, was reinvented as a code for literary and political expression, the start of an amazing career that saw Sanskrit literary culture spread from Afghanistan to Java. The second moment occurred around the beginning of the second millennium, when local speech forms challenged and eventually replaced Sanskrit in both the literary and political arenas. Drawing striking parallels, chronologically as well as structurally, with the rise of Latin literature and the Roman empire, and with the new vernacular literatures and nation-states of late-medieval Europe, The Language of the Gods in the World of Men asks whether these very different histories challenge current theories of culture and power and suggest new possibilities for practice. Contents Preface And Acknowledgments Introduction Part 1. The Sanskrit Cosmopolis Chapter 1. The Language Of The Gods Enters The World Chapter 2. Literature And The Cosmopolitan Language Of Literature Chapter 3. The World Conquest And Regime Of The Cosmopolitan Style Chapter 4. Sanskrit Culture As Courtly Practice Chapter 5. The Map Of Sanskrit Knowledge And The Discourse On The Ways Of Literature Chapter 6. Political Formations And Cultural Ethos Chapter 7. A European Countercosmopolis Part 2. The Vernacular Millennium Chapter 8. Beginnings, Textualization, Superposition Chapter 9. Creating A Regional World: The Case Of Kannada Chapter 10. Vernacular Poetries And Polities In Southern Asia Chapter 11. Europe Vernacularized Chapter 12. Comparative And Connective Vernacularization Part 3. Theory And Practice Of Culture And Power Chapter 13. Actually Existing Theory And Its Discontents Chapter 14. Indigenism And Other Culture-Power Concepts Of Modernity Appendix A Appendix B Publication History Bibliography Index Exploring the rise and fall of Sanskrit as a vehicle of poetry and polity, this title traces the two great moments of its transformation. Drawing parallels with the rise of Latin literature and the Roman empire, it asks whether these very different histories challenge theories of culture and power and suggest possibilities for practice