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"Wendy Doniger O'Flaherty . . . weaves a brilliant analysis of the
complex role of dreams and dreaming in Indian religion, philosophy,
literature, and art. . . . In her creative hands, enchanting Indian
myths and stories illuminate and are illuminated by authors as
different as Aeschylus, Plato, Freud, Jung, Kurl Godel, Thomas
Kuhn, Borges, Picasso, Sir Ernst Gombrich, and many others. This
richly suggestive book challenges many of our fundamental
assumptions about ourselves and our world."--Mark C. Taylor, "New
York Times Book Review"
"Dazzling analysis. . . . The book is firm and convincing once you
appreciate its central point, which is that in traditional Hindu
thought the dream isn't an accident or byway of experience, but
rather the locus of epistemology. In its willful confusion of
categories, its teasing readiness to blur the line between the
imagined and the real, the dream actually embodies the whole
problem of knowledge. . . . [O'Flaherty] wants to make your mental
flesh creep, and she succeeds."--Mark Caldwell, "Village Voice
"
An important, provocative and original work, of great interest to
Indian scholars, historians of religions, psychologists and
historians of ideas, but accessible also to the cultivated reader.
Even if one does not always agree with the author's interpretation,
one cannot but admire her vast and precise learning, her splendid
translations and exegesis of so many, and so different, Sanskrit
texts, and her uninhibited, brilliant, and witty prose.--Mircea
Eliade, University of Chicago
This is . . . a book which is as rich in detail as the carvings of
the great Hindu temples. It shares with them a delight in the
interplay of myth and mundane experience, and above all an empathy
with the Hindu preoccupation with the meaning of human existence in
all its complexity.--G. M. Carstairs, Times Literary Supplement
Karma is perhaps the most famous concept in Indian philosophy, but
this is the first comprehensive study of its various meanings and
philosophical implications. Karma and Rebirth in Classical Indian
Traditions offers a harmony of approach and an underlying set of
methodological assumptions: a corpus of definitions of karma, a
dialectic between abstract theory and historical explanation, and
an awareness of logical oppositions in theories of karma. No
“solution” to the paradox of karma is offered, but the volume
as a whole presents a consistent and encompassing approach to the
many different, often conflicting, Indian statements of the
problem. Broad in scope and richly detailed, this book
demonstrates the impossibility of speaking of “the theory of
karma” and supplies the basis for further study. Exploring
methodological issues arising in the study of a non-Western system
of soteriology and rebirth, the contributors question the
interaction of medical and philosophical models of the human body,
the incorporation of philosophical theories into practical
religions with which they are logically incompatible, and the
problem of historical reconstruction of a complex theory of human
life. This title is part of UC Press’s Voices Revived
program, which commemorates University of California Press’s
mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them
voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893,
Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship
accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title
was originally published in 1980.
Originally published under the title Asceticism and Eroticism in the Mythology of Siva, this book traces the development of an Indian approach to an enduring human dilemma: the conflict between spiritual aspirations and human desires. The work examines hundreds of related myths and a wide range of Indian texts--Vedic, Puranic, classical, modern, and tribal--centering on the stories of the great ascetic, Siva, and his erotic alter ego, Kama.
"While focusing on the central problem of evil, O'Fiaherty
illuminates every aspect of Hindu thought." (Choice). "This is Dr.
O'Flaherty's third book on Indian mythology, and the best yet. The
range and number of myths handled is dazzling ...Moreover, her
fluent and lucid style make reading a pleasure ...a major
contribution to the study of religion in general and Hinduism in
particular." (Times Literary Supplement). "This scholarly work is a
welcome and valuable addition to Hindu studies because it corrects
the widespread belief that Hindu thought does not recognize the
problem of evil. The author shows conclusively that the mythology
of tribal societies and the Puranas deal with this question
extensively. She traces certain conceptual attitudes towards evil
from the Vedic period to the present day." (Library Journal).
"O'Flaherty has accomplished an important double task. She has
reoriented our thinking on the Indian experience of evil as it has
been given literary expression in the mythological texts of the
Sanskrit tradition and to a lesser extent in the Tamil and tribal
traditions as well. She has also provided, in this rich and
exquisitely crafted book, a new set of vantage points from which to
re-read familiar Indian myths and encounter new ones...Origins is
both a superb piece of scholarship and a lively, witty and
engagingly written book." (South Asia in Review). "The author
performs a brilliant feat in her textually exegetical and
hermeneutical handling of the numerous and many-faceted myths. The
study is highly pertinent and valuable ...The authorial
translations from the Hindu and Pali texts are refreshing ...and
her comments are illuminating. Thus the Hindu view of evil comes
out as something not simplistic and arbitrary but as an approach
which is careful, complex, and richly eclectic...This is a highly
readable volume written with verve, sparkle and occasional light
touches of decent humor." (Asian Student). "For serious students of
mythology, theology and Hinduism, this book is must reading."
(Religious Studies Review).
Other People's Myths celebrates the universal art of storytelling,
and the rich diversity of stories that people live by. Drawing on
Biblical parables, Greek myths, Hindu epics, and the modern
mythologies of Woody Allen and soap operas, Wendy Doniger
O'Flaherty encourages us to feel anew the force of myth and
tradition in our lives, and in the lives of other cultures. She
shows how the stories of mythology--whether of Greek gods, Chinese
sages, or Polish rabbis--enable all cultures to define themselves.
She raises critical questions about the way we interpret mythical
stories, especially the way different cultures make use of central
texts and traditions. And she offers a sophisticated way of looking
at the roles myths play in all cultures.
"A wider range than usual of Sanskrit texts: not only interesting
Vedic, epic, and mythological texts but also a good sampling of
ritual and ethical texts. . . . There are also extracts from texts
usually neglected, such as medical treatises, works on practical
politics, and guides to love and marriage. . . . Readings from the
vernacular Hindi, Bengali, and Tamil traditions serve to] enrich
the collection and demonstrate how Hinduism flourished not just in
Sanskrit but also in its many mother tongues."--Francis X. Clooney,
"Journal of Asian Studies "
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