Language of the Nirukta

Language of the Nirukta
Author: Mantrini Prasad
Publisher: Concept Publishing Company
Total Pages: 440
Release: 1975
Genre: Vedic philology
ISBN:

Contrastive study of Vedic and post-Vedic Sanskrit semantics and morphology based on the Nirukta, treatise on etymology, by Yaska.

Hinduism and Tribal Religions

Hinduism and Tribal Religions
Author: Jeffery D. Long
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 1822
Release: 2021-12-24
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 9789402411874

This volume offers an overview of Hinduism as found in India and the diaspora. Exploring Hinduism in India in dynamic interaction, rather than in isolation, the volume discusses the relation of Hinduism with other religions of Indian origin and with religions which did not originate in India but have been a major feature of its religious landscape. These latter religions include Islam and Christianity and, to a lesser extent, Zoroastrianism and Judaism. The volume also covers Hinduism’s close association with Tribal Religions, sometimes called Primal Religions. As its second main theme, the volume examines the phenomenon of Hinduism in the diaspora. The Indian diaspora is now beginning to make its presence felt, both in India and abroad. In India, the Indian government annually hosts a diaspora event called Pravasi Bharatiya Divas (PBD), in recognition of the growing importance of the twenty-million-strong diaspora. Although not all Indians are Hindus, most are, both in India and abroad, and a strong sense of Hindu identity is emerging among diasporic Hindus. This volume fills the need felt by Hindus both in India and the diaspora for more knowledge about modern-day Hinduism, Hindu history and traditions. It takes into account three main aspects of Hinduism: that the active pan-Indian and diasporic language of the Hindus is English; that modern Hindus need a rational rather than a devotional or traditional exposition of the religion; and that they need information about and arguments to address the stereotypes which characterize the presentation of Hinduism in academia and the media, especially in the West.

A Śabda Reader

A Śabda Reader
Author: Johannes Bronkhorst
Publisher: Columbia University Press
Total Pages: 262
Release: 2019-03-19
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0231548311

Language (śabda) occupied a central yet often unacknowledged place in classical Indian philosophical thought. Foundational thinkers considered topics such as the nature of language, its relationship to reality, the nature and existence of linguistic units and their capacity to convey meaning, and the role of language in the interpretation of sacred writings. The first reader on language in—and the language of—classical Indian philosophy, A Śabda Reader offers a comprehensive and pedagogically valuable treatment of this topic and its importance to Indian philosophical thought. A Śabda Reader brings together newly translated passages by authors from a variety of traditions—Brahmin, Buddhist, Jaina—representing a number of schools of thought. It illuminates issues such as how Brahmanical thinkers understood the Veda and conceived of Sanskrit; how Buddhist thinkers came to assign importance to language’s link to phenomenal reality; how Jains saw language as strictly material; the possibility of self-contradictory sentences; and how words affect thought. Throughout, the volume shows that linguistic presuppositions and implicit notions about language often play as significant a role as explicit ideas and formal theories. Including an introduction that places the texts and ideas in their historical and cultural context, A Śabda Reader sheds light on a crucial aspect of classical Indian thought and in so doing deepens our understanding of the philosophy of language.

The Language of the Harappans

The Language of the Harappans
Author: Malati J. Shendge
Publisher: Abhinav Publications
Total Pages: 342
Release: 1997
Genre: Foreign Language Study
ISBN: 8170173256

Since The Formulation Of Indo-European Theory In The 19Th C., Sanskrit Has Been Considered The Language Brought Over By The Aryas. This Raised The Question After The Discovery Of The Harappan Culture: What Was The Language Of The Harappans? This Book Tries To Answer This Question. Since The 19Th C. Sanskrit Has Been Considered The Language Of The Aryas. This Book Questions This Formulation And After Critically Reviewing The Evidence Of The Indo-Europeanists Offers An Alternative, Viz. That Akkadian, As The Language Of The Asuras, The Original Inhabitants Of The Land, Is The Parent Of Vedic And Classical Sanskrit.

Language and Interpretation

Language and Interpretation
Author: Manjulika Ghosh
Publisher: Northern Book Centre
Total Pages: 260
Release: 2007
Genre: Hermeneutics
ISBN: 9788172112301

The volume has a two-fold purpose: (i) to acquaint the Indian readers and academic community with some prominent trends in hermeneutics and text interpretation coming from veteran and young scholars in the field and (ii) to create an interest in the current research undertaken by Indian scholars in the field of philosophy and allied disciplines. This is deemed important because hermeneutics, though established in the West, is still in its infancy in the academic circles and is accorded an auxiliary status as a less significant concern. The sincere readers of these essays are hoped to bring to them their own perspectives and understanding, which is to say that every reader will have his own hermeneutical exercise and engagements. This volume will be of use to the beginners as well as the discerning scholars in the domain of hermeneutics.

The Emergence of Semantics in Four Linguistic Traditions

The Emergence of Semantics in Four Linguistic Traditions
Author: Wout Jac. van Bekkum
Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing
Total Pages: 339
Release: 1997-04-03
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 9027298815

The aim of this study is a comparative analysis of the role of semantics in the linguistic theory of four grammatical traditions, Sanskrit, Hebrew, Greek, Arabic. If one compares the organization of linguistic theory in various grammatical traditions, it soon turns out that there are marked differences in the way they define the place of ‘semantics’ within the theory. In some traditions, semantics is formally excluded from linguistic theory, and linguists do not express any opinion as to the relationship between syntactic and semantic analysis. In other traditions, the whole basis of linguistic theory is semantically orientated, and syntactic features are always analysed as correlates of a semantic structure. However, even in those traditions, in which semantics falls explicitly or implicitly outside the scope of linguistics, there may be factors forcing linguists to occupy themselves with the semantic dimension of language. One important factor seems to be the presence of a corpus of revealed/sacred texts: the necessity to formulate hermeneutic rules for the interpretation of this corpus brings semantics in through the back door.

Language in South Asia

Language in South Asia
Author: Braj B. Kachru
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 633
Release: 2008-03-27
Genre: Foreign Language Study
ISBN: 0521781418

An overview of the language in South Asia within a linguistic, historical and sociolinguistic context, comprising authoritative contributions from international scholars within the field of language and linguistics. It is an accessible interdisciplinary book for students and scholars in sociolinguistics, multilingualism, language planning and South Asian studies.