Hrvatska akademija znanosti i umjetnosti (HAZU) već niz godina u Dubrovniku vodi redovitu Međunarodnu konferenciju o sanskrtskim epovima i puranama te svake godine objavljuje zbornike stučnih radova na teme kojima se pojedina konferencija bavila. Brojni svjetski stručnjaci istražuju međusobne utjecaje raznih smjerova indijske duhovne misli koji se ogledaju u zbirkama sanskrtskih epova i purana, ali i hinduističkih, buddhističkih i jainističkih tantri i ostalih spisa. Ova istrazivanja su dala nove poglede na međusobne utjecaje vedske, tantričke, buddhističke i jainističke duhovne misli Indije. Zbornici (dostupni samo na engleskom jeziku) se mogu naručiti u izdavačkoj kući Ibis Grafika:
http://www.ibis-grafika.hr/shop/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=14
The papers collected in the Proceedings under the title Composing a Tradition: Concepts, Techniques and Relationships represent contributions of a very high standard of learning and scholarly research that will certainly make an impact on the field of the Sanskrit Epics and Purāṇas. The book deserves to be received with interest wherever such studies are pursued, and the breadth of its approach should also commend it to a much wider circle of the interested educated public.
The proceedings of the Second Dubrovnik International Conference on the Sanskrit Epics and Purāṇas under the title Stages and Transitions: temporal and historical frameworks in epic and purāṇic literature are a collection of outstanding research papers written by eminent authors or promising young scholars whose results of research presented here as well as their further implications should certainly provoke a keen interest of all those who work in the field. It should also attract attention of a broader public interested in oral and written literature, history of culture and history of religions because the study of the Sanskrit epics and Purāṇas provides us with invaluable information for all these areas of research.
The Third Dubrovnik International Conference on the Sanskrit Epics and Purāṇas continued the work and exchange of ideas of a growing group of scholars from all over the world on the topics connected with the Sanskrit epic and Purāṇic subjects. This time the Harivaṃśa was selected as one of its focuses, and therefore these Proceedings contain six contributions on the Harivaṃśa, eight on the Purāṇas, and nine on the Sanskrit epics, which can be considered a rather balanced result. The papers address the questions about continuities and ruptures between the Vedas and the epics, between different layers of the Sanskrit epics, between the Mahābhārata and the Harivaṃśa, between the epics, their khilas and the Purāṇas, and between different stages of the Purāṇic tradition. The contributions are written by prominent scholars working on Vedic, Sanskrit epic and Purāṇic projects, and display a select, but representative, image of the state of the art, of important new results and of challenging open questions, in these crucial fields of Sanskrit scholarship.
The first nine articles in this volume are concerned with epic texts. Tokunaga looks for parallels to the itihāsas in the MBh in the literary tradition from the Vedas to the darśanas. In the article on the Triṣṭubh Hymn in the Bhagavadgītā the parallels are located in the metrical Upaniṣads, Kaṭha and Śvetāśvatara, and between passages in different adhyāyas of the Gītā. Von Simson compares different passages on Balarāma to extrapolate implications for his mythological character, and even looks for parallels to texts in archaeology, art and iconography. In Allen’s article, the parallels to the MBh are found in Greek literature, namely, in the Odyssey. Vassilkov in his single-epithet study looks for parallels between different passages in the MBh. Bowles looks for parallels in the composition of the Śāntiparvan. Brodbeck finds them in the life careers of several members of the Bhāradvāja clan, which can be reduced to a model. Sellmer traces nouns from one semantic field through different passages of the MBh. Feller, in the only article in this volume concerned with the Rāmāyaṇa, looks for inherent parallels in the Rāmāyaṇa and external parallels in Vedic mythical models. On all those levels, the parallels found focus the researchers’ attention on comparisons, correspondences and differences, thus honing our understanding of individual expressions, particular themes, or the text passages in themselves, in their context, in the text history or literary history, or even between different literary traditions, such as the Indian and the Greek traditions.
In the next group which consists of five articles, parallels were sought in different Purāṇic and epic texts, within the framework of an interrelated tradition of Purāṇic texts, and sometimes even beyond the boundaries of the Indian tradition. Viethsen’s discussion on the relative chronology of textual passages dealing with the reasons for Kṣṇa’s incarnation is based on a comparison of the MBh and its khila, and, in the background, of the Indian and Greek traditions. Magnone studies an important notion as it occurs in various Purāṇic texts in various religious contexts. Valpey compares the Bhāgavatapurāṇa with the MBh to show how it pretends to present itself as a definitive (devotional) commentary on the great epic. Barois follows different versions of two stories about the Śaivite sage Upamanyu through a wide range of Purāṇic texts and a passage from the thirteenth parvan of the MBh. Finally, Brinkhaus surveys four Nepalese Māhātmyas, three Hindu and one Buddhist, and from their mutual intertextual relationship and their relationship to the pan- Indian Purāṇas extrapolates the process of their Purāṇization.
The last six articles could be again considered a group because they discuss parallels between Purāṇic and Tantric texts, between Hindu and Buddhist texts, between Hindu and Jaina texts, and finally between Sanskrit literary themes and modern themes in vernacular languages. In this last group of articles, parallels and comparisons are examined in different traditions, religions or epochs. Serbaeva Saraogi, when looking for corresponding Yoginī-related passages in the Purāṇas and Tantras, does not study the influence of the Purāṇas on the Tantras, but rather the largely ignored influence of the Tantras on the Purāṇas. Söhnen-Thieme scrupulously weighs the probabilities of intertextual relationships between the Buddhist Jātaka stories and the tales included in the MBh and formulates some general principles, and yet warning that each case of parallelism must be studied separately. At the end of her article, in addition to the study of literary and religious contexts, Gönc Moačanin raises – thanks to some remarks by Y. Vassilkov – the question of the relatively positive relationship of the Jātaka tradition towards the tradition of the Rāmāyaṇa, which is geographically close to it, and the relatively critical and, in part, ignorant relationship towards the tradition of the MBh, which originates from the western parts of India – introducing thereby a hint for the study of the political contexts of our texts. De Clercq compares Jaina versions of the Kṣṇacarita with the “orthodox” version of the MBh, Harivaṃśa and Bhāgavatapurāṇa. Couture compares three Jaina versions of Kṣṇa’s childhood with the respective passages in the Harivaṃśa. Since in the case of the Jaina Purāṇas the direction of influence is not as questionable as in the case of Hindu-Buddhist parallels, both can devote their whole attention to the strategies of adaptation of the Hindu stories to the Jaina doctrines. Using one example, Dejenne shows how surprisingly the Sanskrit epics and Purāṇas and their themes remain a relevant referential framework even for expressing contemporary concerns and ideas in modern India by offering their parallels and paragons for contemporary situations.
