Texts and Authors Flashcards
Ṛg Veda
An ancient Indian collection of Vedic Sanskrit hymns; oldest known Vedic Sanskrit text; contains entirely hymns to deities; the most mentioned of them all are Indra
Kena Upaniṣad
A text that asserts that the efficient cause of all the gods, symbolically envisioned as forces of nature, is Brahman.
A text that starts by questioning “by whom” the forces of nature are caused and answers the question with “that indeed know as Brahma.”
Bṛhad Aranyaka Upaniṣad
Upanishad is widely known for its philosophical statements and is ascribed to Yajnavalkya; also contains the story of Purusa, the explanation of the horse’s body as the cosmos, and the tale of Hunger and Death.
Looks at reality as being indescribable and its nature to be infinite and consciousness-bliss; Cosmic energy is thought to integrate in the microcosm and in the macrocosm as well as the individual and the universe.
Chandogya Upaniṣad
Story of a father teaching his son the ultimate truth of Hinduism; in the beginning of the Upanishad, the father sends the boy away to study the Vedas with a religious instructor.
Yājñavalkya
Hindu Vedic sage figuring in the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad; proposes and debates metaphysical questions about the nature of existence, consciousness and impermanence, and expounds the epistemic doctrine of neti neti to discover the universal Self and Ātman.
Gargī Vācaknavī
Ancient Indian sage and philosopher; daughter of Vachacknu; she is honored as a great natural philosopher, renowned expounder of the Vedas, and known as Brahmavadini; debates with Yājñavalkya mentioned in the Bṛhad Aranyaka Upaniṣad.
The section of Yājñavalkya and Gargī is where Gargī questions Yājñavalkya in a series of questions of objects pervading (spreading through) objects in the world. This series of questions is ended at where the Golden Egg is pervaded, where Yājñavalkya tells Gargī not to question too much about a deity they shouldn’t be asking about.
Śvetaketu
The son of the father in the Chandogya Upaniṣad.
Story of the fig divided, then the seed divided; there’s nothing in the seeds, however from that nothing in the seed, a sacred fig tree arises; the finest essence of the world is its soul, and this soul is Reality; that is Atman.
Alberuni
A traveling Iranian who wrote a particularly biased account of India (“Alberuni’s India”) that describes the people as having no logic, having a language so hard to understand, and thinking their country is the best and only thing out there.
Maitreyī
One of the two wives of Yājñavalkya mentioned in the Bṛhad Aranyaka Upaniṣad; a discourser on sacred knowledge.
The section of Yājñavalkya and Maitreyī is where Yājñavalkya is about to leave to become a renouncer. He makes a final settlement to his wives, but Maitreyī questions his leaving. He is telling her that he is leaving the material things behind, but he continues to find the soul in these things dear.
“Not is this, not is that”; soul cannot be seized, destroyed, attached, etc.
Arrian
Arrian of Nicomedia was a Greek historian; wrote back to his colleagues about a romanticized India focused on elephants and wildlife while also talking only enough about the caste to say that the system works; also talks a lot about rich commodities.
The Five Lenses
Pejorative Putdown - Negative commentating; disparaging, belittling, or snubbing remark
Noble Savage - primitive humankind as idealized in romantic literature, symbolizing the innate goodness of humanity when free from the corrupting influence of civilization
Romanticism - picking out specific ideas and portraying them in a delightful way that makes people think of them only in that delightful thought; can induce nationalistic thought or false interpretations
Imposition Interpretation - the author tries to push their ideas or how they interpret what they are seeing
Benign neglect - “this isn’t important, so I won’t add it”
