Event — IIAS Lunch Lecture

Ritualism and Sovereignty in Vedic India: the case of the mahavrāta rite

In Vedic India of the first millennium BCE, a new paradigm of sovereignty emerged alongside the development of Brahmanical ritualism. This lecture by by Paola Rossi (Università degli Studi di Milano) aims at presenting a few preliminary conclusions about the dialectical relationship between ritualism and sovereignty, pointing out some strategies devised in order to promote a new image of both leadership and ritualization, thereby constructing a new cultural model.

A lunch lecture by Paola M. Rossi (Università degli Studi di Milano, Italy; Gonda fellow at IIAS).

Lunch is provided; registration is required.

 ‘Ritualism’ is one of the most characterizing cultural traits of Vedic India, as far as we can know from the main sources of the Vedic culture, that is the Vedic textual repertoire elaborated by the Brahmanical schools over the span of centuries, during the so-called Middle and Late Vedic periods (1100-500 BCE ca.), in northern India. Alongside such ritualistic development, a new form of kingship emerged in  northern India, as it can be tracked through the legendary framework of the Mahābhārata epic and some sparse traces in the Vedic texts as well: it was a sort of ‘dynastic chiefdom’, based on ancient tribal dynamics, presumably reminiscent of semi-nomadic I.E. culture, but controlled by a centralized power, represented by the dominant tribe. This new ‘political’ system progressively spread eastward from the north-west, along the Gangetic plain, with the establishment of the so-called Kuru-Pañcāla realm. Such a new paradigm of sovereignty on the one side, and the development of the Brahmanical ritualism on the other side, occurred in the same period and in the same geographical area, seems to be implications of a unique cultural transformation, which preluded the development of the orthodoxy of the Hindu dharma system. This lecture aims at presenting a few preliminary conclusions about the dialectical relationship between Vedic ritualism and Vedic sovereignty, pointing out some strategies devised in order to promote both a new image of leadership and ritualization, constructing a new cultural model. In this sense, the mahavrāta rite constitutes an important case study, especially in the textual version of the Jaiminīya Brāhmaṇa, transmitted by the Jaiminīya school, of which a complete translation is lacking, actually. Thus, the presentation of the new translations of a few passages concerning this rite can provide a different perspective on this subject.

Paola M. Rossi is currently a research fellow of the J. Gonda Foundation (Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences), in Leiden. Her research focuses on the ancient Indian culture and literature, especially on Vedic ritualism, combined with Indo-European Linguistics. She is a temporary Professor in Sanskrit Language and Literature in Milan University (Università degli Studi di Milano), Italy.

 

Registration (required)

Please register via the webform below if you would like to attend.
Register by Friday 23 February 14:00 to secure a lunch box provided by IIAS.

About IIAS Lunch Lectures

Every month, one of the IIAS affiliated fellows will give an informal presentation about his/her work-in-progress for colleagues and others interested. Lunch lectures are sometimes also organised for visiting scholars.

IIAS organises these lectures to provide the research community with an opportunity to freely discuss ongoing research and exchange thoughts and ideas. Anyone with an interest in the subject matter at hand is welcome to attend and join the discussion.