NOTES
PREFACE
1. The Theses have been reprinted on numerous occasions, appear on many graduate and undergraduate syllabi, and prompted a sharp challenge from Tim Fitzgerald in āBruce Lincolnās āTheses on Methodā: Antitheses,ā Method and Theory in the Study of Religion 18 (2006): 392ā423, which I answered in āConcessions, Confessions, Clarifications, Ripostes: By Way of Response to Tim Fitzgerald,ā Method and Theory in the Study of Religion 19 (2007): 163ā68.
CHAPTER ONE
āTheses on Methodā was originally presented at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Religion (November 1995), and first published in Method and Theory in the Study of Religions 8 (1996): 225ā27. Reprinted by permission.
CHAPTER TWO
āHow to Read a Religious Textā was originally presented at a conference hosted by the University of Copenhagenās Institute of History of Religions (November 2003), and first published in History of Religions 46 (2006): 127ā39. Reprinted by permission.
1. For a good general introduction, see Patrick Olivelle, ed. and trans., The Early Upanisads (New York: Oxford University Press, 1998), pp. 3ā27 and 166ā69. Still useful are A. B. Keith, The Religion and Philosophy of the Veda and Upanishads (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1925); Louis Renou, āRemarques sur la ChÄndogya-Upaniį¹£ad,ā in his Ćtudes vĆ©diques et pÄį¹inĆ©ennes 1 (Paris: E. De Boccard, 1955), pp. 91ā102; and Henry Falk, āVedisch upaniį¹£ad,ā Zeitschrift der deutschen morgenlandischen Gesellschaft 136 (1986): 80ā97.
2. Bruce Lincoln, Discourse and the Construction of Society (New York: Oxford University Press, 1989), pp. 136ā41. See also the splendid discussion of Brian K. Smith, Classifying the Universe: The Ancient Indian Varį¹a System and the Origins of Caste (New York: Oxford University Press, 1994), which expands the analysis far beyond the givens of the Chandogya Upaniį¹£ad.
3. On the place of this chant in the SÄman performance and the mystical significance attributed to it, see Otto Strauss, āUdgÄ«thavidyÄ,ā Sitzungsberichte der preussischen Akademie der Wissenschaften 13 (1931): 243ā310.
4. Chandogya Upaniį¹£ad 1.3.6ā7:
atha khalÅ«dgÄ«thÄk
į¹£arÄ
į¹y upÄsÄ«todgÄ«tha iti. prÄ
į¹a evotprÄ
į¹ena hy utti
į¹£thati; vÄg gÄ«r vÄco ha gira ity Äcak
į¹£ate ānna
į¹ tham anne hÄ«dam sarva
į¹ sthitam. dyaur evot,
antarik
į¹£a
į¹ gÄ«
įø„, p
thivÄ« tham; Äditya evot, vÄyur gÄ«r, agnis tham; sÄmaveda evo
į¹, yajurvedo gÄ«r,
gvedas thÄm.
This and all subsequent Upaniį¹£adic extracts are taken from S. Radhakrishnan, ed., The Principal Upaniį¹£ads (London: George Allen & Unwin, 1953). All translations are original.
5. Thus, for instance, Bį¹hadÄraį¹yaka Upaniį¹£ad 1.3.11ā13, 1.3.25ā27, 1.4.17, 3.1.3ā5, 5.8.1, 6.2.12; Chandogya Upaniį¹£ad 1.7.1, 6.5.2ā4, 6.6.3ā5, 6.7.6. Certain passages do have the relations reversed, however. Thus: Bį¹hadÄraį¹yaka Upaniį¹£ad 1.3.24, 1.5.4ā7, 6.1.1ā14, 6.3.2; Chandogya Upaniį¹£ad 5.1.1ā15.
6. See, for instance, Aitareya Upaniį¹£ad 1.1ā2.
7. Bruce Lincoln, Theorizing Myth (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1999), pp. 150ā51.
8. Chandogya Upaniį¹£ad 1.10.1: āuį¹£atir ha cÄkrÄyaį¹a ibhyagrÄme pradrÄį¹aka uvÄsa.ā
9. Ibid., maį¹acÄ«hateį¹£u. The term maį¹aci is rare, and some commentaries have suggested that the village was devastated by locusts rather than hail. The situation of need remains the same in either event.
10. Ibid., 1.10.2ā5. According to Sir Monier Monier-Williams, Sanskrit-English Dictionary (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1899), p. 296, kulmÄį¹£a is āan inferior kind of grain, half-ripe barleyā or a sour gruel made from same. Hardly what a rich man (ibhya) would eat, except in times of privation; yet the text has him assert that he has no other food. 1.10.2: āsa hebhyaį¹ kulmÄį¹£Än khÄdantam bibhikį¹£e, taį¹ hovÄca, neto ānye vidyante yac ca ye ma ima upanihitÄ iti.ā
11. Chandogya Upaniį¹£ad 1.10.5. The text comments on the shameful nature of leftovers at 1.10.3ā4. On this point, see Charles Malamoud, āObservations sur la notion de āresteā dans le brĆ¢hmanisme,ā Wiener Zeitschrift fĆ¼r die Kunde SĆ¼dasiens (1972): 5ā26, esp. p. 20.
12.
Chandogya Upaniį¹£ad 1.10.6: āsa ha prÄta
įø„ sa
į¹jihÄna uvÄca, yad batÄnnasya labhemahi, labhemahi dhanamÄtrÄm: rÄjÄsau yak
į¹£yate, sa mÄ sarvair Ärtvijyair v
į¹Ä«teti.ā
13. Ibid., 1.10.7ā8.
14. Ibid., 1.10.8ā11.
15. Ibid., 1.11.1ā3.
16. Ibid., 1.11.4ā5: āna svid ete āpy ucchiį¹£thÄįø„ iti, na vÄ ajÄ«viį¹£yam imÄn akhÄdann iti hovÄca, kÄmo ma udakapÄnam iti. sa ha khÄditvÄ ātiÅeį¹£Äį¹ jÄyÄyÄ ÄjahÄra, sÄgra eva subhikį¹£Ä babhÅ«va, tÄn pratigį¹hya nidadhau.ā
17. Ibid., 1.11.9: āannam iti hovÄca, sarvÄ
į¹i ha vÄ imÄni bhÅ«tÄny annam eva pratiharamÄ
į¹Äni jÄ«vanti.ā The homology of the UdgÄ«tha, UdgÄt
, and Sun (
Äditya) occurs at 1.11.6ā7.
18. Cf., for example, Bį¹hadÄraį¹yaka Upaniį¹£ad 1.5.3ā13 (Sun/Fire/Moon); Chandogya. Upaniį¹£ad 3.15.6 and 4.17.1 (Sun/Wind/Fire); TaittirÄ«ya Upaniį¹£ad 1.5.2 and 1.7.1 (Sun/Wind/Fire).
19.
BhadÄraį¹yaka Upaniį¹£ad 3.4.1ā2.
20. To gain an initial hearing and not be rejected outright, such a simulacrum needs to meet two conditions: (1) in form, it should resemble other, more orthodox doctrines sufficiently closely that a knowledgeable audience should find it plausible; (2) in content, it should be sufficiently different from others that the same audience would find it novel and intriguing, thereby entertaining the possibility it is an esoteric teaching, previously held secret by a spiritual elite. Should it become widely accepted, it loses its nature as simulacrum and becomes a doctrine proper.
21. Chandogya Upaniį¹£ad 1.10.6.
22. Thus, for instance, Chandogya Upaniį¹£ad 1.3.6 (quoted above), 1.8.4, 1.11.5ā9 (quoted above), 5.2.1, 6.5.4, 6.6.5, 6.7.6, 7.4.2, 7.9.1. Numerous like statements are found in the other Upaniį¹£ads. On the importance of Food (annam) in Vedic speculative thought, see R. Geib, āFood and Eater in Natural Philosophy of Early India,ā Journal of the Oriental Institute, Baroda 25 (1976): 223ā35; Bernhard Weber-Brosamer, Annam: Untersuchungen zur Bedeutung des Essens und der Speise im vedischen Ritual (Rheinfelden: Schauble, 1988); Brian K. Smith, āEaters, Food, and Social Hierarchy in Ancient India: A Dietary Guide to a Revolution in Values,ā Journal of the American Academy of Religion 58 (1990): 177ā205; and Carlos Lopez, āFood and Immortality in the Veda: A Gastronomic Theology?,ā Electronic Journal of Vedic Studies 3 (1997), online at http://www.ejvs.laurasianacademy.com/ejvs0303/ejvs0303.txt (accessed June 6, 2011).
23. One of Kafkaās finest stories, āResearches of a Dog,ā seems to have been inspired by this chapter of the Chandogya. Consider, for instance, the following passage:
I began to enquire into the question: What the canine race nourished itself upon. Now that is, if you like, by no means a simple question, of course; it has occupied us since the dawn of time, it is the chief object of all our meditation. . . . In this connection, the essence of all knowledge is enough for me, the simple rule wi...