“This is the truth—the truth without doubt”
Textual authority and the enabling of “true” discourse in the Hindu narrative tradition of the Sivapurana
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1558/rosa.v2i1.65Keywords:
Sivapurana, Saiva textual traditions, 'true' discourseAbstract
In contrast with the major theistic religions, the highly decentralized Hindu traditions, for much of their history, lacked a single external authority capable of imposing standards of orthodoxy or heterodoxy on all parts of the fold. The major normative texts known as puranas are the source-books of Hindu theology, cosmology and mythology. These texts have had to compete with one another for a position of orthodoxy, and they have achieved this in part through the adoption of internal textual strategies. This paper examines one of the most important members of the genre, the Sivapurana, and identifies three such strategies. First, the discourse is placed in the mouths of three fictional meta-narrators: the deity Siva, the sage Vyasa, and his disciple Romaharsana. Second, the discourse is spiked with “power claims” relating to its own efficacy and potency. Third, strict procedures are prescribed for the public performance of the text. While not unique to the Sivapurana, the combination of meta-narration, power-claims and performative prescription all serve to elevate and valorize the text and enable it to function as “true” discourse in the Hindu episteme.
References
Brockington, J. L. 1998. The Sanskrit Epics. Leiden and New York: Brill.
Dimock, E. C., Gerow, E., Naim, C.M., Ramanujan, A.K., Roadarmel, G., and van Buitenen, J. A. B. 1974. The Literatures of India: An Introduction. Chicago and London: The University of Chicago Press.
Hiltebeitel, A. 2001. Rethinking the Mahabharata: A Reader’s Guide to the Education of the Dharma King. Chicago and London: The University of Chicago Press.
Kristeva, J. 1986a. ‘Word, Dialogue and Novel.’ In Moi, T., (ed.), The Kristeva Reader: 34-61. Oxford: Blackwell Publishers.
— 1986b. ‘Revolution in Poetic Language’. In Moi, T., (ed.), The Kristeva Reader: 89-136. Oxford: Blackwell Publishers.
Narayana Rao, V. 1993. ‘Purana as Brahminic Ideology.’ In Doniger, W., (ed.), Purana Perennis: Reciprocity and Transformation in Hindu and Jaina Texts: 85-100. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press.
— 2004. ‘Purana.’ In Mittal, S., and Thursby, G., (eds.), The Hindu World): 97-115. New York and London: Routledge (Taylor and Francis Group).
Pollock, S. 1985. ‘The Theory of Practice and the Practice of Theory in Indian Intellectual History.’ Journal of the American Oriental Society 105(3): 499-519. doi:10.2307/601525
Rocher, L. 1986. The Puranas. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz.
Shastri, J. L., (ed.). 1970. The Siva-purana: Translated by a Board of Scholars. Delhi, Varanasi and Patna: Motilal Banarsidass.
Sivapurana. Srisivamahapuranam (English title: The Sivamahapuranam). Delhi. Nag Publishers. 1986.
Smith, B. K. 1994. Classifying the Universe: The Ancient Indian Varna System and the Origins of Caste. New York, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Sullivan, B. M. 1994. ‘The Religious Authority of the Mahabharata: Vyasa and Brahma in the Hindu Scriptural Tradition.’ Journal of the American Academy of Religion 62(2): 377-401. doi:10.1093/jaarel/LXII .2.377
— 1999. Seer of the Fifth Veda: Krsna Dvaipayana Vyasa in the Mahabharata. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass Publishers.
Taylor, M. 2007. The Fall of the Indigo Jackal: The Discourse of Division and Purnabhadra's Pañcatantra. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press.
— forthcoming. ‘What Enables Canonical Literature to Function as “True”? The Case of the Hindu Puranas.’
