2020/07/28 by Srilata Raman · 1 citation
Arts and Humanities · Social Sciences · #Indian and Buddhist Studies #Chinese history and philosophy #Poetry #Art #Philosophy #Literature
paper · pdf · doi:10.1163/9789004432802_010
openalex publication_date 2020/07/28 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2025/11/06
The ocean of rvaiava literature is vast and it is a humbling scholarly endeavor to realize that the more one works on it, the more there is to discover; thus, any conclusions that one reaches on the intellectual history of the tradition can only be tentative postulations which can and must be superseded by further research.1 This being said, it has become increasingly clear that we are seeing a particularly fertile period between Rmnuja (traditional dates: CE 1017-1137CE) and Vednta Deika (traditional dates: CE 1268-1369 CE): a period when doctrinal ideas are emerging from a wide spectrum of genres-from devotional poetry and hagiographies to commentaries and kvya literature. We see also that, for instance, when it comes to the issue of the salvational means-the upya for moka-and their definitions, there was in fact much variation and a spectrum of views, without one single overarching version. Thus, to take one example, even within what emerged as a consensus on the significance of prapatti as the more appropriate upya for the Kali Yuga, as opposed to bhakti, matters were by no means settled in the immediate post-Rmnuja period as to how to understand the qualifications (agas) for prapatti, or who was qualified for it.2