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New Books in Buddhist StudiesInterviews with Scholars of Buddhism about their New Books Author: Marshall Poe
Interviews with Scholars of Buddhism about their New Books Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/buddhist-studies Language: en Genres: Buddhism, Religion & Spirituality Contact email: Get it Feed URL: Get it iTunes ID: Get it |
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Matthew Robertson, "Puruṣa: Personhood in Ancient India" (Oxford UP, 2024)
Episode 224
Tuesday, 9 April, 2024
The concept of the puruṣa, or person, is implicated in a wide range of ancient texts throughout the Indian subcontinent. In Puruṣa: Personhood in Ancient India, published in 2024 by Oxford University Press, Matthew I. Robertson traces the development of this concept from 1500 BCE to 400 CE: in the Ṛg Veda, the Brāhmaṇas, the Upaniṣads, Buddhist Pāli suttas, the Caraka and Suśruta Saṃhitā, and the Mahābhārata. Pushing back against the interpretation of personhood as a cosmological microcosm, Robertson argues instead that, in these texts, personhood and the “world” (loka) are interrelated concepts. He investigates how persons were understood to expand to the fill the horizons of their world, attending to ritual-political, aesthetic, yogic, and medicinal techniques deployed for this purpose. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/buddhist-studies
