Texts in Context : Traditional Hermeneutics in South Asia

Contents: 1. Introduction/Jeffrey R. Timm. I. Traditional Hermeneutics in "Hinduism": 2. Bhartrhari and the Veda/David Carpenter. 3. Where words can set free: the liberating potency of Vedic words in the hermeneutics of Sankara/Anantanand Rambachan. 4. Binding the text: Vedanta as philosophy and commentary/Francis X. Clooney S.J. 5. Haunted by Sankara's ghost: the Srivaisnava interpretation of Bhagavad Gita 18-66/Patricia Y. Mumme. 6. Oral and written commentary on the Tiruvaymoli/Vasudha Narayanan. 7. Vyasa as Madhva's Guru: biographical context for a Vedantic commentator/Daniel P. Sheridan. 8. Scriptural realism in pure nondualistic Vedanta/Jeffrey R. Timm. 9. Hermeneutics of Kashmiri Mahatmya text in context/Madhu Bazaz Wangu. II. Traditional Hermeneutics in other South Asian Religions: 10. Svetambar Murtipujak Jain scripture in a performative context/John E. Cort. 11. Evam Me Sutam: oral tradition in Nikaya Buddhism/Frank J. Hoffman. 12. Vasubandhu's Vyakhyayuki on the authenticity of the Mahayana Sutras/Jose Ignacio Cabezon. 13. Poetics as a hermenteutic technique in Sikhism/Nikky-Guninder Kaur Singh. 14. The textual formation of oral teachings in early chishti sufism/Carl W. Ernst. 15. Conclusion: traditional hermeneutics in south Asia/Jeffrey R. Timm. Index.

"The major religious traditions of South Asia are religions of the book. All accept basic arrays of texts, often seen as sacred reservoirs of meaning and power. The west has viewed these texts as bibles of their respective traditions, projecting onto them western values and concerns. This book challenges such misconceptions by revealing the complex character of scripture and its interpretation in south Asian religions.

Texts in context explores the hermeneutical traditions of Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, Islam, and Sikhism. The question of how we should understand the diversity of text traditions is approached by asking "How have traditional thinkers--the exegetes within these traditior's--understood and utilized scripture?" The answers, though remarkably diverse, do reveal important similarities and take the discussion of scripture in India to a deeper level.

This book makes accessible to the non-specialist sensibilities and approaches that have previously received little attention in the west, but have formed the basis for traditional efforts to understand and utilize scripture. It is a collaboration between contemporary thinkers and their traditional counter parts whose voices emerge as they consider the sacred words of the religious traditions of south Asia." (jacket)

[Jeffrey R. Timm is Associate Professor of Religion at Wheaton College in Massachusetts.]