Scriptural innovation in medieval South India : the Srivaisnava articulation of Vedanta / Sucharita Adluri.

Format:

Book

Manuscript

Microformat

Thesis/Dissertation

Author/Creator:

Adluri, Sucharita.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Penn dissertations--Religious studies.

Religious studies--Penn dissertations.

Local Subjects:

Penn dissertations--Religious studies.

Religious studies--Penn dissertations.

Physical Description:

x, 276 pages ; 29 cm

Production:

2009.

Other Title:

Srivaisnava articulation of Vedanta.

Summary:

The Srivaisnava theologian, Ramanuja (1077--1157 CE) was one of the first and foremost proponents of systematic theistic Vedanta, a school of Hindu philosophy. His interpretation of Vedanta, called Visistadvaita Vedanta (unity-of-the-differenced), uses a text of secondary importance, the Visnu Purana, to accommodate and legitimate the different doctrinal claims of the Srivaisnava sectarian tradition. By an exegetical analysis of Ramanuja's main works, namely the Vedartha--samgraha, the Sribhasya, the Bhagavadgitabhasya, and the commentaries on them by his disciples Sudarsanasuri and Vedantadesika, I delineate the role of the Visnu Purana as a text of fundamental importance for Ramanuja's theological enterprise. In so doing, this dissertation problematizes the concept of scriptural corroboration (upabrmhana). Most scholars have utilized this concept to classify the Visnu Purana as a scripture of secondary importance in comparison to the primary significance that is accorded to the upanisads. Examining the function of the Visnu Purana within Ramanuja's commentaries, I demonstrate that the Visnu Purana surpasses its use as a 'corroborative' text, and that a more nuanced understanding of corroboration is needed to comprehend the inter-textuality within Hindu commentarial traditions.

Notes:

Thesis (Ph.D. in Religious Studies) -- University of Pennsylvania, 2009.

Includes bibliographical references.

Local Notes:

University Microfilms order no.: 3363240.

Other Format:

Online version: Adluri, Sucharita. Scriptural innovation in medieval South India : the Srivaisnava articulation of Vedanta.