Buddhist History in the Vernacular : The Power of the Past in Late Medieval Sri Lanka / Stephen Berkwitz.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Berkwitz, Stephen C., 1969- author.

Series:

Brill's Indological library ; Volume 23.

Brill's Indological Library ; Volume 23

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Buddhism--Sri Lanka--History--To 1505.

Buddhism.

Parākrama Paṇḍita, active 13th century. Sinhala Thūpavaṃsa.

Parākrama Paṇḍita.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (369 pages)

Edition:

First edition.

Place of Publication:

Leiden, Netherlands : Koninklijke Brill NV, [2004]

Summary:

This book on vernacular Buddhist histories written in late medieval Sri Lanka demonstrates that narrative representations of the past were designed to effectively constructing new moral communities in translocal spaces.

Contents:

Intro

Title Page

Copyright Page

Table of Contents

Preface

Chapter One History and Textuality

1 Defining Buddhist History

2 Texts of the Past and the Present

3 The Contours of Buddhist History

4 The "Problems" of Buddhist History

5 Buddhist Vaṃsas and Current Conflicts

6 The Outline of the Book

Chapter Two Buddhist History Now and Then

1 Modern Views of Buddhist Pasts

2 The Beginnings of Buddhist Historiography

Chapter Three Language and the Production of History

1 Compiling Pāli Buddhist Histories

2 Buddhist History in a Sinhala Translation

3 Quotation and Revision in Historical Accounts

Chapter Four Buddhist History as Literature

1 The Narrative Form of Buddhist History

2 Rhetoric and Representation

3 Addressing the Audience

4 Learning from the Past

Chapter Five Transforming the Writers of History

1 Historiography in a Manuscript Culture

2 The Merits of Writing History

3 "Self-Writing" in Buddhist Historiography

4 Written Paradigms for the Past

Chapter Six Fashioning Virtuous Readers and Listeners

1 Constructing Emotions

2 Joy and Gratitude for the Past

3 The Subjectivity of Satpuruṣas

4 The Ethics of Devotion

Chapter Seven Moral Communities &amp

Vernacular Histories

1 Agency and Subjectivity

2 Social Ethics in Buddhist History

3 Vernacularization in Late Medieval Sri Lanka

Appendix List of Palm Leaf Manuscripts Consulted

Bibliography

Index

BRILL'S INDOLOGICAL LIBRARY.

Notes:

Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.

Description based on print version record.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9789047413479

9047413474

OCLC:

1289369011