| Date | Time | Location |
|---|---|---|
| Thursday, September 20, 2012 | 4:00PM - 6:00PM | Seminar Room 208N, Munk School of Global Affairs 1 Devonshire Place |
Hindu Studies Colloquium
Whereas it is well-known that the Jaina tradition adopted, to a large extent, text genres and characters from the epics and Purāṇas of the Hindu tradition and reworked them according to their own view of world history, there has been little discussion of Jaina figures or narrative devices that may have conversely entered some texts of the Hindu tradition. This lecture will be dedicated to the following tasks: (a) exploring the prehistory of the Buddha avatāra in the Viṣṇupurāṇa; (b) investigating the stories of Ṛṣabha and his son Bharata in three Hindu Purāṇas (Viṣṇupurāṇa, Mārkaṇḍeyapurāṇa, Bhāgavatapurāṇa) and in the oldest Jina biographies (especially the Jambūdvīpaprajñapti); (c) considering other figures or devices in the Bhāgavatapurāṇa that may be due to Jaina influence.
Renate Söhnen-Thieme studied Indian languages and literatures, Iranian studies and Musicology in Mainz. Her thesis “Untersuchungen zur Komposiiton von Reden und Gesprächen im Rāmāyaṇa” earned her a doctorate in 1979 and was published in 1980. 1980-81 she conducted field research in Baltistan (North-East Pakistan), collecting and studying oral traditions of Balti epic and folk literature. 1982-86 she was a member of the Tübingen Purāṇa Research Project, where among other things she completed an edition of the Brahmapurāṇa, with a detailed summary and indexes. Since 1989 she has been Senior Lecturer in Sanskrit at the School of Oriental and African Studies, London. Professor Söhnen-Thieme’s research interests comprise Old Indian literature, especially texts in the classical religious traditions. Her latest publication is titled ‘Buddhist Tales in the Mahābhārata?’
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