A Buddhist Monastic Code as a Source for Indian Law

Author(s):  
Gregory Schopen

Kane asserted that Indian “Buddhists” did not have any independent legal ideas or instruments, and, in effect, did not—in fact, could not—contribute anything to Dharmaśāstra or Indian Law. Even in his day, however, evidence was available that rendered his position untenable, and the recent re-dating of some major texts makes it even more so. Indeed, on the basis of a single Buddhist Vinaya, or monastic code, it can be shown that the relationship between Buddhist monastic law and Dharmaśāstra can be both complex and variable, and there are clear cases where Buddhist developments appear to have had priority.

Author(s):  
G. J. Fairless ◽  
J . B. Berrill

The literature has been searched for accounts of liquefaction during historic earthquakes in New Zealand. About 30 fairly clear cases of liquefaction were found in 10 earthquakes since 1843. The 1848 Marlborough and the 1931 Napier earthquakes appear to have caused the most widespread occurrences. Both were large earthquakes in regions with extensive saturated fine-grained alluvial deposits. Since liquefaction has only recently been recognised as a distinct phenomenon, evidence of its occurrence was not expressly searched for in early investigations, and it is possible that many instances have gone unrecorded. Therefore it is likely that liquefaction has been more pervasive than the 30 clear cases suggest. With the exception of the M ≥ 6, 1895 Taupo earthquake which liquefied a pumice soil, all have occurred in earthquakes with magnitudes of at least 6.9. However, some larger earthquakes, most notably the 1929, M = 7.8 Murchison earthquake, have produced no records of liquefaction that we could find. Given the uncertainties of early epicentral locations, the New Zealand cases are consistent with the expression of Kuribayashi and Tatsuoka (1975) for distance to the farthest site of liquefaction, although the number of cases is too small to establish the correctness of the relationship under New Zealand conditions.


2008 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 211-250 ◽  
Author(s):  
Werner Menski

Postcolonial India's modernist ambition to have a Uniform Civil Code, impressively written into Article 44 of the Indian Constitution of 1950 as a non-justiciable Directive Principle of State Policy, concerns not just an Indian problem but a universal predicament for lawyers and legal systems. What is the relationship between personal status laws and general state-made laws? To what extent should the formal law allow for, or seek to restrain, the legal implications of religious and socio-cultural diversity? To what extent does a state, whether secular or not, actually have power and legitimacy to decree and enforce legal uniformity? There are many more agendas at play here than simply the central issue of legal authority, focused on the power of the law, or simply “religion” v. “law”, or “culture” v. “law”, as we are often still led to believe.


Author(s):  
Eric Cheyfitz ◽  
Shari M. Huhndorf

Louise Erdrich’s prize-winning novel The Round House tells a story about rape on the reservation that reflects on alarmingly high rates of sexual violence against Native women and the roots of this violence in federal Indian law. This chapter takes the novel as a starting point for analyzing contrasts between indigenous and European conceptions of law, including the relationship between law and literature, and the ways that federal Indian law has historically served as an instrument of genocide and colonial expansion. Erdrich’s novel, the chapter argues, draws out the material consequences of the legal and political disempowerment of tribes and the imposition of federal legal authority, and it upholds tribal law as providing the sole path to justice in colonial contexts.


2011 ◽  
Vol 15 ◽  
pp. 91-113
Author(s):  
Waskar Ari-Chachaki

In 1921, when hard-line Liberal regimes ended in Bolivia, Gregorio Titiriku, an Uru-Aymara Indian from the shores of lake Titikaka (La Paz), started 50 years of Indian intellectual activism among the Alcaldes Mayores Particulares (AMP), a 450 cell network of indigenous intellectuals. Titiriku struggled against internal colonialism and was a crucial participant in the making of AMP subaltern nationalism.  Titiriku’s ideas became a crucial part of AMP discourse, known during this time as Indian Law.  This discourse promoted the worship of Pachamama (mother earth) and Achachillas (the spirit of the grandparents in the high hills of the Andes).  AMP discourse sought to rename the nation of Qullas (currently known as Aymara-Quechuas). Titiriku was especially good at creating ideas for mobilization among the AMP, such as qullasuyun wawapa (the children of the Qulla tribes) in order to promote "jaqi" pride (indigenous peoples pride), and bayeta camisas (people who dress in “bayeta” in order to promote an Indian dress-code as part of a politics of identity). These ideas provide us with a privileged field for understanding of the relationship between alternative modernities and public spheres. Titiriku thus used AMP discourse to contest segregation policies and to resist mainstream civilization projects. The particularities of Indian Law and its strategic nationalism reveal the existence of alternative discourses of modernity largely forgotten in Bolivia. The analysis of AMP discourse helps us understand the longstanding presence of struggle for autonomy and hegemonic projects in Bolivia and provides us with a better comprehension of how internal colonialism and public audiences interact historically.En 1921, cuando concluyó el periodo de gobiernos liberales en Bolivia, Gregorio Titiriku, indio uru-aymara originario de las orillas del lago Titikaka (La Paz), inició cincuenta años de activismo intelectual indio entre los Alcaldes Mayores Particulares (AMP), red de intelectuales indígenas que agrupaba alrededor de 450 participantes. Titiriku luchó contra el colonialismo interno y tuvo un rol fundamental en la construcción del  nacionalismo subalterno de los AMP.  Sus ideas fueron cruciales para la construcción del discurso de los AMP, conocido en ese tiempo como la Ley India.  Se trataba de un discurso que promovía el culto a la Pachamama y a los Achachilas y se proponía renombrar la nación de los qullas (conocidos como aymara-quechuas). Titiriku fue particularmente efectivo generando ideas para la movilización de los AMP, por ejemplo la idea de qullasuyun wawapa  (los hijos de los pueblos qulla) llamados a promover el orgullo jaqi y las bayeta camisas (a fin de legitimar un código de vestuario indígena como parte de una política de identidad).  Este ideario nos proporciona un campo privilegiado para la comprensión de las relaciones entre modernidades alternativas y esferas públicas. Titiriku utilizó el discurso de los AMP para desafiar políticas segregacionistas y ofrecer resistencia a los proyectos de la civilización dominante.  Las particularidades de la Ley India y su nacionalismo estratégico revelan la existencia de discursos alternativos de modernidad por mucho tiempo olvidados en Bolivia. El análisis del discurso de los AMP nos ayuda a entender la larga presencia de lucha por proyectos de autonomía y hegemonía en Bolivia y proporciona una mejor comprensión de cómo el colonialismo interno y las audiencias públicas interaccionan históricamente.


2008 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 1089-1111 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Serrano ◽  
M. Antón ◽  
M. L. Cancillo ◽  
J. A. García

Abstract. This work is aimed to propose a natural expansion of radiation amplification factor (RAF) for erythemal irradiance to consider all solar zenith angles cases together. In this direction, the article analyzes the relationship between measurements of UV erythemal radiation (UVER) recorded at Badajoz (Spain) and the total ozone column estimated by the instrument TOMS/NASA for that location during the period February 2001–December 2005. The new RAF parameter is formulated by power equation using slant ozone and UVER atmospheric transmissivity values. Thus, reliable values of this parameter have been reported. These values could serve as a new relevant index for comparison with other studies and model's result. The new RAF is calculated with measurements recorded during completely clear cases using clearness index values higher than 0.75. The RAF value was 1.35±0.01, it is to say, when the slant ozone amount decreases 1% at Badajoz, UVER atmospheric transmissivity values and, therefore, UVER surface values approximately increase 1.35%. This result emphasizes the interest of measuring and monitoring simultaneous measurements of UV radiation and stratospheric ozone even for mid-latitudes. The influence of total ozone amount and cloudiness changes on new RAF values is analyzed. Cloud-free conditions allow to study the ozone influences while cloud effects are analyzed with all data by means of monthly average of slant ozone and UVER atmospheric transmissivities values.


2010 ◽  
Vol 17 (2) ◽  
pp. 327-353 ◽  
Author(s):  
Annapurna Waughray

AbstractIndia's Dalits (formerly known as Untouchables) number around 167 million or one-sixth of India's population. Despite constitutional and legislative prohibitions of Untouchability and discrimination on grounds of caste they continue to suffer caste-based discrimination and violence. Internationally, caste discrimination has been affirmed since 1996 by the UN committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination as a form of racial discrimination prohibited by the Inter national Convention for the Elimination of all Forms of Racial Discrimination, and since 2000 as a form of discrimination prohibited by international human rights law. India's Dalits have also pursued minority rights and indigenous peoples' approaches before international forums. Yet the Dalits do not readily meet the internationally-agreed criteria for minorities or for indigenous peoples, while in India they are not classified legally as a minority, enjoying a constitutional status and constitutional protections in the form of affirmative action provisions distinct from those groups classified as minorities. This article is concerned with the characterisation of the Dalits in international and Indian law. In particular it focuses on India's provisions on Dalits and minorities respectively, examining the origins and limitations of the Scheduled Caste category (the constitutional term for the Dalits) and the relationship between Scheduled Caste status and religion. The article addresses arguments for the extension of Scheduled Caste status to Muslim and Christian Dalits (currently excluded from the constitutional category on grounds of religion) and concludes by endorsing calls for re-examination of the domestic legal categories encompassing victims of caste discrimination and of the legal strategies for the elimination of such discrimination, while arguing that internationally caste discrimination might be more effectively addressed by the conceptualisation of caste as a sui generis ground of discrimination as in India.


1967 ◽  
Vol 31 ◽  
pp. 239-251 ◽  
Author(s):  
F. J. Kerr

A review is given of information on the galactic-centre region obtained from recent observations of the 21-cm line from neutral hydrogen, the 18-cm group of OH lines, a hydrogen recombination line at 6 cm wavelength, and the continuum emission from ionized hydrogen.Both inward and outward motions are important in this region, in addition to rotation. Several types of observation indicate the presence of material in features inclined to the galactic plane. The relationship between the H and OH concentrations is not yet clear, but a rough picture of the central region can be proposed.


Paleobiology ◽  
1980 ◽  
Vol 6 (02) ◽  
pp. 146-160 ◽  
Author(s):  
William A. Oliver

The Mesozoic-Cenozoic coral Order Scleractinia has been suggested to have originated or evolved (1) by direct descent from the Paleozoic Order Rugosa or (2) by the development of a skeleton in members of one of the anemone groups that probably have existed throughout Phanerozoic time. In spite of much work on the subject, advocates of the direct descent hypothesis have failed to find convincing evidence of this relationship. Critical points are:(1) Rugosan septal insertion is serial; Scleractinian insertion is cyclic; no intermediate stages have been demonstrated. Apparent intermediates are Scleractinia having bilateral cyclic insertion or teratological Rugosa.(2) There is convincing evidence that the skeletons of many Rugosa were calcitic and none are known to be or to have been aragonitic. In contrast, the skeletons of all living Scleractinia are aragonitic and there is evidence that fossil Scleractinia were aragonitic also. The mineralogic difference is almost certainly due to intrinsic biologic factors.(3) No early Triassic corals of either group are known. This fact is not compelling (by itself) but is important in connection with points 1 and 2, because, given direct descent, both changes took place during this only stage in the history of the two groups in which there are no known corals.


2020 ◽  
Vol 43 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas Parr

Abstract This commentary focuses upon the relationship between two themes in the target article: the ways in which a Markov blanket may be defined and the role of precision and salience in mediating the interactions between what is internal and external to a system. These each rest upon the different perspectives we might take while “choosing” a Markov blanket.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document