The Will of Raimonda: Testament of a Woman in the Twelfth Century

Purānas which get written in accordance with the Vedas recreate the āstika ethos in a completely different social, temporal, and geographical context. Devānga Purāna dated to around 1532 CE and written after the social revolution in Kalyana in the twelfth century reaffirms the strength of the Vedic tradition by embracing the liberal and esoteric elements in Upanishadic thought. In this essay I look at the formation of Vedic ethos by focusing on a mythological narrative concerning the origin of yajñopavīta. I claim that the yajñopavīta was invented to intensify the will to non-knowledge.

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Know Yourself

10.1093/oso/9780199575381.003.0004 ◽

2017 ◽

Author(s):

Laura Ashe

Keyword(s):

Thirteenth Century ◽

Twelfth Century ◽

Cultural Change ◽

Ancrene Wisse ◽

The Will ◽

Self Knowledge ◽

Love Of God

This chapter traces the development of the new theology of interiority and confessional soul-searching, analysing the Life of Christina of Markyate and the hagiographical Life of St Alexis, observing the changes in understanding of sin and virtue in the early twelfth century. Abelard’s theory of self-knowledge and of the ethics of the will are examined in this light. It then considers the devotional sufferings of the ascetic, and moves to a long discussion of the Ancrene Wisse, the guide for thirteenth-century anchorites, in how to keep a pure heart. The love of God is central to this, as is the experience of pain and of shame. New theories of the Incarnation are described and analysed as part of a great cultural change.

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