Buddhist Homiletics on Grief

The study first introduces a hitherto completely unstudied anonymous work, for which I reconstruct the title *Saddharmaparikathā. This substantial text is a Buddhist homiletician’s guidebook with sample sermons in Sanskrit on a rich variety of topics. I argue that it dates from the 5th century and that it was possibly authored in a Saṃmatīya environment. I first discuss the unique manuscript transmitting the text, the structure and contents of the work, what information it can provide for the tradition of preaching and its importance for Buddhist studies. In the second half, I provide a sample chapter ‘On Grief’ with an annotated translation.

The Guru as Śiva

This article introduces and analyzes the Gurustutiratnāvalī, a sophisticated eighteenth-century Sanskrit hymn composed by Govinda Kaula of Kashmir in praise of his teacher’s teacher, the prolific author Sāhib Kaula. It evaluates the evidence for Govinda Kaula’s dating, lineage, and literary activity and presents the first published edition and translation of select verses of his Gurustutiratnāvalī based on four manuscripts. The analysis of the hymn focuses on the ways the author equates a specific guru in his lineage—Sāhib Kaula—with the supreme deity Śiva. Using this hymn as a starting point, the article considers the history of guru-praise (gurustuti) and guru-devotion (gurubhakti) in Kashmir as well as in South Asia more broadly. Lastly, it suggests that further work on this lineage and the religious dynamics of the eighteenth and nineteenth century will prove crucial for helping us understand the emergence of what came to be popularly known as “Kashmir Śaivism.”

Dates, Places, Verses

Reviewing the catalogue of the Paṇḍit Collection in the Royal Library at Copenhagen, which was (as far as the colophons allow this conclusion) mainly collected from Western India and from Benares during the 16th through 19th centuries, offers also an opportunity for a preliminary study of some aspects of colophons, particularly the problems incurred in fully understanding the dates and their vocabulary. Moreover, concluding verses attached by copyists at the end of their manuscripts were assembled from the catalogue.