Books in the Welten Sued- und Zentralasiens / Worlds of South and Inner Asia / Mondes de l'Asie du Sud et de l'Asie centrale series

How has life been thought compatible with moksa? How have 'life' in the concept of the 'liberated living' and 'death' in the concept of the 'disembodied liberated' been conceived by philosophers, poets, religious thinkers, ritual practitioners and social activists? This book deals with these questions.

The Sangitaratnakara (The Ocean of Music written by Sarngadeva in the 13th century is the most important theoretical work on Indian classical music. Its prologue, the Pindotpatti-prakarana (The Section of the Arising of the Human Body, deals with the Indian science of the human body, i.e. embryology, anatomy, and the Hathayogic heory of Cakras. The sources of this work are found in the classical medical texts (Ayurveda) such as Caraka, Susruta and Vagbhata, the Hathayogic texts as well as in the encyclopaedic texts (Purana). After philologically analyzing the mutual relation and background of these texts, the author demonstrates the reasons why the human body is described in this musicological work. His investigation reveals the Indian mystic thought of body and sound. This study, although an Indological one, is an attempt to answer the universal question what music is, i.e. how music is created in the human body, what the effect of music on the human body is, and what music aims at. The second half of the book consists of a translation of the original text of the Pindotpatti-prakarana, including commentaries, with plenty of annotations.

What role have translations from Hindi literary works played in shaping and transforming our knowledge about India? This title deals with the linguistic criteria germane to the selection and translation of Hindi works, the nature of the links between India and Europe, and the reception of translated texts, through the perspective of book history.

Devadattiyam

Takes you on a journey to Dolpo, one of Nepal's remotest Tibetan enclaves with a large community that follow the Bon religion. This title provides key structuring which is based on anthropological research and the study of the textual legacy. It sheds light on how Bon religion emerged in Dolpo and has remained alive.