Happy week-end I’m Elena and you’re on Alessandro III di Macedonia- your source about Alexander the Great and Hellenism! Today I announce the release of a book that might interest some of you:
How the Brahmins Won: From Alexander to the Guptas
by Johannes Bronkhorst
Manohar Publishers & Distributors
Publishing date: November 1st, 2024
This is the first study to systematically confront the question how Brahmanism, which was geographically limited and under threat during the final centuries BCE, transformed itself and spread all over South and Southeast Asia. Brahmanism spread over this vast area without the support of an empire, without the help of conquering armies, and without the intermediary of religious missionaries. This phenomenon has no parallel in world history, yet shaped a major portion of the surface of the earth for a number of centuries. This book focuses on the formative period of this phenomenon, roughly between Alexander and the Guptas.
Johannes Bronkhorst (PhD Pune 1979, doctorate Leiden 1980) is professor emeritus at the University of Lausanne. He has published numerous research papers and books, including Greater Magadha (Brill, 2007) and Buddhism in the Shadow of Brahmanism (Brill, 2011).
Table of Contents (from Brill’s edition)
PREFACE
INTRODUCTION
I. CATASTROPHE AND NEW DEPARTURES
I.1. Catastrophe
I.1.1. Alexander and after
I.1.2. The end of time
I.1.3. Brahmins in Gandhāra
I.1.4. The Vedic tradition reinterpreted
I.2. New departures
I.2.1. Patañjali and Kātyāyana
I.2.2. Manu and his predecessors
I.2.3. Literature on statecraft
I.2.4. Literature on domestic ritual
I.2.5. The Mahābhārata
Archetypes and autographs
Archetype and autograph in the case of the Mahābhārata
Archetype and hyparchetype
Autograph and archetype
Pāṇini and the Mahābhārata
I.2.6. Literature on phonology
I.3. Conclusions
II. BRAHMANISM
IIA. THE CORE VISION
IIA.1. Purity of descent
IIA.1.1.The rules
IIA.1.2. Brahmins of foreign origin: the Magas
IIA.1.3. Temple priests and other Bramins of debatable origin
IIA.2. Admittance
IIA.2.1. Vedic initiation (upanayana) and other sacraments (saṃskāra)
IIA.2.2. Vedic knowledge
IIA.2.3. The ideal Brahmin
IIA.3. Illiteracy
IIA.3.1. The problem
IIA.3.2. Ordinary memorisation versus Vedic memorisation
IIA.3.3. Pāṇini
IIA.3.4. The Mahābhāṣya
IIA.3.5. Systematic philosophy
IIA.3.6. Conclusions
IIA.4. Sanskrit and the Veda
IIA.4.1. The linguistic background of Brahmanism
IIA.4.2. The eternal nature of Sanskrit
IIA.4.3. New ideas about Sanskrit and the Veda
Categories of words and categories of things
Words
Vedic sentences
Other sentences
IIB. BRAHMINS AND SOCIETY
IIB.1. Imitatio Brahmanae
IIB.2. Brahmanical power
IIB.2.1. The Atharva-Veda
The Atharva-Veda in tradition
The Atharva-Veda in the Gṛhyasūtras
The Atharva-Veda in the Mahābhārata
IIB.2.2. The authorship of the Mahābhārata
An alternative to Sukthankar’s thesis
III. EXTERNAL INFLUENCE
III.1. Karma and the individual
III.2. Rationality
III.2.1. How rationality came to India
III.2.2. Brahmanism and rationality
III.3. Patañjali’s reinterpretation of Grammar
III.3.1. Earliest Buddhist systematic philosophy
III.3.2. Buddhist influence on Patañjali
Patañjali on words and speech sounds
Patañjali on derivations
Knowledge of what follows
Knowledge of the final outcome
Complications ignored
Two linearities in conflict
III.4. Brahmanical philosophy
III.4.1. Vaiśeṣika
III.4.2. Self-contradictory sentences
Brahmanism and Buddhism on language
satkāryavāda
ajātivāda
asatkāryavāda
III.4.3. Language or grammar?
III.5. The origins of the Indian theater
IV. CONCLUSIONS: HOW DID THE BRAHMINS WIN?
APPENDIXES
Appendix I: Brahmins and Śramaṇas
Appendix II: Vedic and para-Vedic texts on the Śunaskarṇa sacrifice
Appendix III: Manu’s final chapter
Appendix IV: Passages dealing with five-nailed animals
Appendix V: Liberation, enlightenment and death
Appendix VI: The Ṛgveda Prātiśākhya and its Śākhā
Appendix VII: Did Patañjali know Pāṇini’s original text?
Appendix VIII: Why did Buddhism and Jainism develop differently in India?
Appendix IX: Bhāskara’s acquaintance with grammatical literature
Appendix X: Was there Buddhism in Gandhāra at the time of Alexander?
REFERENCES
INDEX
ISBN: 978-9360803544
Cover: HardBound
Publication Year: 2025
Pages: 590 p.
Price: INR 2995.00 – € 126,36
This book was released in 2016 by Brill and is now about to be reprinted by Manohar Publishers & Distributors; it’s suitable for all those interested in Buddhism, Brahmanism, Jainism, cultural history of South and Southeast Asia, history of religion, Sanskrit and Middle Indic philology and also those who want to deepen Alexander the Great in contact with Indian culture, even if Alexander isn’t the main topic. Unfortunately, however, on Amazon it’s sold at a very high price (126 €) even though the publisher’s site sells it at a normal price (2995.00 Indian Rupees = 33 €), but with shipping costs it ends up costing unfortunately too much for me. I’d like to read this book but I have to find a way to get it at an acceptable price because I cannot spend € 126 for this now.
I hope I was helpful, have a good weekend everyone,
Alessandro III di Macedonia 