Leiden University Student Repository

Littunen, Olli-Pekka Antero (2022)

Māhātmyas as Evolving Entities: A Text-Critical Study of a Selection of Vārāṇasīmāhātmyas Attributed to the Brahmapurāṇa

Research master thesis | Asian Studies (research) (MA)

This thesis focuses on a fluid genre of glorificatory literature called Māhātmya. I critically edit, translate, and analyze a selection of Sanskrit Māhātmyas to increase our understanding of how these kinds of texts come to being and how we can understand their processes of composition and transmission. I use a fourfold typology – which in itself is a result of the research – to point out different aspects of intertextuality found in the selection of texts. Analyzing these Māhātmyas contributes to a more nuanced understanding regarding issues of textual reuse, and sheds light on the concept of authorship, especially regarding the authorless religious literature of Hinduism.

Hinduism

India

Intertextuality

Māhātmya

Purāṇa

Sanskrit

South Asia

Textual Reuse

Author

Littunen, Olli-Pekka Antero

Faculty

Faculty of Humanities

Specialisation

South Asia

Supervisors

Bisschop, P.C.

ECTS Credits

30

Language

en