Research master thesis | Asian Studies (research) (MA)
open access
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...Show moreThis 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.Show less
In deze scriptie doe ik onderzoek naar lichte zesde lettergrepen in verzen van acht lettergrepen (dimeters) in boek 1 van de Rigveda. Van 115 van deze gevallen heb ik uitgezocht of er etymologische...Show moreIn deze scriptie doe ik onderzoek naar lichte zesde lettergrepen in verzen van acht lettergrepen (dimeters) in boek 1 van de Rigveda. Van 115 van deze gevallen heb ik uitgezocht of er etymologische verklaringen zijn en of er verzen van elf of twaalf lettergrepen (trimeters) bestaan die zodanig lijken op de dimeters, dat ze een model kunnen vormen om woorden op plaatsen toe te staan waar ze eigenlijk niet in het metrum passen. In meer dan de helft van de gevallen blijkt er zo’n trimeter te bestaan, maar lang niet altijd is het een overtuigend model. Verder blijkt dat de al lang bestaande theorie, dat deze lichte lettergrepen vroeger zwaar waren omdat er bij het opstellen nog een laryngaal achter stond, meer problemen veroorzaakt dan oplost. Er kunnen ook enkele gevallen verklaard worden indien een bepaald gelijkrijmschema belangrijker was dan het slot van het metrum in dimeters. Wat ook opviel is dat minstens 85 gevallen zouden kunnen worden verklaard als het uitmaakt dat er nauwelijks of geen trimeters in de buurt zijn, maar die theorie heeft nog wel flink wat onderbouwing nodig.Show less
Research master thesis | Linguistics (research) (MA)
closed access
This thesis aims to present a new critical edition of the first section (anuvāka) of book (kāṇḍa) 17 of the Atharvaveda Paippalāda, a corpus of religious hymns and magical incantations dated to the...Show moreThis thesis aims to present a new critical edition of the first section (anuvāka) of book (kāṇḍa) 17 of the Atharvaveda Paippalāda, a corpus of religious hymns and magical incantations dated to the late second millenium BCE, which furnish the second-oldest body of Vedic Indian literature to survive to the present day. This thesis focuses on the first section of book 17, consisting of a great praise hymn addressed to the earth. It strives to improve the previous Indian edition (Bhattacharya 2011), by collating additional manuscript sources, providing a rigorous critical apparatus that includes all the variants found in the manuscritps, as well as an edited text based on established text-critical criteria. In addition, an analysis of the poetic meter of each verse is also provided next to each stanza, as well as a translation and detailed commentary in which I discuss the interpretation of each stanza with notes on its ritual, literary and linguistic context. Given the limited extension of the extant corpus of Vedic texts, the edition of a new text is of extreme importance, as it not only adds new information to our knowledge of the Vedic language, but also furnishes new precious linguistic material for the reconstruction of Proto-Indo-European and the study of the history of its Indo-Iranian branch. Moreover, the acquisition of a philologically reliable version of such a text is a fundamental step towards any future anthropological or religious study on ancient Vedic India.Show less
