Hermeneutics and Hindu Thought

by Sherma, Rita DasGupta, Ph.D.; Sharma, Arvind

• ISBN13: 9781402081910
• ISBN10: 140208191X
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2008-06-01
• Publisher: Springer Verlag

Summary

The advent of Hindu Studies coincides with the emergence of modern hermeneutics. Despite this co-emergence and rich possibilities inherent in dialectical encounters between theories of modern and post-modern hermeneutics, and those of Hindu hermeneutical traditions, such an enterprise has not been widely endeavored. The aim of this volume is to initiate such an interface. Essays in this volume reflect one or more of the following categories: (1) Examination of challenges and possibilities inherent in applying Western hermeneutics to Hindu traditions. (2) Critiques of certain heuristics used, historically, to 'œunderstand' Hindu traditions. (3) Elicitation of new hermeneutical paradigms from Hindu thought, to develop cross-cultural or dialogical hermeneutics.Applications of interpretive methodologies conditioned by Western culture to classify Indian thought have had important impacts. Essays by Sharma, Bilimoria, Sugirtharajah, and Tilak examine these impacts, offering alternate interpretive models for understanding Hindu concepts in particular and the Indian religious context in general.Several essays offer original insights regarding potential applications of traditional Hindu philosophical principles to cross-cultural hermeneutics (Long, Bilimoria, Klostermaier, Adarkar, and Taneja). Others engage Hindu texts philosophically to elicit deeper interpretations (Phillips, and Rukmani). In presenting essays that are both critical and constructive, we seek to uncover intellectual space for creative dialectical engagement that, we hope, will catalyze a reciprocal hermeneutics.

Table of Contents

Introduction	p. 1
The Hermeneutics of the Word "Religion" and Its Implications for the World of Indian Religions	p. 19
Max Muller and Textual Management: A Postcolonial Perspective	p. 33
Being and Text: Dialogic Fecundation of Western Hermeneutics and Hindu Mimamsa in the Critical Era	p. 45
The Hermeneutic Circle and the Hermeneutic Centre	p. 81
Caturdharmya: Hermeneutics of Integrative Differentiation	p. 95
Psychological Growth and Heroic Steadfastness in the Mahabharata	p. 121
Value Ethics in the Early Upanisads: A Hermeneutic Approach	p. 151
Engagement with Sanskrit Philosophic Texts	p. 169
Truth, Diversity, and the Incomplete Project of Modern Hinduism	p. 179
The Other of Oneself: A Gadamerian Conversation with Gaudiya Vaisnavism	p. 211
Concluding Remarks	p. 233
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