46-798: The Malaya Mountains were a range of mountains that were mentioned in the Hindu sacred texts like Matsya Purana , the Kurma Purana , the Vishnu Purana , and the epics of the Ramayana and the Mahabharata , which is present day Kerala . The Vishnu Purana specifically mentions it amongst the seven main chains of mountains in Bharata (India), namely Mahendra , Malaya, Sahya , Śuktimat, Riksha , Vindhya , and Páripátra . According to
92-927: A Ph.D. from Harvard University in June 1968, with a dissertation on Asceticism and Sexuality in the Mythology of Siva , supervised by Daniel H. H. Ingalls, Sr. She obtained a D. Phil. in Oriental Studies from Oxford University , in February 1973, with a dissertation on The Origins of Heresy in Hindu Mythology , supervised by Robert Charles Zaehner . Doniger holds the Mircea Eliade Distinguished Service Professor Chair in History of Religions at
138-451: A diverse range of topics, many unrelated to Vishnu, and its mixed encyclopedic character led Horace Hayman Wilson – famous for his 19th-century Purana studies and translations, to state, "it is too mixed a character to be considered a genuine Purana" and largely a collection of miscellaneous topics. The text includes a similar coverage on legends of god Shiva and god Vishnu, and dedicates a section on goddess Shakti as well. Chapters 54-102 of
184-612: A generation that framed its study of Sanskrit with Latin and Greek rather than Urdu or Tamil. I've never dug anything up out of the ground or established the date of a sculpture. I've labored all my adult life in the paddy fields of Sanskrit, ... Her books both in Hinduism and other fields have been positively reviewed by the Indian scholar Vijaya Nagarajan and the American Hindu scholar Lindsey B. Harlan , who noted as part of
230-522: A guide for building art work such as paintings and sculpture, features and design guidelines for temples, objects and house architecture ( Vastu-shastra ), various types of Yoga , duties and ethics ( Dharma ) with multiple chapters on the value of Dāna (charity), both Shiva and Vishnu related festivals, geography particularly around the Narmada river, pilgrimage, duties of a king and good government and other topics. The Matsya Purana, like all Puranas,
276-471: A note stating that as a Purana, it is supposed to be edited and revised to remain useful to the society. Wendy Doniger dates the Matsya Purana to have been composed between 250 and 500 CE. The general consensus among scholars is that Matsya Purana is among the older Purana, with its first version complete in the 3rd-century CE, but sections of it were routinely revised, deleted and expanded over
322-536: A positive review that "Doniger's agenda is her desire to rescue the comparative project from the jaws of certain proponents of postmodernism ". Of her Hindu Myths: A Sourcebook Translated from the Sanskrit , the Indologist Richard Gombrich wrote: "Intellectually, it is a triumph..." Doniger's (then O'Flaherty) 1973 book Asceticism and Eroticism in the Mythology of Śiva was a critique of
368-415: A premier scholar of Indian religious thought and history expressed through Sanskritic sources, has faced regular criticism from those who consider her work to be disrespectful of Hinduism in general. Novetzke cites Doniger's use of "psychoanalytical theory" as ... a kind of lightning rod for the censure that these scholars receive from freelance critics and 'watch-dog' organizations that claim to represent
414-554: A publishing business. While in high school, she studied dance under George Balanchine and Martha Graham . She graduated summa cum laude in Sanskrit and Indian Studies from Radcliffe College in 1962, and received her M.A. from Harvard Graduate School of Arts and Sciences in June 1963. She then studied in India in 1963–1964 with a 12-month Junior Fellowship from the American Institute of Indian Studies . She received
460-410: A single date of composition. (...) It is as if they were libraries to which new volumes have been continuously added, not necessarily at the end of the shelf, but randomly. The text is named after the fish avatar of the Hindu god Vishnu called Matsya. The Tamil version of the Matsya Purana has two sections, Purva (early) and Uttara (later), and it consists of 172 chapters. Other versions of
506-526: A single perspective which does not subordinate Indian self-identity. Her authorship of the section describing Hindu Religion in Microsoft's Encarta Encyclopedia was criticized for being politically motivated and distorted. Following a review, the article was withdrawn. Patak Kumar notes that Doniger has given a "dispassionate secular critique" of Hinduism, which is met with defensive responses by Indian scholars such as Varadaraja V. Raman , who acknowledged
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#1732773142275552-442: Is a Vaishnavism text named after the half-human and half- fish avatar of Vishnu . However, the text has been called by the 19th-century Sanskrit scholar Horace Hayman Wilson , "although a Shaivism (Shiva-related) work, it is not exclusively so"; the text has also been referred to one that simultaneously praises various Hindu gods and goddesses. The Matsya Purana has survived into the modern era in many versions, varying in
598-430: Is an American Indologist whose professional career has spanned five decades. A scholar of Sanskrit and Indian textual traditions, her major works include The Hindus: An Alternative History ; Asceticism and Eroticism in the Mythology of Siva ; Hindu Myths: A Sourcebook ; The Origins of Evil in Hindu Mythology ; Women, Androgynes, and Other Mythical Beasts ; and The Rig Veda: An Anthology, 108 Hymns Translated from
644-475: Is nothing in this text that actually justifies this classification. It narrates the story of Matsya, the first of ten major Avatars of the Hindu god Vishnu . The text describes the mythology of a great flood, where in the world and humans led by Manu, the seeds of all plants and mobile living beings, as well as its knowledge books (Vedas) were saved by the Matsya avatar of Vishnu. The Matsya Purana covers
690-576: The Times Literary Supplement , The Times , The Washington Post , U.S. News & World Report , International Herald Tribune , Parabola , The Chronicle of Higher Education , Daedalus , The Nation , and the Journal of Asian Studies . Published under the name of Wendy Doniger O'Flaherty: Published under the name of Wendy Doniger: Published under the name of Wendy Doniger O'Flaherty: Published under
736-803: The Matsya Purana , during the Great flood , the giant boat of King Manu was perched after the deluge on the top of the Malaya Mountains. These mountains are believed to have formed the southernmost part (southwards starting from the Mangalore region) of the Western Ghats , modern day Kerala , while the Northern part of the same was called the Sahya Mountains . The peaks of these Malaya mountains were said to be higher than those of
782-596: The Matsya Purana , is about sights, history and temples along the Narmada river region in modern Madhya Pradesh , Maharashtra and Gujarat . The Prayaga Mahatmya is another tour guide in the text, which covers chapters 103–112 of the Matsya Purana , with verses on the Kumbh mela . Other Tirtha (pilgrimage) areas covered in the tour guide sections of this Purana, include those related to Goddesses (Shakti) in eastern and southern states of India. The chapters 180-185 of
828-531: The National Book Critics Circle named The Hindus as a finalist for its 2009 book awards. The Hindu American Foundation protested this decision, alleging inaccuracies and bias in the book. In 2011, a lawsuit was filed against Doniger and Penguin books by Dinanath Batra on the grounds that the book intentionally offended or outraged the religious sentiments of Hindus, an action punishable by criminal prosecution under Section 295A of
874-562: The Sahya Mounta . Sangam Literature calls these mountains Pothigai . Matsya Purana Divisions Sama vedic Yajur vedic Atharva vedic Vaishnava puranas Shaiva puranas Shakta puranas The Matsya Purana ( IAST : Matsya Purāṇa) is one of the eighteen major Puranas (Mahapurana), and among the oldest and better preserved in the Puranic genre of Sanskrit literature in Hinduism . The text
920-766: The Social Scientist and the Journal of the American Oriental Society , though praising Doniger for her textual scholarship, criticized both Doniger's poor historiography and her lack of focus. In the popular press, the book has received many positive reviews, for example from the Library Journal , the Times Literary Supplement , the New York Review of Books , The New York Times , and The Hindu . In January 2010,
966-635: The University of Delhi , writes: ... it (1973) also happened to be the year when her first major work in early India's religious history, viz., Siva, the Erotic Ascetic was published and had instantly become a talking point for being a path-breaking work. I still prescribe it as the most essential reading to my postgraduate students at the University of Delhi, where I have been teaching a compulsory course on 'Evolution of Indian Religions' for
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#17327731422751012-464: The "Great tradition Śivapurāṇas and the tension that arises between Śiva's ascetic and erotic activities." Richard Gombrich called it "learned and exciting"; however, John H. Marr was disappointed that the "regionalism" so characteristic of the texts is absent in Doniger's book, and wondered why the discussion took so long. Doniger's Rigveda , a translation of 108 hymns selected from the canon,
1058-476: The "sound scholarship" of Doniger, but urged "appreciation and sensitivity" when "analyzing works regarded as sacred by vast numbers of people." Doniger's trade book, The Hindus: An Alternative History was published in 2009 by Viking/Penguin. According to the Hindustan Times , The Hindus was a No. 1 bestseller in its non-fiction category in the week of October 15, 2009. Two scholarly reviews in
1104-771: The Indian Penal Code . In 2014, as part of a settlement agreement reached with plaintiff, The Hindus was recalled by Penguin India. Indian authors such as Arundhati Roy , Partha Chatterjee , Jeet Thayil , and Namwar Singh inveighed against the publisher's decision. The book has since been published in India by Speaking Tiger Books. Doniger has written 16 books, translated (primarily from Sanskrit to English) with commentary nine other volumes, has contributed to many edited texts and has written hundreds of articles in journals, magazines and newspapers. These include New York Times Book Review , London Review of Books ,
1150-698: The Sanskrit . She is the Mircea Eliade Distinguished Service Professor of History of Religions at the University of Chicago , and has taught there since 1978. She served as president of the Association for Asian Studies in 1998. Wendy Doniger was born in New York City to immigrant non-observant Jewish parents, and raised in Great Neck , New York, where her father, Lester L. Doniger (1909–1971), ran
1196-656: The University of Chicago. She is the editor of the scholarly journal History of Religions , having served on its editorial board since 1979, and has edited a dozen other publications in her career. In 1985, she was elected president of the American Academy of Religion , and in 1997 President of the Association for Asian Studies . She serves on the International Editorial Board of the Encyclopædia Britannica . She
1242-528: The centuries, through the 2nd-millennium CE. The Matsya Purana , like all Puranas, has a complicated chronology. Dimmitt and van Buitenen state that each of the Puranas is encyclopedic in style, and it is difficult to ascertain when, where, why and by whom these were written: As they exist today, the Puranas are a stratified literature. Each titled work consists of material that has grown by numerous accretions in successive historical eras. Thus no Purana has
1288-648: The description varying. In chapter 52, for example, the Matsya Purana states that Karma Yoga is more important than Jnana Yoga to a new Yogi, because Karma Yoga leads to Jnana Yoga, and Jnana Yoga never arises without Karma Yoga. The text then describes eight essential spiritual qualities of a Karma Yogi in verse 52.8–52.10 – Clemency and non-injury to others and all living beings, forbearance, protection to those who seek aid in distress, freedom from envy, external and internal purification, calmness, non-miserliness in helping those who are distressed, and never hankering after another person's wealth or wife. Karma Yogi, asserts
1334-581: The details but almost all of the published versions have 291 chapters, except the Tamil language version, written in Grantha script, which has 172 chapters. The text is notable for providing one of earliest known definition of a Purana genre of literature. A history written with five characteristics is called a Purana, states Matsya Purana , otherwise it is called Akhyana . These five characteristics are cosmogony describing its theory of primary creation of
1380-427: The last nearly four decades. It was the beginning of series of extremely fruitful and provocative encounters with the formidable scholarship of Wendy Doniger. Doniger is a scholar of Sanskrit and Indian textual traditions. By her self-description, I myself am by both temperament and training inclined to texts. I am neither an archaeologist nor an art historian; I am a Sanskritist, indeed a recovering Orientalist, of
1426-519: The name of Wendy Doniger: Published under the name of Wendy Doniger O'Flaherty: Published under the name of Wendy Doniger: That is why, with the exception of Geldner's German translation, the most reliable modern translations of the Rgveda-W. O'Flaherty's being one of them-are only partial. However, W. O'Flaherty has, in her present translation, a wider scope than other scholars – Louis Renou , for instance, whose Hymnes speculatifs du Veda are
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1472-474: The published Matsya Purana manuscripts have 291 chapters. The text and tradition asserts that Matsya Purana had 20,000 verses. However, extant manuscripts contain between 13,000 and 15,000 verses. The Padma Purana categorizes Matsya Purana as a Tamas Purana, or one that glorifies Shiva or Agni. Scholars consider the Sattva-Rajas-Tamas classification as "entirely fanciful" and there
1518-480: The resider in the heart, respectively. The relative ratios, of various levels and various spaces, which the text asserts are naturally pleasing, such as those of entrance height, lengths and heights, placement of carvings are specified in chapters 253–269, as well as other sections such as chapters 58–65. For example, the text suggests that the pillar inside the temple (stambha) be considered as of nine parts, with terms such as Padma, Kumbha, Antara and others, wherein
1564-736: The sentiments of Hindus. Philosopher Martha Nussbaum , concurring with Novetzke, adds that while the agenda of those in the American Hindu community who criticize Doniger appears similar to that of the Hindu right-wing in India , it is not quite the same since it has "no overt connection to national identity", and that it has created feelings of guilt among American scholars, given the prevailing ethos of ethnic respect, that they might have offended people from another culture. While Doniger has agreed that Indians have ample grounds to reject postcolonial domination , she claims that her works are only
1610-408: The square design principle, suggesting that the land and design of large temples be set on 64 squares (mandala or yantra), and numerous other square grid designs such as the 16 square grid smaller temple. A temple's main entrance and the sanctum space should typically open east facing the sunrise, states the text, while the human body was the template of the temple, with Atman and Brahman (Purusha) as
1656-633: The temples, states Michael Meister. However, field evidence suggests that the 1st-millennium Hindu temples across India, ones that have survived into the modern age, did adopt the square principle and the architecture approximately follows the general principles mention in old texts such as the Matsya Purana . The Matsya Purana contains, like all Puranas, a collection of chapters called the Mahatmya . These, states Ariel Glucklich, were ancient or medieval Indian "promotional works aimed at tourists from that era". The most detailed set, in chapters 189–194 of
1702-548: The text discuss the significance and celebration of Hindu festivals and family celebrations such as those related to the Samskara (rite of passage) . The chapters 215–227 of the text discuss its theories of the duties of a king and good government, while chapters 252–257 weave in a technical discussion of how to identify a stable soil for home construction, different architectural designs of a house along with construction-related ritual ceremonies. The Matsya Purana , along with
1748-560: The text in verse 52.13–52.14, undertakes five worships every day – worship the Devas , worship one's parents and ancestors, feeding the poor and showing hospitality to guests, feeding animals and birds, and worship sages and one's teachers by reciting the Vedas . Elsewhere, the Matsya Purana , in chapter 183, states that Yoga is of two forms – Saguna yoga and Nirguna yoga. Wendy Doniger Wendy Doniger O'Flaherty (born November 20, 1940)
1794-459: The text present Avimukta Mahatmya , which is a travel guide for Benaras ( Varanasi , Kashi). Matsya Purana has a shloka (hymn), which explains the importance of reverence of ecology in Hinduism. It states, "A pond equals ten wells , a reservoir equals ten ponds, while a son equals ten reservoirs, and a tree equals ten sons." The text presents Yoga in many early and late chapters, with
1840-407: The texts such as Brihat Samhita, are among the oldest surviving texts with numerous sections on temple, sculpture and artwork designs. The Purana describes 20 styles of Hindu temples, such as Meru, Mandara (later Mandir) and Kailasa designs. The text lays out guidelines on foundation, spaces within the core temple where people visit, and then the spire ( Vimana or Shikhara ). The text highlights
1886-427: The universe, chronological description of secondary creations wherein the universe goes through the cycle of birth-life-death, genealogy and mythology of gods and goddesses, Manvantaras , legends of kings and people including solar and lunar dynasties. The Matsya Purana is also notable for being encyclopedic in the topics it covers. Along with the five topics the text defines a Purana to be, it includes mythology,
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1932-460: The width of the pillar and each of these parts have certain ratios, and the structural features or carvings be laid out on these nine parts. The text, though named after an avatar of Vishnu, has numerous sections on the installation of Shiva Linga , while other chapters mention Vishnu murti , goddesses and other deities. The design guidebooks embedded inside the Matsya Purana were likely suggestions, and not binding on those who sponsored or built
1978-416: Was deemed among the most reliable by historian of religion Ioan P. Culianu . However, in an email message, Michael Witzel called it "idiosyncratic and unreliable just like her Jaiminiya Brahmana or Manu (re-)translations." Beginning in the early 2000s, some conservative diaspora Hindus started to question whether Doniger accurately described Hindu traditions . Together with some of her colleagues, she
2024-558: Was invited to give the 2010 Art Institute of Chicago President's Lecture at the Chicago Humanities Festival , which was titled, "The Lingam Made Flesh: Split-Level Symbolism in Hindu Art". Since she began writing in the 1960s, Doniger has gained the reputation of being "one of America's major scholars in the humanities". Assessing Doniger's body of work, K. M. Shrimali, Professor of Ancient Indian History at
2070-459: Was revised and updated continuously. The composition of the text may have begun in the last centuries of the 1st-millennium BCE, and its first version complete by about the 3rd-century of the common era, asserts Ramachandra Dikshitar – known for proposing ancient dates for Indian literature. Other scholars, such as Pandurang Vaman Kane , place the earliest version of the text to between c. 200 and 500 CE. The Matsya Purana , in chapter 53, includes
2116-445: Was the subject of a critique by Hindu right-wing activist speaker Rajiv Malhotra , for using psychoanalytic concepts to interpret non-Western subjects. Aditi Banerjee , a co-author of Malhotra, criticised Wendy Doniger as grossly misquoting the text of Valmiki Ramayana . Christian Lee Novetzke , associate professor of South Asian Studies at the University of Washington , summarizes this controversy as follows: Wendy Doniger,
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