Studia Orientalia Electronica

Causes of Suffering: Unravelling Suśruta and Sāṅkhya

Vitus Angermeier — 2024-12-27

A passage on suffering (duḥkha) in the first section of the Suśrutasaṃhitā (SS), one of the foundational compendia of Āyurveda, elaborates on three kinds of suffering. The very same scheme also occurs in the commentarial literature of Sāṅkhya, one of the oldest and most important philosophical systems of South Asia. In the SS, however, this account leads a solitary life, never referred to in the whole work again, nor in other contemporary medical literature. This article will determine the actual position of this passage within the work and its relation to the Sāṅkhya parallels, and examine other approaches regarding the causation of suffering and disease in the SS. To this end, not only its representation in the vulgate edition of the SS, but also the version appearing in three early Nepalese manuscripts will be considered.

Applying History: Towards a Responsive Writing

Wazeer Murtala — 2024-12-27

This article discusses African historiography with an emphasis on Nigeria. It posits that the themes in African historiography have continued to evolve, with historians of different eras paying attention to a broad spectrum of issues. The need at one point was to recall the glory of Africa’s past, and to debunk Eurocentric bias and prejudice by early European writers of African history was a central theme in historical research on the continent. Thus, it was employed to address pressing issues of nationalism and to combat Afro-pessimism. The article suggests that contemporary historians can use historical writing to understand, analyse, and make recommendations for policymakers in Africa in such areas as governance, trade, and bilateral relations. Looking at contemporary issues, it has become clear that today’s historians can do more to contribute to finding solutions to some of the current challenges in different African communities.

Early Islamic Inscriptions from Northeast Jordan

Ilkka Lindstedt — 2024-12-27

This study publishes fifteen new early Islamic-era Arabic inscriptions. They stem from the Jordanian panhandle in the northeastern part of the country, near the modern town of al-Ruwayshid. The inscriptions were recorded during the Badia Epigraphic Survey 2018. Three of the inscriptions give explicit dates in the latter half of the second century AH/eighth century CE. On the basis of paleography, I suggest that the rest of the inscriptions come from that era as well. The contents also support this: nine inscriptions were written by members of the same extended family; one of them carries a date (158 AH/774–775 CE), so the rest of the family can also be roughly dated on the basis of this information. The set published here attests to some new epigraphic formulae and two cases of an interesting use of the Quranic text. One inscription, found on top of a hill, is a prayer for rain during a drought. I also discuss the social and religious relevance of these inscriptions. In this article, Safaitic inscriptions – lapidary texts written in antiquity in Old Arabic dialects with the Safaitic script – are used as an analogue, which might help explain some aspects of nomadic life, such as seasonal migration, in the region in Islamic times as well. I analyze the members and the movements of the family that left nine inscriptions in the region.

Vyāsa’s Bakavadhaparvan: A Source for Bhāsa’s Madhyamavyāyoga

Roberto Morales-Harley — 2024-12-27

As its primary/explicit source, the Madhyamavyāyoga has the Hiḍiṃbavadhaparvan, where Bhīma kills Hiḍiṃba and marries his sister Hiḍiṃbā. As a possible secondary/implicit source, it also has the Bakavadhaparvan, where Bhīma kills Baka and ends up saving a Brahman and his family. This paper proposes a comparison between the two epic sources, on one hand, and the dramatic adaptation, on the other, to determine the key features of such supposed merging. To that end, it examines (1) psycho-affective components (sneha), (2) socio-cultural components (dharma), and (3) religio-philosophical components (toya/jala). The main conclusion is that, on these subjects, the resemblances of the play with the story of Baka are more significant than those with the story of Hiḍimba.

Darius as “King of Assyria” (Ezra 6:22)

Jason M. Silverman — 2024-12-27

The use of the title of King of Assyria in Ezra 6:22 is related to the Persian satrapy of Abar-Nahara.