ECSTATIC PHILOLOGY NARRATIVE INTERACTIONS BETWEEN THE MAHĀBHĀRATA AND THE BHĀGAVATAPURĀṆA by Vishwa Adluri and Joydeep Bagchee
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Nagaraj Paturi
Sep 28, 2022, 2:11:48 AM9/28/22
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INTRODUCTION
This article is concerned with identifying an appropriate method for studying the
itihāsapurāṇa textual tradition. Whereas the text-historical approach emphasizes
chronologies (though these are often speculative, relative, and lacking in manuscript
evidence), philosophical approaches provide an interpretation in the form of an
argument.1 What are the systematic principles that guide the itihāsapurāṇa tradition?
One, the itihāsapurāṇa tradition is an interpretive tradition.2 What does it interpret? The
Veda.3 Two, what is the guiding principle of this interpretation? It is brahmavāda or
ontology.4 Three, the Vedic revelation unambiguously declares ānanda to be Brahman’s
svarūpa lakṣaṇa (vijñānamānandaṃ brahma; Br.Up. 3.9.28).5 Inasmuch as philology or
the study of texts ought to pursue understanding texts rather than speculate from a
pseudo-scientific perspective, ecstatic philology,6 rather than text-historicism,7 arguablyprovides a better method for reading the itihāsapurāṇa and, by extension, also for the
humanities. In the remainder of this article, we shall investigate the intersection of the
Mahābhārata and the Bhāgavatapurāṇa as interpretations of the Veda.8 In order not to
lose sight of the aesthetic dimension of these texts, we have chosen to pay close attention
to ānanda or ecstatic bliss.9 Because ānanda is Brahman’s true nature,10 we see howthese texts connect literary ecstasy with its very source, Brahman. With these comments
on method and the history of the field,11 we turn to an analysis of the ontology of bliss.
We shall then turn to the texts themselves to understand how the narrative program of the
itihāsapurāṇa grounds aesthetic delight in the ontology of Brahman.
This article is concerned with identifying an appropriate method for studying the
itihāsapurāṇa textual tradition. Whereas the text-historical approach emphasizes
chronologies (though these are often speculative, relative, and lacking in manuscript
evidence), philosophical approaches provide an interpretation in the form of an
argument.1 What are the systematic principles that guide the itihāsapurāṇa tradition?
One, the itihāsapurāṇa tradition is an interpretive tradition.2 What does it interpret? The
Veda.3 Two, what is the guiding principle of this interpretation? It is brahmavāda or
ontology.4 Three, the Vedic revelation unambiguously declares ānanda to be Brahman’s
svarūpa lakṣaṇa (vijñānamānandaṃ brahma; Br.Up. 3.9.28).5 Inasmuch as philology or
the study of texts ought to pursue understanding texts rather than speculate from a
pseudo-scientific perspective, ecstatic philology,6 rather than text-historicism,7 arguablyprovides a better method for reading the itihāsapurāṇa and, by extension, also for the
humanities. In the remainder of this article, we shall investigate the intersection of the
Mahābhārata and the Bhāgavatapurāṇa as interpretations of the Veda.8 In order not to
lose sight of the aesthetic dimension of these texts, we have chosen to pay close attention
to ānanda or ecstatic bliss.9 Because ānanda is Brahman’s true nature,10 we see howthese texts connect literary ecstasy with its very source, Brahman. With these comments
on method and the history of the field,11 we turn to an analysis of the ontology of bliss.
We shall then turn to the texts themselves to understand how the narrative program of the
itihāsapurāṇa grounds aesthetic delight in the ontology of Brahman.
Nagaraj Paturi
Sep 28, 2022, 2:13:42 AM9/28/22
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Attaching the pdf of the article.
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Nagaraj Paturi
Hyderabad, Telangana, INDIA.
Senior Director, IndicA
BoS, MIT School of Vedic Sciences, Pune, Maharashtra
BoS Kavikulaguru Kalidasa Sanskrit University, Ramtek, Maharashtra
BoS Veda Vijnana Gurukula, Bengaluru.
Member, Advisory Council, Veda Vijnana Shodha Samsthanam, Bengaluru
BoS Rashtram School of Public Leadership
Editor-in-Chief, International Journal of Studies in Public Leadership
Former Senior Professor of Cultural Studies,
FLAME School of Communication and FLAME School of Liberal Education,
Hyderabad, Telangana, INDIA.
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