No description available.

For decades, Edward W. Said's Orientalism has been at the forefront of the study of East-West cultural encounter. Said draws mostly on novels, travel accounts, anthropological documents and similar writings to explore the discursive consolidation of texts that acquire power to represent the Orient. Translation, which is the primal site of exchange between Western Orientalists and the East, is rather treated as a given concept, and no substantial theoretical consideration is developed in Said's work to explain the critical role of translation in Orientalism. A number of studies on translation and its relations to Orientalism have tackled the issue from different angles, mostly showing a degree of skepticism towards the political overtone of postcolonial discourse; for example, Figueira (1991) and Cannon (1990). The political and ideological implication of Orientalism in the practice of translation tends to be interpreted in terms of Lawrence Venuti's polarising paradigm of `domestication' in which the original's features are `distorted' due to the translator's appropriation of the original, or `foreignisation' in which translator makes the text appear alien and remote. The absence of critical studies of the concept of Orientalism in translation, or for that matter of the relationship between Edward Said's notion of Orientalism and translation, means there is a lack of clarity regarding Orientalist translation. Furthermore, while postcolonial translation theory may provide a useful paradigm for reading power relations in the translations between hegemonic and subordinate cultures, it has largely overlooked an important issue raised by Said in Orientalism, namely the notion of the institutionalisation of knowledge, a significant factor to why the discursive representation of the Orient acquires power through institutionally certified knowledge. The present thesis proposes a new concept called `Virtuality' to explain the phenomenon of Orientalist translation in the late eighteenth to nineteenth century. `Virtuality' is a concept that entails the notion of potentiality, or virtual reality, virtue and power. Drawing on the notion of `sufficiency', it throws light on translation in Orientalism as a process that seeks to produce a version that has sufficient virtue to represent, or even replace, the original. Virtuality means there is no need for direct contact with the East, as the mediation by Orientalists proves them to be adequate proxies. In this thesis, virtuality is applied to the study of English and French translations of two well-known Sanskrit literary works - the Bhagavad-Gitä and Sakuntalä - from 1784 to 1884. The methodological tools deployed in this thesis to highlight the virtuality of translation in Orientalism are taken from Pierre Bourdieu's sociological concepts namely symbolic capital, symbolic power, distinction and misrecognition (meconnaissance), M. A. K. Halliday's Systemic Functional Grammar (SFG), Gerard Genette's paratextuality and Allan Bell's audience design. This set of methodological tools taken from sociology, linguistics, intertextuality and sociolinguistics, provides a new reading of Orientalist translation which emphasises the process whereby Orientalists struggle for legitimacy in representing the Orient in their translations.

No description available.

This thesis looks at the issues of religiou's leadership and succession in the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON), a modern Vaishnava movement. Following the passing away of its founder, Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, in 1977, the movement was led by a group of gurus in a 'zonal system' until their authority was challenged and reformed in the mid 1980s. The thesis examines the defining characteristics of leadership in ISKCON in this decade, and the developments that led to the transformation of the 'zonal acharya system' to a guru system not based on zonal divisions, in which the power and authority of the gurus was greatly reduced. The work of Louis Dumont and J. c. Heesterman have been used to illuminate the key themes of hierarchy, status, power and authority in ISKCON at this time, and Max Weber's concepts of authority and the routinisation of charisma have also been drawn on. They form the basis for the analysis of the interviews conducted with leaders and other members of ISKCON and the documentary evidence from the time (letters, minutes of meetings and position papers). The work of these theorists has been of value in navigating the confluence of Western and Indian concepts of power and authority in this modern institutionalised form of the Vaishnava tradition. On a broader level, this thesis provides an interesting case in the study of religion, since it represents the conjunction of a number of key issues -religious leadership, succession, tradition and modernity, power relations, institutional dynamics, and the coming together of Eastern traditions and Western culture. It calls on scholars to take the worldviews of such traditions seriously, rather than simply analysing them from the standpoint of Western intellectual paradigms.

This thesis contains a critical edition and annotated translation of previously unpublished prdsddalaksana material contained in six early Saiva texts: the Brhatkdlottara Mahdtantra; the Nisvdse Mahdtantre Pratisthatantra, also titled the Devydmata; the Kirandgama; the Mohacurottara Pratisthdtantra; the Mayasamgraha; and the Brahmaydmala Jayadrathddhikdra Pingalamata. An edition of the commentary to the Mayasamgraha, the Bhdvaciiddmani is supplied, without translation. The introduction gives an account of the design and building procedures taught in the texts, to prepare the reader for the ensuing material, and concludes with an analysis of the ways in which the texts may be dated and placed from their building instructions. The introductory argument is accompanied by explanatory figures, tables and photographic plates. The six text editions and annotated translations then follow. Each text is introduced with a description of the sources consulted, a stemma and a list of contents. Finally, the appendices comprise a glossary, a complete list of bhiuasamkhyds used in the texts, and a bibliography.

Hindutva is a neo-Hindu stream within Hinduism which attempts to re-interpret Hinduism based on a constructed 'Hindu identity'. It represents the mission passion within Hinduism and complicates the relationship between religions by requiring an evaluation of the projections and actions of other religions in the Indian context. It evaluates Christianity as a yet to be corrected identity and points out the ways of correction which in turn encourages assimilation into 'the Hindu' stream. In this context this study evaluates the selected Christian missiological responses to Hindutva attempting to expose their adequacies and inadequacies. Selecting three segments from Indian Christian mission theological reflections - Sebastian Kappen, M.M. Thomas and the Dalit Christian theology, this study critically engages with them considering the criticism by Hindutva of Christian mission. Out of the engagement with Hindutva and Christian mission responses this study identifies the marginalization of subaltern voices within Hindu initiatives and weaknesses in the Christian missiological responses. Hence this study proceeds to incorporate marginal voices in a re-imagination of Christian mission following some evaluations and proposals of subaltern historiography. The study identifies three approaches of Christian mission in India linked to the key figures. above which are: a hybrid model for tackling religious identity; a secular model for dealing with state; and a prophetic model for expressing Christian public witness. These three proposals are critiqued to bring out their strengths and limitations in light of subaltern theory. Rejecting the hybridity proposal, this study proposes ' learn to live with differences', keeping negotiations as an inevitable part of life. Dealing with state-religion relationship, this study argues for a more democratic way of life where the Indian version of secularism is retained as a component for providing a common space where all religions. and communities interact. By identifying the domesticating elements within any public sphere this study proposes a 'sympatheticus' method for expressing Christian mission presence in the public sphere.

No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

No description available.