University of Macau / Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities / Department of English

Chinese / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

Not available / text

Not available / text

The central term in Tamil Śaiva religious vocabulary is aruḷ, designating Śiva's fundamental principle. It is widely regarded that Śiva's aruḷ spawned the cosmos, and to a practicing Śaiva, only Śiva's aruḷ can free a soul from the cycle of samsāra or rebirth. In a Śaiva theological context, the term debuts in medieval bhakti (devotional) hymns of the nāyan̲mār (poet-saints); over the course of four centuries (ca. 6th - 9th cents CE) the theological nuances of the term became increasingly intricate. In the last major devotional work produced, the Tiruvācakam (ca. 9th cent CE), Māṇikkavācakar expanded the semantic latitude of aruḷ, using it in ways that the previous Śaiva poets had not. Māṇikkavācakar created a space for arul to become the Śaiva identity mark par excellence. He used the term to indicate an array of theological aspects--Śiva himself, Śiva's grace, any action that Śiva undertakes, the path of knowledge that assists devotees in understanding the nature of the soul, and the mercy and compassion that Śiva has for his servants. While this list is not exhaustive, it points to the semantic breadth of arul as a Śaiva theological concept. This dissertation is an analysis of the semantic evolution of the concept arul through three genres of Tamil literature: classical (caṅkam) heroic and love poetry, and medieval Śaiva devotional poetry. I utilize a variety of texts for the project. From the eight anthologies of cankam poetry, I translate and analyze poems from the Pur̲anān̲ūru, Aiṅkur̲un̲ūru, Kur̲untokai, Akanān̲ūr̲u (ca. 1st century BCE to 4th century CE). From Śaiva bhakti literature, I focus on Māṇikkavācakar's Tiruvācakam. In reading from these texts, I trace the semantic continuity and interruption between the classical secular poetry and the medieval devotional poetry. I argue, among other things, that the cultural underpinnings of the concept remain intact as the term becomes incorporated in the technical vocabulary of Tamil Śaivism. The Śaiva authors were thus able to develop a new and unique style of religious literature that resonated with the cultural and literary past. / text

published_or_final_version / Chinese / Master / Master of Philosophy

No description available.

No abstract available. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of Natal, Durban, [1959?]

It occured to me that scholars who undertake to explore praises in Zulu have centred much analysis on praises of human beings and very little on those of domestic animals. Domestic animals are very close environmental company to any Black person in South Africa, especially to those who reside in farming areas. This study demonstrates that the domestic animal merits praise because it constitutes a kind of relative and colleague to a Black person. The first chapter gives a general layout of those to follow. What one has to note in the first chapter is the assessment of the extent to which scholars have made studies towards assessing praises of domestic animals. To be more precise, about six books have been identified containing some gleanings on the praises of domestic animals . This scarcity of documented sources for these praises together with the fact that praises of domestic animals are still mainly part of oral tradition constitute the main reason prompting this study. Chapter Two analyses hopefully in depth the social aspect of praises of domestic animals. We deduce from the numerous facts emerging from the inter-relationship between owner and animal that the main reason for the existence of the praises in question, is to forge links that bind poet and animal together. Aspects discussed in Chapter Two are, among others, the purpose of praising which examines the effect of praises on both the animals themselves and the community at large. The chapter also looks at the various poets in this field, the occasions during which domestic animals are praised, and the kind of audience anticipated when praising these animals. Though almost all the poets in this regard are wholly nonliterate, the praises they compose are nevertheless rich in literary constructions. They decorate the praises with all sorts of poetic expressions. One may even imagine that the praises of domestic animals were composed by modern learned poet who composed them by transcription and had all the skills to adopt the most impressive literary forms. Chapter Four sums up the role of praises of domestic animals on society as well as the literary richness that the praises possess. On the other hand this chapter Four is also to be taken as the summary and distillation of the previous ones. / Thesis (M.A.) - University of Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 1992.

This article has as focus an environmental education analysis of ten selected poems from the book Skakering (Opperman and Coetzee 1991) to associate the problem of environmental education with the teaching of a humanities subject like Afrikaans, and specifically in the light of the poem as text. It has as its aim the teaching of a genre, to relate in this regard the single text (the poem text) to the environment and environmentally associated problems. In this respect an approach which is aimed at selected texts in Skakering (Opperman and Coetzee 1991) shall possibly accentuate both teachers and pupils' relationship with nature. This article will concentrate on the following: a definition of environmental education as phenomenon which links up the concept ecology, general overview of the important and relevant sources, a theoretical explanation of the concept environmental education, a brief discussion of existing studies that pays attention to the environment and environmental education in the literature, the analysis of the contents of poems that represent certain environmental problems, and an awareness of the pedagogical implications for the teacher. OPSOMMING Hierdie artikel het as fokus 'n ' omgewingsopvoedingsanalise van tien geselekteerde gedigte uit die bundel Skakering (Oppenman en Coetzee 1991 ) om die probleem van omgewingsopvoeding in verband te bring met die onderrig van 'n geesteswetenskaplike vak 5005 Afrikaans. en spesifiek aan die hand van die gedigteks. Oit het as doel die onderrig van 'n genre, om in die verband die enkelteks (die gedigteks) in verband te bring met die omgewing en omgewingsverwante probleme. In hierdie opsig sal 'n benadering wat op geselekteerde tekste in Skakering (Opperman en Coetzee 1991 ) gerig is, beide ondervvysers en leerlinge se verhouding met die natuur aksentueer. In hierdie artikel word op die volgende gekonsentreer: die omskrywing van omgewingsopvoeding as verskynsel wat aansluit by die konsep ekologie, In oorsig van die belangrike en retevante bronne, 'n toeretiese uiteensetting van die konsep omgewingsopvoedingsbenadering, 'n kortlikse bespreking van bestaande studies wat aandag gee aan die omgewing en omgewingsopvoeding in die letterkunde, 'n analise van die inhoud van gedigte wat bepaalde omgewingsopvoedingsprobleme representeer, en 'n bewustheid van die pedagogiese implikasies vir die onderwyser. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of Natal, Durban, 2001.