The aim of the series Worlds of South and Inner Asia of the Swiss Asia Society is to publish highquality, In der Reihe Welten Süd- und Zentralasiens der Schweizerischen Asiengesellschaft werden repräsentative, qualitativ hochstehende Forschungsarbeiten zu den Kulturen und Gesellschaften representative work issuing from academic research on all aspects of South and Inner Asia. Süd- und Zentralasiens in Vergangenheit und Gegenwart publiziert. Die Reihe nimmt Studien zu It comprises, and accepts, studies on historical and present-day South and Inner Asian cultures and verschiedenen Bereichen wie Geschichte, Literatur, Philosophie, Politik und Kunst sowie Übersetzungen societies covering the fields of history, literature, thought, politics and art as well as translations and und Interpretationen von Quellentexten auf. interpretations of important primary sources.

This volume consists of a collection of studies which are based on papers presented at the symposium «Erlöst leben oder sterben, um befreit zu werden?» (Zurich, May 2008), organized in honour of Peter Schreiner. It offers a selective overview of individual liberation as dealt with in Indian texts and rituals at different times. Starting from the two prominent approaches to this problem, namely, that of jvanmukti ('liberation in one's lifetime') and that of videhamukti ('liberation beyond the body'), some important questions have to be considered: How has life been thought compatible with moka? How have 'life' in the concept of the 'liberated living' and 'death' in the concept of the 'disembodied liberated' been conceived by philosophers, poets, religious thinkers, ritual practitioners and social activists? Coming from various disciplinary backgrounds Indology, Religious Studies, Social Anthropology the contributors explore these questions in the context of their particular fields of research. Through this multi-faceted approach, the volume presents an original and substantial analysis of an intriguing topic touching on many aspects of religious and secular life. The careful interpretation of the sources by a group of internationally renowned scholars leads to critical perspectives on some crucial developments in the history of Indian religion.

Autorentext

Andreas Bigger (PhD) is a librarian at the University Library of Basel.
Rita Krajnc is a doctoral student at the URPP Asia and Europe at the University of Zurich and reader in Hindi at the Department of Indology. She is writing a dissertation on the contemporary Hindi author M dula Garg and her novels.
Annemarie Mertens (PhD) is a research assistant and reader in Sanskrit, other Indian languages and classical Indian studies at the Department of Indology at the University of Zurich. Her research focuses on Sanskrit Puräas and the correlation of group identities and religious conflicts in Indian society.
Markus Schüpbach is a doctoral student at the Department of Comparative Indo-European Linguistics (Indology) at the University of Zurich. His research focuses on the Sanskrit epics and the history of philosophical concepts.
Heinz Werner Wessler (PhD) is senior lecturer of Indology at the Institute of Asian and Oriental Studies at the University of Bonn. His fields of research cover Puräa studies, modern religion and politics in South Asia and Hindi literature.

Inhalt

Contents: Greg Bailey: Does Bhart hari Accept the Possibility of Liberation lebend oder sterbend? - John Brockington: surya ivaparä: Exemplary Deaths in the Mahabharata - Mary Brockington: Release through Death in Valmiki's Narrative - Maya Burger: Getting out - Letting in: bhakti Models of Liberation - James L. Fitzgerald: The Ethical Significance of Living by Gleaning (uñchav tti) in the Mahabharata - Mislav Jezic: To Be Liberated while Still Alive or to Die in Order to Be Liberated - in the Jñana, Karma and Bhakti Yoga of the Bhagavadgita - According to Different Text Layers - Dorothea Lüddeckens: «One happy family»: Gemeinschaft über den Tod hinaus. Zu den Todesritualen der Parsen Mumbais - Angelika Malinar: Something Like Liberation: prak tilaya (Absorption in in the Cause/s of Creation) in Yoga and Säkhya - Nicola Pozza: Jivanmukti in Modern India: A Reassessment of Its Postulated Precedence over videhamok a - Shalini Randeria: «We Are in the World in Order to Exchange»: Mortuary Exchange and Memorialization Feasts among Dalits in Gujarat (Western India) - Peter Schreiner: How to Come out of Samadhi? - Olga Serbaeva Saraogi: Liberation in Life and after Death in Early Saiva Mantramargic Texts: The Problem of Jivanmukti - Renate Söhnen-Thieme: Sterben und Erlösung in den Upani ads und im Bhagavatapuräa - Christoph Uehlinger: «Erlöst leben - oder sterben, um befreit zu werden?» Religionswissenschaftliche Präliminarien und Spiegelungen - Heinz Werner Wessler: Sterben verhindern, um zu leben: Sozialutopie und persönliche Umkehr im Roman «Die Hütte» von Jay Prakas Kardam - David Gordon White: Utkranti: From Epic Warrior's Apotheosis to Tantric Yogi's Suicide - Caroline Widmer: «...und dann wurde er einer der Arahants...» - Erzählungen über den Werdegang zu Lebzeiten Erlöster im Majjhimanikaya.