This brief communication presents some of my findings on ascetic poetry in the earliest texts in the Śvetāmbara Ardhamāgadhī Āgama. I conclude that much of this poetry is probably quite early; the ideal of the itinerant, homeless, mendicant muni, as described in the poetry, is certainly old. Many verses would fit just as well in Buddhist or Brahmanic texts, as scholars have pointed out, but there is also a lot that is distinctly Jaina. In general, the earliest Jaina community composed its own stanzas, based on certain conventions, vocabulary, formulas, and a heroic ascetic ideal, which it shared with other renunciant groups.

Rudra/Śiva, being one of the most complex and fascinating characters in Indian religions, has been the object of numerous studies. I compare how Ramakrishna Gopal Bhandarkar (1837–1925), in his widely read book Vaiṣṇavism, Śaivism and minor religious systems (1913), and other scholars up to our days treat the following recurrent and interconnected topics: 1. Explanations of the Vedic Rudra’s character: personification of natural phenomena or viewed in light of social institutions and ritual functions. 2. Cultural origins of Rudra: Aryan and non-Aryan; relationship between Rudra and the post-Vedic Śiva. 3. Development of his character and cult over time: the Ṛgvedasaṃhitā versus other Vedic texts; hieratic versus popular views. I conclude that, despite certain shortcomings of his presentation, Bhandarkar is probably right in identifying Rudra as one of the old Aryan gods, and in emphasising his fearful character. There is continuity from the ambivalent Rudra (whose name likely means ‘wild’) in the Ṛgveda, to Śarva/Mahādeva who roams the wilderness, leads a troop of terrifying beings, pierces Prajāpati and receives the sacrificial remnant, in other Vedic texts, and to Śiva as divine ascetic and cosmic destroyer in the Purāṇas. Bhandarkar’s tendency to explain the early Rudra’s traits by reference to natural phenomena depends too much on the nature-mythology paradigm of the 19th century. He also does not relate Rudra to the Indo-European sodalities, a topic which became prominent in scholarship shortly after Bhandarkar passed away.

This article looks at the motif of "the river of battle" - the battlefield as a river/stream/sea, which the warrior attempts to cross - in the ancient Indian Mahābhārata and Old Norse texts. It is argued that this motif should be seen in context of three shared ideas, which we also find in ancient Hellenic texts: 1) Poetic similes of battle/army as river/sea or waves. 2) Mythical-cosmological conceptions of rivers as boundary-markers between the worlds of the living and the dead. 3) Glorification of heroism and granting of special status to warriors in the afterlife. Indian texts typically use terms derived from the verbal root √TṜ (Proto-Indo-European √*terh₂), which has the double meaning of 'to cross over' and 'to overcome'. Indian ascetic texts apply similar heroic imagery and terminology to the renouncer who crosses over the saṃsāric river/sea. In absence of lexical cognates, similarities in ancient Indian and Old Norse text-passages can be explained by a shared warrior-ideology.

The editors present the background and scope of the book and discuss main themes of the subsequent chapters on wandering religious poets in India, Tibet, and Japan.

This study reviews the arguments of previous publications, and adds new ones, for establishing connections between the Vedic pravargya-complex (the rituals, stanzas, and mythology of the pravargya), the vrātya, and the deity Rudra. These connections include Rudra as Mahāvīra (the epithet given to a deity and a vessel in the pravargya), the sattra setting of the pravargya's paradigm-myth, the motif of the unstrung bow, the theme of exclusion, and the divinisation of man as a goal of the ritual. It is argued that the superhuman status attributed to Mahāvīra is comparable with that of characters celebrated in the Ṛgveda and Atharvaveda, such as the ekavrātya, brahmacārin, and keśin. The affinity between these figures may be derived from a common ideology, with the roots of some of them to be sought in the Indo-European warrior-society and male rites de passage. 

The ancient Indian gāthā - a proverbial, succinct type of single-stanza poetry, often collected in thematic sets - became a favoured form of expression among groups of ascetics from the middle to the end of the first millennium BCE. This poetry - contrasting with the magico-ritual chant or mantra of the priest and the artistic poem of the aesthete - functions as (self-)instruction for the ascetic/renouncer. Examples include gāthās that exhort him to be as untiring as the Sun in its daily course, or to "wander alone like the rhinoceros". This chapter delineates the figure of the solitary, wandering renouncer in a selection of Brahmanic, Jaina, and Buddhist ascetic gāthā-verses from that period. Particular attention is given to the use of solar and heroic imagery for describing the ideal renouncer, and how this relates to the real-life conditions of wandering renouncers.

The churning of the ocean for nectar (amṛtamanthana) is one of the most well-known Hindu myths. This article analyses the role of the devī Śrī-Lakṣmī, symbolic of royal splendor and fortune, in Purāṇic versions of the myth. It is shown that the notion that Śrī-Lakṣmī was born from the churned ocean, and that she was united with Viṣṇu immediately after, developed gradually over time. Particular attention is given to versions of the myth in which Śrī-Lakṣmī is presented as the bride in a svayaṃvara (kṣatriya maiden’s self-choice of husband), at which she chooses Viṣṇu. It is argued that this should be seen in the context of ancient Indian religious ruler ideology, according to which Śrī-Lakṣmī attaches herself to the most worthy male. In most versions of the myth Indra and Viṣṇu represent contrasting types of sovereignty: Viṣṇu the constant and detached ruler; Indra the temporary ruler, who loses his śrī due to bad behavior and then regains it through the process and consequences of amṛtamanthana. The inferiority of Indra is seen in his dependence on Viṣṇu’s assistance and in the unanimous notion that it is Viṣṇu who unites with Śrī-Lakṣmī.

The ”vrātya problem” has been discussed for more than a century. It is not clear who the vrātya is, as some Vedic passages describe him in a cryptic manner. That the vrātya continues to engage scholars is demonstrated by two recent publications, both with T. Pontillo as one of the editors: The Volatile World of Sovereignty: The Vrātya Problem and Kingship in South Asia (2015), and Vrātya Culture in Vedic Sources (2016). In this review article I look at the two volumes in context of previous reseach and discuss a handful of the contributions. I also refer to a number of vrātya-related articles published elsewhere.

The article explores, from an Indo-Iranian comparative perspective, the concept of 'royal splendour' and its role in myth, ritual and political discourse, in ancient Indian and Iranian texts. It argues that there are similarities both on the level of details (terminology, imagery, motifs) and on a broader level (ruler ideology), some of which likely go back to Proto-Indo-Iranian culture. The article relates the Avestan xvarenahto the Vedic sri- and varcas-, as well as their Avestan counterparts sri- and varecah-. It looks at how the Vedic/Avestan epithet apam. napat-/apam napat- is connected to the motif of aquatic and royal splendour. The Avestan concept of royal splendour, it is argued, also shares key characteristics with the late Vedic and early epic goddess Sri. As the fickle and mobile consort of successive kings, whom she approaches or abandons depending on their virtues, the epic Sri is reminiscent of xvarenah-.

Ritual is often seen as a safe and certain of success. That the question of risk and failure is important for our understanding of ritual has, however, been argued by an increasing number of scholars. This article analyses two Vedic śrauta rituals - the horse-sacrifice and the royal consecration - from this perspective. According to brahmanic theory, sacrifice implies a dangerous break-up of cosmic structure; once started, a ritual must be successfully brought to an end, or the performer will come out lesser than before. Royal ritual also involves political dangers: being a claim to overlordship, rivals might oppose and defeat the sacrificer. Śrauta ritual appears not as a microcosm devoid of danger and unknown outcome. Rather, risk increases a ritual’s value and is an essential part of Vedic royal ritual, wherefore the most awesome sacrifice has the highest risk factor. Danger and conflict in śrauta ritual reflect the aristocratic-agonistic culture in which it evolved.