Being Different: An Indian Challenge to Western Universalism by Malhotra Rajiv

Author:Malhotra, Rajiv [Malhotra, Rajiv]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2011-10-09T22:00:00+00:00

Sanskrit and Contexts

Sanskrit texts, by their very nature, require interpretation in a given context. Content cannot be separated from context or given an absolute meaning. A.K. Ramanujan explains:

No Indian text comes without a context, a frame, till the 19th century. Works are framed by phalasruti verses which tell the reader, reciter or listener all the good that will result from his act of reading, reciting or listening. They relate the text, of whatever antiquity, to the present reader – that is, they contextualize it. The Ramayana and Mahabharata open with episodes that tell you why and under what circumstances they were composed. Every such story is encased in a meta-story. And within the text, one tale is the context for another within it; not only does the outer frame story motivate the inner sub-story; the inner story illuminates the outer as well. It often acts as a microcosmic replica for the whole text.20

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