Prof. Diwakar Acharya - The Body of the Goddess
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- čas přidán 5. 12. 2022
- "The Body of the Goddess"
Prof. Diwakar Acharya
This talk will explore a Vedic myth of the birth of Śrī - the goddess of excellence, her immediate exploitation by the gods, and subsequent restitution of her bodily possessions through Vedic rituals. It will compare this myth with the Devīmāhātmya myth of creation of the body of the goddess through the contribution of various gods of their powers, and then reflect on the motives and ideas embedded in these two myths. It will also explore the concepts of mantric, geophysical, and micro- and macro-cosmic bodies of the goddess, together with the shades of her beauty from devotional contexts.
Prof. Diwakar Acharya is Spalding Professor of Eastern Religions and Ethics at All Souls College, University of Oxford. His research concerns religious and philosophical traditions of South Asia. He studies ancient and medieval texts, inscriptions, and other historical documents significant for the cultural history of the Indian sub-continent. He is also interested in the critical examination of rites, rituals, and customs of the Indian religions and a keen reader of various genres of Sanskrit literature, starting from the Vedas.
Perfectly clear. Thanks to all for posting this gem.
Maybe a brilliant scholar, but a terrible communicator, this is the Spalding chair. What exactly is the philosophical content of this talk? Sanskrit words and concepts should be properly pronounced. Most Latin scholars in the West, would not make this kind of mistake. Perhaps, some coaching in English pronunciation would help this Scholar. This is a very important chair, clear and systematic communication and, eloquence will lend more authority to this scholar. Radhakrishnan, Matilal and Alexis Stevenson were outstanding gems. 27:48
Without being disrespectful towards the venerable professor here, I would like however to make some certain remarks .The policy of employing natives in important places of authority in the western academia is not always the wisest strategy . Maybe this performance can be acceptable from the Indian or Nepali standard point of view , but his ability to communicate in a western setting seems extremely limited to me for someone who is actually a Spalding professor of religion, a chair once held by professor Sanderson as I remember ( with an ability hardly matched by any modern scholars) .I could barely understand his English pronunciation and the grammar was awfully impaired . The whole logic of the presentation was navigating towards something that was about to follow and that never did, much like the Lotus Sutra or even the Koran , texts in which the content always mentions how great and wonderfull is the content discussed about .Listening to this professor's presentation was an apocryphal experience, like reading the foreword of a preface and the preface of a foreword, while the content remained etherialized , very much like the blurry mystique of words coming out of a sage's mouth , satisfying for followers, but unsuitable for an academic presentation.
By "natives", did you mean respected scholars who generously contribute their lineage of cultural wisdom? Their lived experience of the religion and philospohy?
@@franprem4038 "Satisfying for followers but unsuitable for an academic presentation " ."Wisdom" has nothing to do with scientific research. A scholar must be objective in approach and must be able to form logical arguments .For instance, we all like Sanskrit compounds but those compounds cannot be used in order to express a scientific argument that should leave no space for interpretations . This lecture sounded as ambiguous and blurry as a Sanskrit compound , suitable maybe for a yoga class where metaphysical speculation requires a certain language .The esteemed professor's appointment to such an office seems to me having a more practical dimension, which relates to certain benefits derived from the relationship, regarding OU's access to certain manuscript sources in Nepal, given the fact that there is a competition between German, British ,French and American universities in this field .
Is it necessary for a Spalding professor of religion to be a master communicator? Isn't mere scholarship sufficient? What are the specific traits you have in mind for somebody occupying such a position?
@@Arunava_Gupta To be coherent and easy to understand in terms of language accuracy and in terms of scientific standards for a presentation . A professor is a communicator, otherwise he is just a mere researcher and should remain so.
@@earthling1506 Well, in my opinion, it would not be wise to assign such a high weightage to oral communication skills, English fluency in this case, in the selection for such a position. I have come across many brilliant minds who have expressed their ideas excellently in research papers, books and articles, but who struggle quite a bit while speaking. Should these brilliant scholars then _whose mother tongue may not be English_ , be not considered for positions like Spalding just because they're found lacking when it comes to the art of delivering a lecture? Something seems to be not quite right with your argument.
I think we should have a balanced perspective in this matter and, as listeners, also do some extra effort from our end to try to understand what the speaker is trying to say.