Epic Undertakings:Papers of the 12th World Sanskrit Conference (Vol. 2)

Recent years have witnessed continued and growing interest in the massive and fascinating poems we know as the Sanskrit epics. This interest has manifested itself in the continuing translations of both texts, a steady stream of publications and numerous scholarly meetings of Sanskrit epic scholars. A number of these scholars assembled in Helsinki to constitute the Epic section of the 12th World Sanskrit conference in the summer of 2003. The present volume places before the Indological community the sixteen learned papers presented at the conference by the distinguished group of scholars who were in attendance. The topics and methodologies of the authors are as varied and diverse as the contents of the monumental poems themselves but each contribution sheds new light on some aspect of the genetic and/or receptive history of these works, their relationship to each other and to other Indic texts, or the representation and analysis of specific characters and episodes in the poems.

Robert P. Goldman is Professor of Sanskrit and India studies at the University of California at Berkeley. In addition to his authorship of a monograph and numerous scholarly articles on both Sanskrit epics, he is the general editor and a principal translator of the ongoing collaborative project to produce a scholarly and densely annotated English translation of the critical edition of the Valmiki Ramayana.

Muneo Tokunaga is Professor Emeritus of Sanskrit at Kyoto University.

Petteri Koskikallio and Asko Parpola, secretary general and president, respectively, of the 12th world Sanskrit conference, are Finnish Indologists. Asko Parpola is Professor Emeritus of South Asian and Indo-European Studies at the University of Helsinki.

Recent years have witnessed continued and growing interest in the massive, ancient, fascinating, mysterious and culturally rich poems we know as the Sanskrit epics. This interest has manifested itself in the continuing translations of the critical editions of both texts, a steady stream of monographs and edited volumes, and numerous scholarly meetings involving members of the international community of Sanskrit epic scholars.

A number of these scholars assembled in Helsinki to constitute the Epic section of the 12th world Sanskrit Conference convened in that beautiful city in the summer of 2003 under the auspices of the International Association of Sanskrit studies and the University of Helsinki. The present volume places before the Indological community the sixteen learned papers presented at the conference by the distinguished group of scholars who were in attendance.

The topics and methodologies of the authors are as varied and diverse as the contents of the monumental poems themselves but each, we believe, sheds new light on some aspect of the genetic and/or receptive history of these popular and massively influential works, their relationship to each other and to other Indic texts, or the representation and analysis of specific characters and episodes in the poems.

Putting together a volume of this kind naturally takes a great deal of time, energy and support from a number of individuals and institutions. We, the editors, would like to express our thanks to those who have made this publication possible. First, we would like to thank the authors for their scholarship and their gracious cooperation during the long editing process. Special thanks are also due to Dr. Petteri Koskikallio for his long and tireless efforts to organize the edition and to see it through to its conclusion. In addition, the editors are deeply indebted to Dr. Kensuke Okamoto for his hard and fruitful labours on the volume's unusually detailed and excellent index. Finally we would like to express our gratitude to the Finnish cultural foundation for their generous support without which the volume would never have seen the light of day.