Conference Presentations by Gregory M Clines
Jain Practices of Literary Transcreation Conference, 2022
John E. Cort’s 1993 chapter “An Overview of Jaina Purāṇas” continues to be a foundational contrib... more John E. Cort’s 1993 chapter “An Overview of Jaina Purāṇas” continues to be a foundational contribution to the study of premodern Jain narrative literature. In the chapter, Cort provides a comprehensive introduction to the vast landscape of Jain purāṇic narratives, including the concept of the śalākāpuruṣas, the illustrious men of Jain mythic history. In subsequent decades, work on Jain purāṇic narratives broadly—and Jain Rāmāyaṇa narratives, more particularly—has grown, and much of that work, my own included, has focused on Rāma, Lakṣmaṇa, and Rāvaṇa, all śalākāpuruṣas themselves. With a few exceptions, less attention has been paid to those characters who are not “illustrious.” In a preliminary attempt to think about the characters that surround the śalākāpuruṣas, this paper will examine Rāma’s other two brothers, Bharata and Śatrughna, as depicted in Raviṣeṇa’s 7th-century Sanskrit Padmapurāṇa. Bharata and Śatrughna are not included in the śalākāpuruṣa scheme, and, thus, their respective roles in the story—what they theologically or philosophically offer to the narrative, or how their characterization complements and supplements those of Rāma and Lakṣmaṇa—has been little studied. The paper will examine two narrative episodes that occur late in the work. The first focuses on Bharata pacifying the wild elephant Trilokamaṇḍana through the power of his vairāgya. I argue that with this episode, Raviṣeṇa purposefully juxtaposes martial and ascetic power, as Rāvaṇa had previously and, consequently temporarily, pacified the same elephant through force. The second episode focuses on Śatrughna’s obsession with the city of Mathura, an obsession that ultimately leads to the prince conquering the city. Through this episode, I argue, Raviṣeṇa demonstrates the persistence of karmic attachment. Karma connects not only multiple jīvas as they traverse through subsequent lives in the world of saṃsāra; it also connects jīvas to places, to the very geography of saṃsāra itself.
For millennia Jain authors have written about the possibility of large-scale social calamity. Fam... more For millennia Jain authors have written about the possibility of large-scale social calamity. Famine, drought, warfare, and natural disasters have all been identified as capable of ushering in periods in which monastics and laypersons would be unable to keep their religious vows and thus live a successful, moral life. Such authors have also been remarkably consistent in their advice as to how someone should respond to such circumstances: the best recourse is to perform sallekhanā, ritualized fasting to death. Sallekhanā, it is argued, is a potent method of whittling away negative karma and one's attachments to ephemeral pleasures, including the body itself. It is, Jain authors have argued, a method of dying that best embodies the central Jain tenet of nonviolence.
Scholars have often looked to Jain puranic literature in order to understand the ways in which Ja... more Scholars have often looked to Jain puranic literature in order to understand the ways in which Jains have thought about themselves vis-à-vis other religious groups in South Asia.
Papers by Gregory M Clines
Literary Transcreation as a Jain Practice, 2025
Recent years have witnessed a true renaissance in scholarship focused on Jain narrative literatur... more Recent years have witnessed a true renaissance in scholarship focused on Jain narrative literature. 1 Much of this work, my own included, directly addresses the theme of the current volume: literary transcreation. The corpus of Jain narrative literature is vast, and one of the common threads that runs through the history of Jain narrative composition is the fact that authors have continually rewritten inherited narratives and, in doing so, have intentionally and creatively manipulated the work of their predecessors in terms of genre, style, aesthetics, language, and moral messaging. In this chapter I want to look at a specific instance of literary transcreation: the thirteenth-century Jain author Hastimalla's seven-act drama entitled Añjanāpavanañjaya ('The Drama of Añjanā and Pavanañjaya'). As the title informs us, the play focuses on the marriage and subsequent trials of the vidyādhara couple Añjanā and Pavanañjaya. These are the hero Hanumān's parents in the Jain purāṇic literary tradition, and the play's basic plot structure is largely inherited from earlier Jain Rāmāyaṇa narratives. This chapter examines the transcreative moment of moving from purāṇa to drama (nāṭaka), and, specifically, I set forth two goals. First, I want to highlight Hastimalla's literary creativity by explicating some of the major changes he makes to his source material. Second, using these changes as a starting point, I want to provide two different readings of the Añjanāpavanañjaya as a whole. The first will examine the play as a classical Sanskrit drama that aims to engender in its reader (or viewer) vīra rasa, the heroic sentiment in Sanskrit dramatic theory. 2 The second reading, though, is inflected by Jain theology. While I would
Innovation traces how and why Jain authors at different points in history rewrote the story of Rā... more Innovation traces how and why Jain authors at different points in history rewrote the story of Rāma and situates these texts within larger frameworks of South Asian religious history and literature. The book argues that the plot, characters, and the very history of Jain Rāma composition itself served as a continual font of inspiration for authors to create and express novel visions of moral personhood. In making this argument, the book examines three versions of the Rāma story composed by two authors, separated in time and space by over 800 years and thousands of miles. The first is Raviṣeṇa, who composed the Sanskrit Padmapurāṇa ("The Deeds of Padma"), and the second is Brahma Jinadāsa, author of both a Sanskrit Padmapurāṇa and a vernacular (bhāṣā) version of the story titled Rām Rās ("The Story of Rām"). While the three compositions narrate the same basic story and work to shape ethical subjects, they do so in different ways and with different visions of what a moral person actually is. A close comparative reading focused on the differences between these three texts reveals the diverse visions of moral personhood held by Jains in premodernity and demonstrates the innovative narrative strategies authors utilized in order to actualize those visions. The book is thus a valuable contribution to the fields of Jain studies and religion and literature in premodern South Asia.
International Journal of Jaina Studies, 2020
In 1991 Padmanabh S. Jaini published an article highlighting the similarity between two early mod... more In 1991 Padmanabh S. Jaini published an article highlighting the similarity between two early modern Sanskrit Pāṇḍavapurāṇas, the first by the Mūlasaṅgha author Śubhacandra and the second, composed about fifty years later, by the Kāṣṭhāsaṅgha author Śrībhūṣaṇa. Jaini demonstrates that Śrībhūṣaṇa must have copied his sectarian rival’s earlier work and subsequently labels Śrībhūṣaṇa a plagiarist. While not contesting the fact that Śrībhūṣaṇa copied Śubhacandra, the goal of this article is to reconsider the specific label of plagiarist levelled against the Kāṣṭhāsaṅgha author. By examining the history of both premodern South Asian and contemporary western definitions of plagiarism and by introducing another example of Digambara Jain textual copying during the early modern period, the article argues that labelling Śrībhūṣaṇa a plagiarist inappropriately reads back modern ideas of personal intellectual property onto a premodern literary landscape in which textual copying was, in actuality, a valid form of intersectarian argumentation.
Brill's Encyclopedia of Jainism, 2020
South Asian History and Culture, 2019
The seventh-century Digambara author Ravis _ eṇa is an important figure in the history of pre-mod... more The seventh-century Digambara author Ravis _ eṇa is an important figure in the history of pre-modern South Asian literature, having composed the earliest extant Jain Rāma narrative in Sanskrit, the Padmapurāṇa ('The Deeds of Padma'), a text that stands at the forefront of centuries of Jain engagement with the Rāma story. This article examines for the first time Ravis _ eṇa's use of humor in constructing the character of Rāvaṇa, arguing firstwith reference to both Bharata's Nāt _ yaśāstra and the works of Kālidāsathat Ravis _ eṇa establishes humor by subtly undercutting common Sanskrit literary tropes, and, second, that this humor serves three interrelated purposes vis-à-vis Rāvaṇa. First, the humor foreshadows Rāvaṇa's primary character flaws that will lead to his abduction of Sītā and eventual death at the hands of Laks _ maṇa. Second, the humor works to humanize Rāvaṇa, making him a sympathetic character to the reader. Third, the humor establishes Rāvaṇa in opposition to the calm and serious Rāma, thereby positing that, according to Ravis _ eṇa, true heroism consists of controlling one's passions. Keywords Rāvan _ a; Ravis _ en _ a; Padmapurān _ a; humor; rasa; Jainism The seventh-century CE Digambara Jain author Ravis _ eṇa is an important figure in the history of pre-modern South Asian literature. As the author of the earliest extant Sanskrit-language Jain version of the Rāma story, the Padmapurāṇa ('The Deeds of Padma'), 1 Ravis _ eṇa stands at the forefront of a centuries-long history of Jain participation in the South Asian literary tradition of detailing and praising the life and deeds of the epic prince Rāma. 2 While Ravis _ eṇa and his Padmapurāṇa are not unknown to western scholars, 3 I examine here for the first time Ravis
Religions, 2019
Scholars have long known that Jain authors from the early centuries of the common era composed th... more Scholars have long known that Jain authors from the early centuries of the common era composed their own versions of the story of R¯ ama, prince of Ayodhy¯ a. Further, the differences between Jain and Brahminical versions of the narrative are well documented. Less studied are later versions of Jain R¯ ama narratives, particularly those composed during the early modern period. This paper examines one such version of the R¯ ama story, the fifteenth-century Sanskrit Padmapur¯ an. a by the Digambara author Brahma Jinad¯ asa. The paper compares Jinad¯ asa's work with an earlier text, the seventh-century Sanskrit Padmapur¯ an. a, authored by Ravis. en. a, as Jinad¯ asa explains that he has at hand a copy of his predecessor's work and is recomposing it to make it "clear". The paper thus demonstrates the multiple strategies of abridgement Jinad¯ asa employs in recomposing Ravis. en. a's earlier narrative and that, to Jinad¯ asa, this project of narrative abridgement was also one of clarification.
Buddhism and Jainism, 2017
Buddhism and Jainism, 2017
Buddhism and Jainism, 2017
intentional or hasty value judgment toward Buddhist philosophy and culture which look so strange ... more intentional or hasty value judgment toward Buddhist philosophy and culture which look so strange or mysterious to their own eyes.
Thesis Chapters by Gregory M Clines
Situated at the disciplinary intersection of literature, history, and ethics, this dissertation i... more Situated at the disciplinary intersection of literature, history, and ethics, this dissertation is a comparative analysis of three Digambara Jain versions of the story of the epic prince Rāma:
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Conference Presentations by Gregory M Clines
Papers by Gregory M Clines
Thesis Chapters by Gregory M Clines
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Jain Rāmāyaṇa Narratives: Moral Vision and Literary Innovation traces how and why Jain authors at different points in history rewrote the story of Rāma and situates these texts within larger frameworks of South Asian religious history and literature. The book argues that the plot, characters, and the very history of Jain Rāma composition itself served as a continual font of inspiration for authors to create and express novel visions of moral personhood. In making this argument, the book examines three versions of the Rāma story composed by two authors, separated in time and space by over 800 years and thousands of miles. The first is Raviṣeṇa, who composed the Sanskrit Padmapurāṇa (“The Deeds of Padma”), and the second is Brahma Jinadāsa, author of both a Sanskrit Padmapurāṇa and a vernacular (bhāṣā) version of the story titled Rām Rās (“The Story of Rām”). While the three compositions narrate the same basic story and work to shape ethical subjects, they do so in different ways and with different visions of what a moral person actually is. A close comparative reading focused on the differences between these three texts reveals the diverse visions of moral personhood held by Jains in premodernity and demonstrates the innovative narrative strategies authors utilized in order to actualize those visions.