Fire Symbolism

2014

I watched them pull out the heavy-tailed reptile from the murky water. I watched its shape sprawled out on the bank of the canal bordering the creek. The others were watching it too - tense, anxious, all of us children. Our hearts palpitated. We looked around at each other, expectant, wondering what would happen next. Then the adults took over

Notes for Contributors, 2009

Brill’s Encyclopedia of Hinduism. Vol. V : Religious Symbols, Hinduism and Migration : Contemporary Communities outside South Asia, Some Modern Religious Groups and Teachers. Ed. by Knut A. Jacobsen et al.

A study of the symbolism of fire in Ancient India. Encyclopedia article.

Published in Homa Variations: The Study of Ritual Change across the Longue Durée Edited by Richard K. Payne and Michael Witzel Oxford University Press USA, 2015, 67-125. This essay offers an unpretentious survey of the conceptual and yogic permutations of fire, and is based on a selection of Vedic and Buddhist sources. Part One provides an overview of the Vedic perceptions of fire and fire sacrifices, and is intended to serve as a background scenario to the Buddhist interpretations of fire. Part Two ascertains the Buddhist reinterpretation of the Vedic fires and sacrifices, and sketches the Buddhist assimilation of the god Agni and homa rituals. Part Three explores the Buddhist expositions of the fire element (tejodhātu) and wisdom fire (jñāna-agni). These two categories of fire are not discussed in isolation, but their respective expositions are integrated into the relevant doctrines and practices. The fire element is treated as part of the Abhidharma cosmology, and as part of the mundane path (laukika-mārga), while wisdom fire is treated as part of the supramundane path (lokottara-mārga).

The changing role of fire in Western thought, with speculations about its future in the Anthropocene. Royal Society discussion meeting, Sept 2015

The Five Sacred Flames of Vesta, 2018

The meaning of Fire in Paganism in general and Roman Polytheism in particular

academia.edu, 2017

The ritualistic concept of fire: A Comparative study of Sufism, Hinduism and Zoroastrianism .dec, 2017 by Dr.Ghani ur Rehman(director) and Shazia Bibi Awan Deputy Director.

Acknowledgments c HE IDEA FOR THE EXHIBITION at the Getty Museum that served as impetus for this book of essays began with a number of conversations I had with Tarek Naga. My discussions with Tarek-an Egyptian intellectual and architect who is also a friend-were provocative and valuable and I would like to thank him first of all. Linda Komaroff, curator of Ancient and Islamic Art at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and author of one of the essays in this volume, provided critical help and encouragement from early on. Thanks to her generosity, the Getty Museum was able to borrow many splendid objects from LACMA's collection for the exhibition. Without her help the exhibition, like this volume, could hardly have taken the shape it did. I am likewise grateful to the other individuals responsible for lending to the exhibition: