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[Y-Indology] Book-Burning in India

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<Was there any incident of a Government or state-sponsored or supported

book-banning and burning activity in India comparable to those like

the Qin Shi Huang Di orders (200 BC China) or the European

traditions like the books of Arius and Nestorius etc.>

 

1. To me this seems to be highly unlikely if only because in the Indic/Hindu

tradition, sacredness (Sarasvati) is associated with books.

 

2. Unfortunately, it appears that there have been instances (in South India) of

people (Jainas) being impaled for not re-converting to the Saiva or ViashNava

fold.

 

V. V. Raman

December 18, 2003

 

 

-

Vidya Jayaraman

INDOLOGY

Thursday, December 18, 2003 1:35 PM

[Y-Indology] Book-Burning in India

 

 

I see a current trend of comparing the Chinese approach to China

Studies vs the Indian approach and hence this question.

 

Was there any incident of a Government or state-sponsored or supported

book-banning and burning activity in India comparable to those like

the Qin Shi Huang Di orders (200 BC China) or the European

traditions like the books of Arius and Nestorius etc.

 

The only two instances of burning manuscripts that I have come across

are the traditional accounts of Amara Simha and others who burn their

manuscripts (of their own accord?)when they lost in debate.

Another later-day instance is from the Nawab Of carnatic and the

Saraswati Mahal.

 

Are there any other oral or written accounts of happenings such as

these?

 

Thanks

 

Vidya Jayaraman

 

 

 

 

indology

 

 

 

 

INDOLOGY/

 

b..

INDOLOGY

 

c..

 

 

 

 

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The Kathasaritsagara's kathaapiiTha, detailing the narrative of its own

origins, has a very powerful scene of an author, Gunadhya (i believe), who

had previously written down the entirety of the brhat-kathaa in paisaci

language (having heard the tale from the yakSa-cursed-to-be-a-pisaca, Kanabhuti)

, and composed in his own blood, throwing it page by page into the fire, as

he read it tearfully to his only audience, the animals of the forest,

since the manuscript was rejected by the newly Sanskrit-speaking

Saatavaahana king, (chided by his lover for poor sandhi). The king, finding

that the meat his hunters were bringing him had suddenly become lean and

tasteless, made inquiries and eventually located the author, managing to save

 

 

 

I am not near any books at the moment and i am sorry i can't give precise

references just now; others will undoubtedly supply more details.

 

 

adheesh

 

 

> The only two instances of burning manuscripts that I have come across

> are the traditional accounts of Amara Simha and others who burn their

> manuscripts (of their own accord?)when they lost in debate.

> Another later-day instance is from the Nawab Of carnatic and the

> Saraswati Mahal.

>

> Are there any other oral or written accounts of happenings such as

> these?

>

> Thanks

>

> Vidya Jayaraman

>

>

>

>

> indology

>

>

>

>

> Links

>

>

> INDOLOGY/

>

>

> INDOLOGY

>

> Your

>

>

>

>

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There is a charming story of Bhasa's plays being

thrown to fire as a part of agnipareeksa by scholars.

And the story goes that even fire was not able to burn

Svapnavasavadatta !

C.Rajendran

 

=====

Dr.C.Rajendran

Professor of Sanskrit

University of Calicut

Calicut University P.O

Kerala 673 635 Phone: 0494-2401144

Residential address:28/1097,Rajadhani Kumaran Nair Road,

Chevayur, Calicut Kerala 673 017 Phone: 0495-2354 624

 

 

 

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Well, there is the story of leaves of a book being thrown into a

river, which were saved and became Naladiyar, a classic Tamil text.

 

Jain poet Banarasi Das, who wrote the first autobiography in Hindi,

destroyed his own earlier compositions that emphasised shringar by

throwing them in river, because he considered them decadent.

 

It is true that books, even paper which has been written on, were

regarded to sacred.

 

It was quite common for people of one tradition to read books of

other traditions. Ancient manustripts of Buddhist and Brahmanical

texts have been found in Jain libraries of Patan and Jaisalmer.

 

Yashwant

 

INDOLOGY, "V.V.Raman" <vvrsps@r...> wrote:

> <Was there any incident of a Government or state-sponsored or

supported

> book-banning and burning activity in India comparable to those like

> the Qin Shi Huang Di orders (200 BC China) or the European

> traditions like the books of Arius and Nestorius etc.>

>

> 1. To me this seems to be highly unlikely if only because in the

Indic/Hindu tradition, sacredness (Sarasvati) is associated with

books.

>

> 2. Unfortunately, it appears that there have been instances (in

South India) of people (Jainas) being impaled for not re-converting

to the Saiva or ViashNava fold.

>

> V. V. Raman

> December 18, 2003

>

>

> -

> Vidya Jayaraman

> INDOLOGY

> Thursday, December 18, 2003 1:35 PM

> [Y-Indology] Book-Burning in India

>

>

> I see a current trend of comparing the Chinese approach to China

> Studies vs the Indian approach and hence this question.

>

> Was there any incident of a Government or state-sponsored or

supported

> book-banning and burning activity in India comparable to those

like

> the Qin Shi Huang Di orders (200 BC China) or the European

> traditions like the books of Arius and Nestorius etc.

>

> The only two instances of burning manuscripts that I have come

across

> are the traditional accounts of Amara Simha and others who burn

their

> manuscripts (of their own accord?)when they lost in debate.

> Another later-day instance is from the Nawab Of carnatic and the

> Saraswati Mahal.

>

> Are there any other oral or written accounts of happenings such

as

> these?

>

> Thanks

>

> Vidya Jayaraman

>

>

>

>

>

> indology

>

>

>

>

> Sponsor

>

>

>

>

>

>

> --

----------

> Links

>

>

> INDOLOGY/

>

> b..

> INDOLOGY

>

> c.. Terms of

Service.

>

>

>

>

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Thank you Dr.

 

Swapnavasavasatta was one of the sanskrit texts I

studied in my college at Trichur in 1943. In the

preface about Bhasa there was the sloka

you mentioned, which I repeat from memory:

 

bhaasa-naataka-chakre tu

chekaih kshipte pareekshitum /

swapnavasavadattasya

daahakobhoot na paavakah //

 

P.K.Ramakrishnan

 

--- Rajendran C <crajenin wrote:

> There is a charming story of Bhasa's plays being

> thrown to fire as a part of agnipareeksa by

> scholars.

> And the story goes that even fire was not able to

> burn

> Svapnavasavadatta !

> C.Rajendran

>

> =====

> Dr.C.Rajendran

> Professor of Sanskrit

>

> University of Calicut

> Calicut University P.O

>

> Kerala 673 635 Phone: 0494-2401144

> Residential address:28/1097,Rajadhani Kumaran Nair

> Road,

> Chevayur, Calicut Kerala 673 017 Phone: 0495-2354

> 624

>

>

>

> New Photos - easier uploading and sharing.

>

>

>

 

 

 

 

New Photos - easier uploading and sharing.

 

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A story usually considered apocryphal in the Gaudiya

tradition states that Jiva Goswami threw Krishnadasa's

manuscript of Chaitanya Charitamrita into the Yamuna,

either out of jealousy or because too much esoteric

detail had been revealed in the vernacular, or because

Krishna Das had supported the parakiya-vada in his

work. Whoops, I seem to have forgotten the details and

I don't have a copy of Vivarta Vilasa to hand.

 

 

 

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In the Arya Samaj circles, the following story is very well known -

Swami Dayanand struggled to master Sanskrit grammar for several years

using post-Panini works but could not understand all the intricacies

of the language. He learned that Swami Virajananda, a blind teacher

of Mathura, could teach the subject in 3 years. Late night, he

knocked at the blind teacher's door, who asked him what works he had

read and what books he was carrying. Swami Dayananda relied that he

was carrying sarasvata grammar books, whereupon Swami Virajananda

asked him to return only after he had thrown these in the Yamuna.

Swami Dayanand complied with the request immediately, and threafter

Swami Virajananda started his instruction to Swami Dayananda in

Ashtadhyayi.

 

The story of Gunadhya burning a large portion of his own Brhatkatha

is well known too.

 

Vishal

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There are several other instances of book burning in Indian/Tamil history.

 

1. The deliberate destruction of ThEvAram right inside the precints of the

famed NatarAja temple of Chidambaram, because of which about 80% of the

songs composed by the famous Tamil Saiva Trinity (Appar, Sambandhra and

Sundarar; nevermind, the last two themselves were anthaNars/brahmins) were

lost forever.

 

2. As attested by none other than the great man U.V.Saminatha Iyer himself,

routine burning of Tamil manuscripts in temple yagnas was a common Vedic

practice in the Tamil country. I recall reading about KuntalakEsi, another

ancient Jaina literature, that mysteriously disappeared, never to be found

again - again as attested by U.V.S himself. One can only surmise how many

more Tamil Jaina and Buddhist literature were submitted to Agni during the

Bakthi era. U.V.S had to endure enormous condemnation from the Saivaite

circles for publishing Civaga Cintamani, another ancient Jaina literature.

 

 

3. The recent burning of Jaffna (in SriLanka) library, which housed

precious collections of the Tamil Saivaite scholar Arumuga Navalar.

 

4. The destruction of the ancient Nalanda library.

 

Vel Murugan

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<was there="" any="" incident="" of="" a="" government="" state-sponsored="" or="" supported="">

 

2. Unfortunately, it appears that there have been instances (in South India) of

people (Jainas) being impaled for not re-converting to the Saiva or ViashNava

fold.

 

 

 

 

Well unfortunatley when people decide to see themselves seperate through caste, creed, class, gender, sects, religions, nationalities, languages, lineages, etc. Then what you get is strife. People will quarrel over petty differences, when in reality we are all god's children. No matter who you are, who you worship, what color you are, what gender you are, etc. We are all the divine embodiment of souls... And if people realized the truth they would see their selves, and god in everyone and everything else. However, we don't live in the Golden age anymore ;-)

</was>

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