Authority, Anxiety, and Canon

Laurie L. Patton is Assistant Professor of Asian Religions at Bard College.

Preface
Wendy Doniger


Introduction
Laurie L. Patton


Part One: The Vedas Reflect on Themselves


1. The Mastery of Speech
Canonicity and Control in the Vedas
David Carpenter


2. Veda in the Brahmanas
Cosmogonic Paradigms and the Delimitation of Canon
Barbara A. Holdrege


3. The Veda and the Authority of Class
Reduplicating Structures of Veda and Varna in Ancient Indian Texts
Brian K. Smith


Part Two: The Vedas in Classical Discourse


4. Puranaveda
Frederick M. Smith


5. From Anxiety to Bliss


Argument, Care, and Responsibility in the Vedanta Reading of Taittiriya 2.1-6a
Francis X. Clooney, S.J.


6. "Whither the Thick Sweetness of Their Passion?"
The Search for Vedic Origins of Sanskrit Drama
David L. Gitomer


Part Three: The Vedas in Modernity and Beyond


7. The Authority of an Absent Text
The Veda, Upangas, Upavedas, and Upnekhata in European Thought
Dorothy M. Figueira


8. From Interpretation to Reform
Dayanand's Reading of the Vedas
John E. Llewellyn


9. Redefining the Authority of Scripture
The Rejection of Vedic Infallibility by the Brahmo Samaj
Anantanand Rambachan


10. Poets and Fishes
Modern Indian Interpretations of the Vedic Rishi
Laurie L. Patton


Afterword
Laurie L. Patron


Contributors


Index