Dialogues with Death: Māra, Yama, and Coming to Terms with Mortality in Classical Hindu and Indian Buddhist Traditions
Issue: Vol 6 No. 1 (2012)
Journal: Religions of South Asia
Subject Areas: Religious Studies Buddhist Studies Islamic Studies
DOI: 10.1558/rosa.v6i1.13
Abstract:
This article compares Hindu and Buddhist narratives involving debate or contest with the gods representing death in each respective tradition. In Hinduism, this is Yama, judge and god of the underworld, while in Buddhism, death, as well as the concept of rebirth and, more broadly, saṃsāra itself, is represented by the malign figure Māra. Through a comparison of Buddhist Pāli Canon texts to the Hindu Kaṭha Upaniṣad, the Sāvitrī episode in the Mahābhārata, and brief excerpts of Purāṇas, I argue that both traditions employed a common trope of debate and contest with a god of death, but used that shared device to emphasize doctrinal beliefs and perspectives unique to their respective traditions. This strongly suggests a shared literary heritage between the two traditions of these mythic figures.
Author: Michael Nichols
References :
Acharya Jagadīśalāl Śāstrī (ed.). 1983. The Bhāgavata Purāṇawith the Commentary ‘Bhāvārthabodhinī’. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidas.
Andersen, Dines, and Helmer Smith (eds). 1948. Sutta-Nipāta. Oxford: Oxford University Press (for the Pāli Text Society).
Bailey, Greg, and Ian Mabbett. 2003. The Sociology of Early Buddhism. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511488283
Bhattacharji, Sukumari. 1970. The Indian Theogony: A Comparative Study of the Indian Mythology from the Vedas to the Purāṇas. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Bhattacharyya, N. N. 2000. Indian Demonology. Delhi: Manohar.
Black, Brian. 2007. The Character of the Self in Ancient India. Albany: SUNY Press.
— 2009. ‘Rivals and Benefactors: Encounters between Buddhists and Brahmins in the Nikāyas.’ Religions of South Asia 3(1): 24–43.
— 2011. ‘Ambattha and Shvetaketu: Literary Connections between the Upanishads and Early Buddhist Narratives.’ Journal of the American Academy of Religion 79(1): 136–61. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/jaarel/lfq058
Blackburn, Stuart. 1985. ‘Death and Deification: Folk Cults in Hinduism.’ History of Religions 24(3): 255–74. http://dx.doi.org/10.1086/462999
Bond, George. 1980. ‘Theravāda Buddhism’s Meditations on Death and the Symbolism of Initiatory Death.’ History of Religions 19(3): 237–58. http://dx.doi.org/10.1086/462847
Bronkhorst, Johannes. 2007. Greater Magadha: Studies in the Culture of Early India. Leiden: Brill. http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/ej.9789004157194.i-416
Chakravarti, Uma. 2009. ‘Of Binaries and Beyond: The Dialectics of Buddhist-Brahmanical Relations in India.’ Religions of South Asia 3(1): 7–23.
Cowell, E. B. (ed.). 1970. [Buddha-carita:] The Buddha-Karita or Life of Buddha by Asvaghosha. Amsterdam: Philo Press.
Cowell, E. B., and Robert Neil. 1970. The Divyāvadāna, a Collection of Early Buddhist Legends. Amsterdam: Philo Press.
DeCaroli, Robert. 2004. Haunting the Buddha. Oxford: Oxford University Press. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/0195168380.001.0001
Dimock, Edward, et al. (eds). 1974. The Literatures of India: An Introduction. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Fausbøll, V. (ed.). 1962. The Jātaka, Together with its Commentary. London: Luzac and Company (for the Pāli Text Society).
Freer, M. Leon. 1960. The Saṃyutta Nikāya of the Sutta Piṭaka. London: Luzac and Company (for the Pāli Text Society).
Gambhirananda, Swami (ed.). 2004. Kaṭha Upaniṣad, with the Commentary of Śankarācārya. Kolkata: Advaita Ashrama.
Helfer, James. 1968. ‘The Initiatory Structure of the “Kaṭhopaniṣad”.’ History of Religions 7(4): 348–67. http://dx.doi.org/10.1086/462571
Joshi, K. L. (ed.). 2008. Kūrma Mahāpurāṇaṃ, with an English translation by Shantilal Nagar. Delhi: Parimal Publications.
Kaelber, Walter. 1978. ‘The “Dramatic” Elements in Brāhmaṇic Initiation: Symbols of Death, Danger, and Difficult Passage.’ History of Religions 18(1): 54–76. http://dx.doi.org/10.1086/462806
Killingley, Dermot. 1997. ‘The Paths of the Dead and the Five Fires.’ In Peter Connolly and Sue Hamilton (eds), Indian Insights: Buddhism, Brahmanism and Bhakti: Papers from the Annual Spalding Symposium on Indian Religions: 1–20. London: Luzac Oriental.
Kumar, Pushpedra. 2005. Mārkaṇḍeya Mahāpurāṇaṃ. Delhi: Eastern Book Linkers.
Mahadevashastri, E. 1985. Taittirīya Brāhmaṇa. Delhi: Motilala Banarasidasa.
Morris, R., and E. Hardy (eds). Anguttara Nikāya. London: Pāli Text Society, 1885–1900.
O’Flaherty, Wendy Doniger. 1976. The Origins of Evil in Hindu Mythology. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Oldenberg, Hermann. 1991. The Doctrine of the Upaniṣads and the Early Buddhism, translated into English by Shridhar B. Shrotri. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass.
Oldenberg, Hermann, and Richard Pischel (eds). 1966. The Thera- and Therī-Gāthā. London: Luzac and Company (for the Pāli Text Society).
Olivelle, Patrick. 1996. The Upaniṣads: A New Translation. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
— 1997. ‘Amṛtā: Women and Indian Technologies of Immortality.’ Journal of Indian Philosophy 25: 427–49. http://dx.doi.org/10.1023/A:1004246824600
Rhys-Davids, C. A. F. (ed.). The Visuddhi-Magga of Buddhaghosa. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul for Pāli Text Society, 1975.
Rhys Davids, T. W., and J. Estlin Carpenter (eds). 1947–69. The Dīgha Nikāya. London: Luzac and Company (for the Pāli Text Society).
Senart, E. 1882–1897. Mahāvastu,3 vols. Paris: Societe Asiatique.
Shastri, J. L. 1980. Liṅga Purāṇa. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass.
Siklós, Bulcsu. 1994. ‘The Evolution of the Buddhist Yama.’ In Tadeusz Skorupski (ed.), The Buddhist Forum,Vol. 4: 165–90. London: School of Oriental and African Studies.
Silva, Lily de (ed.). 1970. Dīghanikāyaṭṭhakathāṭīkā. London: Luzac and Company (for the Pāli Text Society).
Sukthankar, Vishnu S. 1933–1959. The Mahābhārata. Poona: Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute.
Tsuchida Ryūtaro. 1991. ‘Two Categories of Brahmins in the Early Buddhist Period.’ Memoirs of the Research Department of the Toyo Bunko 49: 51–95. Tokyo: Toyo Bunko.
Vaidya, P. L. 1958. Lalītavistara. Darbhanga: Mithila Institute.
Van Nooten, Barend A., and Gary B. Holland (eds). 1994. Rig Veda, a Metrically Restored Text with an Introduction and Notes. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Wayman, Alex. 1959. ‘Studies in Yama and Māra.’ Indo-Iranian Journal 3: 4–73, 112–31.