Johannes Bronkhorst

Last updated

(2009). Buddhist Teaching in India. Boston: Wisdom Publications. ISBN   9780861715664.
  • (2011). Buddhism in the Shadow of Brahmanism. Leiden: Brill. ISBN   9789004201408.
  • (2011). Language and Reality: On an Episode in Indian Thought. Leiden: Brill. ISBN   9789004204355.
  • (2012). "Rites Without Symbols". Method & Theory in the Study of Religion. 24 (3): 236–266. doi:10.1163/157006812X635691. S2CID   55938059.
  • (2016). How the Brahmins Won: From Alexander to the Guptas. Leiden; Boston: Brill. ISBN   978-90-04-31551-8.
  • (2024). Extreme Religious Behaviours: Where Religious Practice and Biological Evolution Clash. Berlin: De Gruyter. ISBN   9783111374215.
  • Related Research Articles

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">The Buddha</span> Founder of Buddhism

    Siddhartha Gautama, most commonly referred to as the Buddha, was a wandering ascetic and religious teacher who lived in South Asia, during the 6th or 5th century BCE and founded Buddhism. According to Buddhist legends, he was born in Lumbini, in what is now Nepal, to royal parents of the Shakya clan, but renounced his home life to live as a wandering ascetic. After leading a life of mendicancy, asceticism, and meditation, he attained nirvana at Bodh Gaya in what is now India. The Buddha then wandered through the lower Indo-Gangetic Plain, teaching and building a monastic order. Buddhist tradition holds he died in Kushinagar and reached parinirvana.

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">Historical Vedic religion</span> 1500–500 BC Indo-Aryan religious practices of northwest India

    The historical Vedic religion, also called Vedicism or Vedism, and sometimes ancient Hinduism or Vedic Hinduism, constituted the religious ideas and practices prevalent amongst some of the Indo-Aryan peoples of the northwest Indian subcontinent during the Vedic period. These ideas and practices are found in the Vedic texts, and some Vedic rituals are still practiced today. The Vedic religion is one of the major traditions which shaped modern Hinduism, though present-day Hinduism is significantly different from the historical Vedic religion.

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">Shakya</span> Republican tribe confederacy in Iron-Age India

    Shakya was an ancient clan of the northeastern region of South Asia, whose existence is attested during the Iron Age. The Shakyas were organised into a gaṇasaṅgha, also known as the Shakya Republic. The Shakyas were on the periphery, both geographically and culturally, of the eastern Indo-Gangetic Plain in the Greater Magadha cultural region.

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">Magadha (ancient kingdom)</span> Mahajanapada in eastern India

    Magadha was an ancient Indian kingdom and one of the sixteen Mahajanapadas during the Second Urbanization period, based in the eastern Ganges Plain. Magadha played an important role in the development of Jainism and Buddhism.

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">Nanda dynasty</span> Ruling dynasty of Magadha

    The Nanda dynasty was a ruling dynasty of Magadha that ruled a large empire in ancient India during the fourth century BCE and possibly also during the fifth. The Nandas overthrew the Shaishunaga dynasty and expanded the empire to include a larger part of northern India. Ancient sources differ considerably regarding the names of the Nanda kings and the duration of their rule, but based on the Buddhist tradition recorded in the Mahāvaṃsa, they appear to have ruled during c. 345–322 BCE, although some theories date the start of their rule to the fifth century BCE.

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">Decline of Buddhism in the Indian subcontinent</span> Gradual process of replacement of Buddhism in India, ended around the 13th or 14th century

    Buddhism, which originated in India, gradually dwindled starting in the 4th-6th century CE, and was replaced by Hinduism approximately the 12th century, in a centuries-long process. Lack of appeal among the rural masses, who instead embraced Hinduism formed in the Hindu synthesis, and dwindling financial support from trading communities and royal elites, were major factors in the decline of Buddhism.

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">Kosala (Mahajanapada)</span> One of the Mahajanapadas

    Kosala, sometimes referred to as Uttara Kosala was one of the Mahajanapadas of ancient India. It emerged as a small state during the Late Vedic period and became one of the earliest states to transition from a lineage-based society to a monarchy. By the 6th century BCE, it had consolidated into one of the four great powers of ancient northern India, along with Magadha, Vatsa, and Avanti.

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">Āryāvarta</span> Historical landscape

    Āryāvarta is a term for the northern Indian subcontinent in the ancient Hindu texts such as Dharmashastras and Sutras, referring to the areas of the Indo-Gangetic Plain and surrounding regions settled by Indo-Aryan tribes and where Indo-Aryan religion and rituals predominated. The limits of Āryāvarta extended over time, as reflected in the various sources, as the influence of the Brahmanical ideology spread eastwards in post-Vedic times.

    <i>Śramaṇa</i> Monastic orders

    A śramaṇa is a person "who labours, toils, or exerts themselves for some higher or religious purpose" or "seeker, one who performs acts of austerity, ascetic". The śramaṇa tradition includes primarily Jainism, Buddhism, and others such as the Ājīvika.

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">Buddhism</span> Indian religion

    Buddhism, also known as Buddha Dharma, is an Indian religion and philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha, a wandering teacher who lived in the 6th or 5th century BCE. It is the world's fourth-largest religion, with over 520 million followers, known as Buddhists, who comprise seven percent of the global population. It arose in the eastern Gangetic plain as a śramaṇa movement in the 5th century BCE, and gradually spread throughout much of Asia. Buddhism has subsequently played a major role in Asian culture and spirituality, eventually spreading to the West in the 20th century.

    <i>Dhyana</i> in Hinduism Term for contemplation and meditation

    Dhyāna in Hinduism means contemplation and meditation. Dhyana is taken up in Yoga practices, and is a means to samadhi and self-knowledge.

    Pāṇini was a logician, Sanskrit philologist, grammarian, and revered scholar in ancient India, variously dated between the 7th and 4th century BCE.

    Pre-sectarian Buddhism, also called early Buddhism, the earliest Buddhism, original Buddhism, and primitive Buddhism, is Buddhism as theorized to have existed before the various Early Buddhist schools developed, around 250 BCE.

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">Buddhism and Hinduism</span> Relationship between Buddhism and Hinduism

    Buddhism and Hinduism have common origins in the culture of Ancient India. Buddhism arose in the Gangetic plains of Eastern India in the 5th century BCE during the Second Urbanisation. Hinduism developed as a fusion or synthesis of practices and ideas from the ancient Vedic religion and elements and deities from other local Indian traditions.

    Karma is an important topic in Buddhist thought. The concept may have been of minor importance in early Buddhism, and various interpretations have evolved throughout time. A main problem in Buddhist philosophy is how karma and rebirth are possible, when there is no self to be reborn, and how the traces or "seeds" of karma are stored throughout time in consciousness.

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">Sanskrit Buddhist literature</span> Buddhist texts composed in Sanskrit

    Sanskrit Buddhist literature refers to Buddhist texts composed either in classical Sanskrit, in a register that has been called "Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit", or a mixture of these two. Several non-Mahāyāna Nikāyas appear to have kept their canons in Sanskrit, the most prominent being the Sarvāstivāda school. Many Mahāyāna Sūtras and śāstras also survive in Buddhistic Sanskrit or in standard Sanskrit.

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">Greater Magadha</span> Concept of Indian history

    Greater Magadha is a theory in the studies of the ancient history of India, introduced by Johannes Bronkhorst. It refers to the non-Vedic political and cultural sphere that developed in the lower Gangetic plains, east of the Vedic heartland and roughly corresponding to the region of the later Magadha empire.

    Vedic learning started in Mithila with the expansion of Vedic and Brahmanic culture eastwards along the Ganges plain. Some sources consider this centre of Brahminical study to form an Ancient Mithila University. From the 12th/13th to 15th century CE it was an important centre of Nyaya Shastra and logical sciences.

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">Moriya (tribe)</span> Republican tribe in Iron-Age India

    Moriya was an ancient Indo-Aryan tribe of northeastern Indian subcontinent whose existence is attested during the Iron Age. The Moriyas were organised into a gaṇasaṅgha, presently referred to as the Moriya Republic.

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">Kālāma</span> Republican tribe in Iron-Age India

    Kālāma was an ancient Indo-Aryan tribe of north-eastern South Asia whose existence is attested during the Iron Age. The Kālāmas were organised into a gaṇasaṅgha, presently referred to as the Kālāma Republic.

    References

    1. Johannes Bronkhorst, Greater Magadha: Studies in the Culture of Early India (Leiden, 2007).
    2. In Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society: Review of Greater Magadha
    3. H-Net Reviews
    4. Unisciences - UNIL - Johannes Bronkhorst
    5. "J. Bronkhorst". Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences. Retrieved 24 January 2016.
    Johannes Bronkhorst
    Born (1946-07-17) 17 July 1946 (age 78)
    Schiedam, Netherlands
    Nationality Dutch
    Occupations
    Known forGreater Magadha
    Academic background
    Education