Pre-announcement: Discovering the Vedas

[Jan E.M. Houben]

Dear Friends, 
  I have been requested to make the following pre-announcement: 
   
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  Frits Staal is about to publish DISCOVERING THE VEDAS. ORIGINS, MANTRAS,
RITUALS, INSIGHTS with Penguin India. A book of more than 400 pages, it is
an unprecedented guide to the Vedas consisting of five parts.

Part I extracts concrete facts from the Oral Tradition and Archaeology
about Vedic people and their language, what they thought and did, and
where they went and when. Part II, the longest, provides essential
information about the Four Vedas with selections and translations. Part
III sheds light on mantras and rituals, the main channels through which
Vedic contributions entered what came to be known as Hinduism. Part IV
looks at what we can learn from the Vedas - things that the composers
seemed to know but we do not. The fifth part puts Vedic civilization in
perspective through a wide-ranging comparison with other Indic
philosophies and religions, primarily Buddhism.

For a detailed Table of Contents see http://philosophy.berkeley.edu/staal.

The book is expected to be launched in January 2008. In December 2007, the
actual  date, price, and information about how to order copies will be
available on www.penguinbooksindia.com

  ***
   
   


Prof. Dr. Jan E.M. Houben,
Directeur d Etudes
Chaire: Sources et Histoire de la Tradition Sanskrite
Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes, SHP
A la Sorbonne,45-47, rue des Ecoles,
75005 Paris -- France. 
JEMHouben at gmail.com
www.jyotistoma.nl


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