[INDOLOGY] Satirical criticism in Sanskrit literature and philosophy?

[Eli Franco]

I am just writing a note on bhautopaakhyaana (appears also as  
bhautaakhyaana). These are short anecdotes about dumb and dumber used  
by philosophers to illustrate the stupidity of their opponents. The  
structure is invariably the same: One fool asks a stupid question or  
makes a stupid statement, and another fool, who claims to correct or  
instruct him, makes an even more stupid statement.
I have found very few of those; two in the Pramanavarttikabhashya (one  
of which is repeated by Shanti Suri), one in Jnanasrimitra's work, and  
one in Udayana's Aatmatattvaviveka. If anyone knows of more, I will be  
grateful for any references.

As for satires in Hindi, I have found Taj Mahal ka Tender, translated  
by Oranskaya and her students, very funny. It places the building of  
the Taj Mahal in modern India and of course the actual work never  
begins (the money is embezzled, used for bribes, unnecessary  
administration and so on).


Zitat von Christophe Vielle <christophe.vielle at uclouvain.be>:

> On satire in the Indian vernacular languages, there is also this  
> recent volume (reference from Indologica):
>
> http://indologica.de/drupal/?q=node/2214
> Horstmann, Monika [u.a.] [Hrsg.]:
Indian Satire in the Period of  
> First Modernity / ed. by Monika Horstmann and Heidi Pauwels. -  
> Wiesbaden : Harrassowitz, 2012. - X, 242 S. : Ill. - (Khoj ; 9)

>
> (...)
>
> 
Satire reveals fault lines and incongruities between ideal and  
> practice. Satirical discourse may be independent or invade and  
> parody literary genres. It unmasks, ridicules and thereby  
> deconstructs evil and hypocrisy to reconstruct honesty and reason,  
> and at its farthest end may amount to moral utopia. The volume  
> brings together essays on satire in the Indian vernaculars and in  
> painting, mainly from the period of first modernity (ca.  
> mid-fifteenth to mid-eighteenth century). These are framed by a  
> contribution on the more ancient Tamil Jain satire and two essays on  
> colonial satire. The volume edited by Monika Horstmann and Heidi  
> Pauwels brings together essays on satire in the Indian vernaculars  
> and in painting, mainly from the period of first modernity (ca.  
> mid-fifteenth to mid-eighteenth century). These are framed by a  
> contribution on the more ancient Tamil Jain satire and two essays on  
> colonial satire. Among the contributing researchers are Purshottam  
> Agrawal, France Bhattacharya, Ludwig Habighorst, Hans Harder, Monika  
> Horstmann, Hephzibah Israel, Rohini Mokashi-Punekar, Anne E. Monius,  
> Christina Oesterheld, and Heidi Pauwels. [Verlagsinformation]
>
> Inhalt
>
> Notes on Contributors. vii
>
> Transcription and Style. ix
>
> Monika Horstmann and Heidi Pauwels:
>
> Introduction. 1
>
> Anne E. Monius:
>
> Jain Satire and Religious Identity in Tamil-Speaking Literary Culture. 11
>
> Purushottam Agrawal:
>
> Who Was the European Kabīr? 29
>
> Heidi Pauwels:
>
> Whose Satire? Gorakhnāth Confronts Krishna in Kanhāvat. 35
>
> France Bhattacharya:
>
> Satire in Pre-Colonial Bengali Literature: Śiva, an Object of  
> Revilement and Praise. 65
>
> Rohini Mokashi-Punekar:
>
> The Bhāruds of Eknāth: Performance, Humour and Satire. 79
>
> Monika Horstmann:
>
> Approaching Sant Satire. 97
>
> Ludwig V. Habighorst:
>
> Caricature and Satire in Indian Miniature Painting: From the  
> Collection of Ludwig V. Habighorst. 119
>
> Christina Oesterheld:
>
> Satirizing the Late Mughals: The Works of Mīr Jaʻfar ʻZaṭallī’. 135
>
> Hephzibah Israel:
>
> Lowering the Gods: Satire and Popular Literary Forms in the  
> Nineteenth- Century Tamil Context. 153
>
> Hans Harder:
>
> Towards a Concept of Colonial Satire in South Asian Literatures. 167
>
> Index. 187


-- 
Prof. Dr. Eli Franco
Institut für Indologie und Zentralasienwissenschaften
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