[INDOLOGY] crossing oceans?

[Dominik Wujastyk]

Why is half the religious literature of early India concerned with
"crossing the ocean of saṃsāra," when crossing a real ocean was forbidden
for twice-born members of society?  Why *that* metaphor in particular?

Crossing fords, rivers, etc., makes metaphorical sense, and was allowed.
But oceans?



--
Professor Dominik Wujastyk* <http://ualberta.academia.edu/DominikWujastyk>
Singhmar Chair in Classical Indian Society and Polity
Department of History and Classics <http://historyandclassics.ualberta.ca/>
University of Alberta, Canada

<https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/goog_1525257691>
​sas.ualberta.ca​


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