[INDOLOGY] witchcraft info

Fri Feb 4 15:28:40 UTC 2022

When the discussion turns to scholarly literature, the classical study  
by R. N. Saletore, Indian witchcraft, New Delhi 1981, should be  
mentioned. It is some time ago that I looked inside, so I don't  
remember whether he says something about persecution.

Best
Martin

Zitat von "Collins, Brian via INDOLOGY" <indology at list.indology.info>:

> There’s some discuss of this topic in the first couple of chapters  
> of David Gordon White’s recent Daemons Are Forever.
>
> Best,
>
> Assoc. Prof. Brian Collins
> (He/Him/His)
> Department Chair and Drs. Ram and Sushila Gawande Chair in Indian  
> Religion and Philosophy
> Department of Classics and Religious Studies
> 234 Ellis Hall
> Ohio University
> Athens, Ohio
> 740-597-2103<tel:740-597-2103> (office)
>
> On Feb 4, 2022, at 9:20 AM, Matthew Kapstein via INDOLOGY  
> <indology at list.indology.info> wrote:
>
> 
> ________________________________
>
> NOTICE: This message was sent from outside Ohio University. Please  
> use caution when clicking links or opening attachments in this  
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> ________________________________
>
> Hi Jonathan,
>
> I agree that divining is the primary focus, but if you go through  
> the entire list, some of the items (e.g., bhūtavijjā,
> perhaps "conjuring ghosts") seem to be leaning towards what we think  
> of as witchcraft, which of course is a somewhat vague term.
>
> best,
> Matthew
>
> Matthew Kapstein
> Directeur d'études, émérite
> Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes, Paris
>
> Numata Visiting Professor of Buddhist Studies,
> The University of Chicago
>
> https://brill.com/view/title/60949<https://nam11.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fbrill.com%2Fview%2Ftitle%2F60949&data=04%7C01%7Ccollinb1%40ohio.edu%7Ca37a3f9994d0492eae3608d9e7e9743b%7Cf3308007477c4a70888934611817c55a%7C0%7C0%7C637795812143982520%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000&sdata=XwZzIfOMNOMM2he6OqpUpCTHy7mIlvY0lMitFnCVCZw%3D&reserved=0>
>
> https://ephe.academia.edu/MatthewKapstein
>
> ________________________________
> From: Jonathan Silk <kauzeya at gmail.com>
> Sent: Friday, February 4, 2022 8:10 AM
> To: Matthew Kapstein <mkapstei at uchicago.edu>
> Cc: DIEGO LOUKOTA SANCLEMENTE <diegoloukota at ucla.edu>; Paolo Eugenio  
> Rosati <paoloe.rosati at gmail.com>; Indology  
> <indology at list.indology.info>
> Subject: Re: [INDOLOGY] witchcraft info
>
> I  well be  wrong (it happens alarmingly often) but my sense is that  
> the Pāli term generally (always?) refers to fortune telling and the  
> like, although I could see that this might in some ways bleed into  
> "witchcraft" for some. But in India there are certainly ideas about  
> beings who manipulate reality in other ways ("sorcerers") and I do  
> not think that this is to be connnected with tiracchānavijjā.
> Jonathan
>
> On Fri, Feb 4, 2022 at 2:56 PM Matthew Kapstein via INDOLOGY  
> <indology at list.indology.info<mailto:indology at list.indology.info>>  
> wrote:
> Although not expressly involving persecution, the condemnation of  
> "base arts" (tiracchānavijjā) as "wrong livelihood" (micchājīva) in  
> the Pali Digha Nikaya (1.21-28 in Walshe's translation) may be worth  
> considering. Many of the "arts" explicitly mentioned are frequently  
> associated with "witchcraft." There are no doubt injunctions in the  
> various Vinaya-s as well.
>
> Matthew Kapstein
> Directeur d'études, émérite
> Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes, Paris
>
> Numata Visiting Professor of Buddhist Studies,
> The University of Chicago
>
> https://brill.com/view/title/60949<https://nam11.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fbrill.com%2Fview%2Ftitle%2F60949&data=04%7C01%7Ccollinb1%40ohio.edu%7Ca37a3f9994d0492eae3608d9e7e9743b%7Cf3308007477c4a70888934611817c55a%7C0%7C0%7C637795812143982520%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000&sdata=XwZzIfOMNOMM2he6OqpUpCTHy7mIlvY0lMitFnCVCZw%3D&reserved=0>
>
> https://ephe.academia.edu/MatthewKapstein
>
> ________________________________
> From: INDOLOGY  
> <indology-bounces at list.indology.info<mailto:indology-bounces at list.indology.info>> on behalf of DIEGO LOUKOTA SANCLEMENTE  
> <diegoloukota at ucla.edu<mailto:diegoloukota at ucla.edu>>
> Sent: Friday, February 4, 2022 7:26 AM
> To: Paolo Eugenio Rosati  
> <paoloe.rosati at gmail.com<mailto:paoloe.rosati at gmail.com>>
> Cc: Indology  
> <indology at list.indology.info<mailto:indology at list.indology.info>>
> Subject: Re: [INDOLOGY] witchcraft info
>
>
>   Dear Paolo,
>
>   Albeit short and less descriptive than we would wish, the three  
> 3rd-4th Century Gāndhārī documents from Niya that mention the  
> persecution and summary execution of witches, numbers 58, 63, and  
> 248, are the one instance I can think of (you will find the texts in  
> Boyer, A.M., E. J. Rapson, E. Senart, and P. S. Noble, 1920–29,  
> Kharoṣṭhī Inscriptions Discovered by Sir Aurel Stein in Chinese  
> Turkestan (Oxford: Clarendon Press), and Thomas Burrow's English  
> translation in his 1940 A Translation of the Kharoṣṭhi Documents  
> from Chinese Turkestan (James G. Forlong Fund. London: The Royal  
> Asiatic Society), available online at  
> https://depts.washington.edu/silkroad/texts/niyadocts.html).
>   The tricky part here is to what extent one can consider Central  
> Asian Shanshan/Nuava to be Indic/South Asian. My own take here—but  
> there is a variety of opinion—is that it was a settler-colonial  
> society in which Gandhāran culture informed the discourse of a  
> mestizo elite, à la Latin America.
>   The term khakhorda or khakhorna used for "witch" is particularly  
> fascinating with its presumed Iranian etymology (~Avestan  
> ka-xvarəδa). Given that the indigenous people of the kingdom were  
> probably Iranian speakers, it is likely that the "witchcraft"  
> reflected indigenous practices. I look forward to seeing if other  
> people have more references.
>
>   namaskaromi,
>
>   Diego
>
>
>
>
>
>
> On Thu, Feb 3, 2022 at 12:42 AM Paolo Eugenio Rosati via INDOLOGY  
> <indology at list.indology.info<mailto:indology at list.indology.info>>  
> wrote:
> Dear Indologists,
>
> I am wondering if any pre-colonial written source on  
> witchcraft/magic persecution in South Asia exists.
>
> Sincerely,
> Paolo
>
> --
> Paolo E. Rosati
> PhD in Asian and African Studies
> https://uniroma1.academia.edu/paolo<https://uniroma1.academia.edu/PaoloRosati/>erosati/<https://uniroma1.academia.edu/PaoloRosati/>
> paoloe.rosati at gmail.com<mailto:paoloe.rosati at gmail.com>
> Mobile/Whatsapp: (+39) 338 73 83 472
> Skype: paoloe.rosati
>
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>
> --
> J. Silk
> Leiden University
> Leiden University Institute for Area Studies, LIAS
> Matthias de Vrieshof 3, Room 0.05b
> 2311 BZ Leiden
> The Netherlands
>
> website:  
> www.OpenPhilology.eu<https://nam11.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.openphilology.eu%2F&data=04%7C01%7Ccollinb1%40ohio.edu%7Ca37a3f9994d0492eae3608d9e7e9743b%7Cf3308007477c4a70888934611817c55a%7C0%7C0%7C637795812143982520%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000&sdata=MVpgfHfiIGizUU6Zfv6s%2FQfpwxhCBin0VIkFKLFvxTM%3D&reserved=0>
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-- 
Martin Straube
Research Fellow in Pali Lexicography
Pali Text Society

Philipps-Universität Marburg
Indologie und Tibetologie
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35032 Marburg
Germany