[INDOLOGY] On Devadāru Forest/lingam origin narratives...

[Westin Harris]

Thank you all for replying on and off the list.

Here is our Pine Forest survival kit at present time:

Doniger, Wendy. *Asceticism and Eroticism in the Mythology of Śiva*.
(Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1973).

- Especially chapter 6.


——. *Śiva: The Erotic Ascetic* (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1981).

- Especially chapter 6.


Handelman, Don, and David Shulman. *Śiva in the Forest of Pines: An Essay
on Sorcery and Self-Knowledge* (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004).


——. *God Inside Out: Śiva’s Game of Dice* (Oxford: Oxford University Press,
1997).

- Re: the Pine Forest episode’s relationship with Siva’s dice game
narratives.


Kramrisch, Stella. *The Presence of Śiva* (Princeton: Princeton University
Press, 1981).

- Especially chapter 7.


Pathak, Shubha. “Shifting Śāstric Śiva: Co-operating Epic Mythology and
Philosophy in India’s Classical Period,” *International Journal of Hindu
Studies* 27, no. 2 (2023): 173–212. (
https://doi.org/10.1007/s11407-022-09337-8).



*Sincerely,*

*Westin Harris*
Ph.D. Candidate
Study of Religion
University of California, Davis
https://religionsgrad.ucdavis.edu/people/westin-harris
<https://religions.ucdavis.edu/people/westin-harris>

2021 Dissertation Fellow,
The Robert H. N. Ho Family Foundation Program in Buddhist Studies

Sarva Mangalam.


On Sun, Mar 31, 2024 at 5:34 PM Shubha Pathak <pathak at american.edu> wrote:

>
>
>
> Dear Westin et al.,
>
> Two relevant secondary sources with which to start, if you have not
> already done so, are *Asceticism and Eroticism in the Mythology of Śiva *by
> Wendy Doniger [O'Flaherty] and *Śiva in the Forest of Pines: An Essay on
> Sorcery and Self-Knowledge *by Don Handelman and David Shulman.  I
> discuss both books in my article "Shifting Śāstric Śiva: Co-operating
> Epic Mythology and Philosophy in India’s Classical Period,” *International
> Journal of Hindu Studies *27, no. 2 (2023): 173–212 (
> https://doi.org/10.1007/s11407-022-09337-8).
>
> Sincerely,
> Shubha
>
>
>
> –––
> Shubha Pathak, PhD, PhD
> Associate Professor
> Department of Philosophy and Religion
> American University
> Battelle-Tompkins 113
> 4400 Massachusetts Avenue, NW
> Washington, DC 20016-8056
>
> Phone: 202-885-2957
> Fax: 202-885-1094
> E-mail: pathak at american.edu
> Web pages: http://www.american.edu/cas/faculty/pathak.cfm
>
>                     https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4087-0601
>
>
>
>
> ------------------------------
> *From:* INDOLOGY <indology-bounces at list.indology.info> on behalf of
> Westin Harris via INDOLOGY <indology at list.indology.info>
> *Sent:* Tuesday, March 26, 2024 7:37 PM
> *To:* INDOLOGY <indology at list.indology.info>
> *Subject:* [INDOLOGY] On Devadāru Forest/lingam origin narratives...
>
>
> *External Email:* Use caution with links and attachments.
> Dear Indologists,
>
> I thought there would already be a thread on this topic, but my searches
> of the archives came up fruitless.
>
> I am looking to learn more about narratives of Śiva in the Devadāru forest
> (cavorting with the sage's wives and rebuking the sages) as an origin story
> for the worship of *śivaliṅga*s.
>
>    - What are the oldest datable examples of the Devadāru forest
>    narrative and/as the origin story for liṅga worship? (Purāṇas or otherwise?)
>    - I have heard contemporary traditions (especially in the South) refer
>    to this form of Śiva as Bhikṣāṭana. Is this epithet attested in the
>    earliest sources, or does it develop later?
>    - I have also heard the Devadāru/Bhikṣāṭana Śiva associated with
>    narratives of Śiva's penance after beheading Brahmā. Is the Devadāru forest
>    narrative often associated with Śiva's brahmanicidal episode, or is this
>    connection less common? (It seems to me that the Devadāru forest narrative
>    already hinges on topoi like transgression and expiation, as Śiva rebukes
>    the sages for their transgressions but then provides his *liṅgam* as a
>    means to absolution, so I could see how the two vignettes might naturally
>    overlap).
>
> As a disclaimer, I fully understand that dating puranic stories is often a
> nonstarter. Therefore, speaking of "earlier" and "later," or "often" and
> "common," can already be problematic. Still, I am hardly an expert in the
> vast puranic corpus, so any help is much appreciated.
>
> Thank you all.
>
> *Sincerely,*
>
> *Westin Harris*
> Ph.D. Candidate
> Study of Religion
> University of California, Davis
> https://religionsgrad.ucdavis.edu/people/westin-harris
> <https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://religions.ucdavis.edu/people/westin-harris__;!!IaT_gp1N!z0fk4xkDOBelVfgs03mUfT0d104Kt2jbVRzc1OE22ZUacxepf_L2JSAI5-VilvnFCm1I0mGvXzawqOQj4BSjfV2StFax$>
>
> 2021 Dissertation Fellow,
> The Robert H. N. Ho Family Foundation Program in Buddhist Studies
>
> Sarva Mangalam.
>
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