[INDOLOGY] Book Announcement

[Raj Balkaran]

Dear Colleagues:

You may be interested in listening to John's recent New Books Network
interview on B*rahmins and Kings: Royal Counsel in the Sanskrit Narrative
Literatures.*

https://newbooksnetwork.com/brahmins-and-kings

Feel free to get in touch if you'd like something covered on the podcast.

Raj

--
Regards,
Raj Balkaran, Ph.D.
Tutor, Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies
Chaplain, McMaster University
https://rajbalkaran.com



On Wed, Apr 2, 2025 at 10:43 AM Nemec, John William (jwn3y) via INDOLOGY <
indology at list.indology.info> wrote:

> Dear Colleagues (with apologies for cross-posting and self-promotion),
>
> I write to share the happy news of the release of my new book on March
> 28th:
>
> *Brahmins and Kings: Royal Counsel in the Sanskrit Narrative Literatures.*
>
> Here is a link to the publisher's website:
> https://global.oup.com/academic/product/brahmins-and-kings-9780197791998?cc=us&lang=en&
>
>
> What follows is the description of the book from the Press:
>
> *"Brahmins and Kings* examines some of the most well-known and widely
> circulated narratives in the history of Sanskrit literature, including the
> *Mahābhārata*, the *Rāmāyaṇa*, Viṣṇuśarman's famed animal stories (the *
> Pañcatantra*), Somadeva's labyrinthine Ocean of Rivers of Stories (the
> *Kathāsaritsāgara*), Kalhaṇa's *Chronicle of the Kings of Kashmir* (the
> *Rājataraṅgiṇī*), and two of the most famous plays in the history of
> Sanskrit literature, Kālidāsa's *Abhijñānaśākuntala* and Harṣa's
> *Ratnāvalī*. Offering a sustained, close, intertextual reading of these
> works, John Nemec argues that these texts all share a common frame: they
> feature stories of the mutual relations of *kṣatriya* kings with
> Brahmins, and they depict Brahmins advising political figures. More than
> this, they not only narrate instances of royal counsel but also are
> composed in a manner that renders the stories themselves as instances of
> counsel.
>
> Based in the technical literatures on Hindu Law and on statecraft—the
> *Dharmaśāstra*s and the *Arthaśāstra* and related works—the counsel in
> question elaborates a model of action that synthesizes views found in both,
> recommending a kind of virtue ethic that suggests one may do well in the
> world by being good. Doing well involves succeeding in both worldly and
> otherworldly affairs; being good involves following Brahminical teachings
> and upholding the dharmic norms they regularly articulate in text. This
> ethic encompasses all human action and practice, defines the counsel
> offered by these texts, and seeks with it to engage the king, his princes,
> and queens across the spectrum of their subjective experience:
> intellectually, emotionally, humorously.
>
> Ultimately, this book argues that, just as the rulers in these narratives
> receive moral instruction, their audiences do, as well. By putting
> metaphorical flesh on the proverbial bare bones of doctrinal ideals and
> ideas, these texts seek to shape not just readers' thoughts but also their
> emotions and cultivated instincts, intending to transform their very way of
> engaging the world by immersing them in the dreamworld of stories."
>
>
> Thank you and with best wishes,
> John
>
>
>
> ___________________________________________
> John Nemec, Ph.D.
> Professor of Indian Religions and South Asian Studies
> Department of Religious Studies
> 323 Gibson Hall, 1540 Jefferson Park Avenue
> University of Virginia
> Charlottesville, VA 22904
> +1 (434) 924-6716
> nemec at virginia.edu
> https://virginia.academia.edu/JNemec
>
> Take a look at my new book:
>
> https://global.oup.com/academic/product/brahmins-and-kings-9780197791998?cc=us&lang=en&
>
> _______________________________________________
> INDOLOGY mailing list
> INDOLOGY at list.indology.info
> https://list.indology.info/mailman/listinfo/indology
>
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