[INDOLOGY] Sources on prakāśa, loka, and their relation

[Himanshu]

Dear All

Thank you very much for responding to my query on and off the list! I think
all the suggestions, including *Puruṣa: Personhood in Ancient India *by
Matthew Robertson, *Instant et Cause *by Liliane Silburn, and early
reflections of Jan Gonda, will be really helpful for me to start with. I
would be grateful if you could suggest more sources that you come across on
the early usages of *prakāśa,* *loka, *and one more related root word √*vas*
*.*
Thank you for the clarification, Prof. Lyne. I will write to you off the
list.

Thanks and Regards,
Himanshu


On Fri, 5 Sept, 2025, 7:15 pm Franco, <franco at uni-leipzig.de> wrote:

> There is a monograph by Gonda, *Loka: World and Heaven in the Veda.*
> *Best wishes,*
> *Eli*
>
> Sent from my iPad
>
> On 05.09.2025, at 15:39, Lyne Bansat-Boudon via INDOLOGY <
> indology at list.indology.info> wrote:
>
> 
> Dear Himanshu,
>
> I  hurridly answered to your request. Hence, the need for a small
> emendation about the root from which *loka* is derived: since it is
> parallel to *ruc-*, the correct spelling  should be *luc*-/*loc*- (hence
> *locana*)
>
> As for essays of comparative Indo-European grammar, it is an altogher
> different domain, requiring a long study. No essay is particularly dealing
> with the word and notion of *loka*.
>
> I understood that you wished to examine *prakāśa* in the context of
> non-dualist Kashmir Śaivism , since you referred to Abhinavagupta. If such
> is the case, I can send you some references off-list.
>
> Best wishes,
>
> Lyne
>
> Lyne Bansat-Boudon
>
> Directeur d'études pour les Religions de l'Inde
>
> Ecole pratique des hautes études, section des sciences religieuses
>
> Membre senior honoraire de l'Institut universitaire de France
> ------------------------------
> *De :* Himanshu <hn2001himanshu at gmail.com>
> *Envoyé :* jeudi 4 septembre 2025 04:50
> *À :* Lyne Bansat-Boudon <Lyne.Bansat-Boudon at ephe.psl.eu>
> *Cc :* indology at list.indology.info <indology at list.indology.info>
> *Objet :* Re: [INDOLOGY] Sources on prakāśa, loka, and their relation
>
> Dear Lyne,
>
> Thank you very much for such a clear explanation. Indeed, this is what I
> read in Jan Gonda's 1966 book, he warns against translating loka as "world"
> and shows the wider horizon of meaning it carries.
>
> Could you please share references of these works on "Comparative grammar
> of Indo-European Language" where these terms are analysed? More than the
> classical usage of prakāśa or loka (in the systematic śāstra literature) I
> want to read about how these terms were used in their original context
> (perhaps in poetry or in the Vedas?). For example, a clearing - as you have
> already explained - occuring at the moment of dawn or sandhyā, or as Gonda
> cites phrases from a Veda where Indra having killed troublemakers "creates"
> loka.
>
> Please also share the list of essays dealing with prakāś/vimarśa in
> nondual Śaiva context. However, my immediate concern is to understand
> earliest usage of these terms, so that I can understand what innovations
> Utpaladeva or Abhinavagupta are bringing when they are using them in the
> 9-10th c. CE.
>
> Thanks and regards,
> Himanshu
>
> On Thu, 4 Sep, 2025, 3:53 am Lyne Bansat-Boudon, <
> Lyne.Bansat-Boudon at ephe.psl.eu> wrote:
>
> Dear Himanshu,
>
> Comparative grammar of Indo-European languages has established the
> existence of a Sanskrit verbal root,  *ruc*, with the meaning “to shine,”
> “to be luminous" (present *roc-a-te*), which, in the *guṇa* degree of
> *luk* (its phonetic variant, according to the attested equivalence of -r
> and -l), gives *lok* > *lok-a.*
> Thus, the world “shines,” as a clearing shines (see the word “clairière”
> in French, an orderly and ‘clear’ space in the forest). *loka *is thus
> the  bright, clear and shining open space gained from the dark chaos of the
> forest
>
> Note that from this root *luk/lok*, also derives the noun *loc-ana*,
> “that which illuminates", hence the “eye.”
>
> The same analogy is found in Latin, but with a different root: *mundus *is
> a noun adjective, meaning  "clean, neat", hence “brilliant,” hence
> “universe,” (see, in French, the verbs ‘monder’ and “émonder.”
>
> Likewise, Greek has the term κοσμος, simply Latinized as “cosmos",
> meaning "order, good order, orderly arrangement”, hence the idea of a
> universe opposed to the original chaos. A related meaning is "ornament"
> which appear in such words as "cosmetics").
>
> Enough of this very simplified survey!
>
> Now, as for *prakāśa*, it certainly derives from the Sanskrit root *kāś
> *"to shine, to resplend" from which derives Kāśī, "the "Bright" one,
>  ancient name of Benares. But, as you point it out, the term has crucial
> ontological implications in the non-dualist Kashmir Śaivism.  This is the
> * prakāśa/vimarśa* dichotomy, which, far from opposing them,
> articulates two complementary concepts, and, as such,  lies at the heart of
> Śaiva reasoning.
>
> Numerous articles and books by specialists of the domain deal with this
> issue. If needed, I can send you a brief list of essays dealing with the
> topic.
>
> Hope this will be of some use,
>
> Best,
>
> Lyne Bansat-Boudon
>
> Lyne Bansat-Boudon
>
> Directeur d'études pour les Religions de l'Inde
>
> Ecole pratique des hautes études, section des sciences religieuses
>
> Membre senior honoraire de l'Institut universitaire de France
> ------------------------------
> *De :* INDOLOGY <indology-bounces at list.indology.info> de la part de
> Himanshu via INDOLOGY <indology at list.indology.info>
> *Envoyé :* mercredi 3 septembre 2025 17:34
> *À :* indology at list.indology.info <indology at list.indology.info>
> *Objet :* [INDOLOGY] Sources on prakāśa, loka, and their relation
>
>
> Dear All,
>
> I am looking for works on the ideas of *prakāśa*, *loka*, and how these
> concepts, if they do, relate to each other. Often, these two terms may
> (e.g., in nondual philosophies) appear in contradiction to each other. But
> I am particularly searching for any scholarship that produces something
> around a philological history or a history of these ideas (philosophical),
> or any analysis of literary usage before or after their usages in the
> post-sūtra age texts.
> To contextualise what *prakāśa *and loka might share: If I am not
> misquoting, Kśemarāja employs the word loka by deriving it from √*lok*+
> *ghañ*. And so does Candrakīrti (perhaps in his discussion on
> *lokaprasiddhi*, as I learned from Prof. Mattia Salvini). I am not very
> much confident about the prevalence and implications of this derivation,
> but it certainly indicates a possible relation that √*lok* (-
> *loka darśane*) might share with √*kāś *in *prakāśa*.
>
> As my doctoral research focuses on Abhinavagupta's concept of *prasiddhi *
> and its ontological relation with his concept of non-dual *prakāśa, *my
> interest lies in the ontological implications of the terms I mentioned
> above. I am aware of only one work that takes a somewhat similar
> direction: Jan Gonda's 1966 book, *Loka - World and the Heaven in the
> Vedas.* I would be grateful if you could provide any references
> discussing these concepts.
>
> Thanks and regards,
> Himanshu
> Doctoral Candidate
> Department of Humanities and Social Sciences
> Indian Institute of Technology-Bombay
> Mumbai
>
>
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