Dear List Members, 

In order to pay a tribute to freedom of critical expression my Master course "Sanskrit, scientific and philosophical lingua franca" will in the following weeks, as it did yesterday, focus on 

Satirical criticism in Sanskrit literature and philosophy

Without trying to be in any way complete I propose that the work of the following authors can be regarded as, to some extent at least, belonging in this category:

Bhartrhari the poet/subhasita collector, Jayarasi, Ksemendra.

Part of Bhavabhuuti's Maalatiimaadhava reads as satirical criticism on Kapaalikas. 

Now my question: ARE THERE ANY OTHER STRONG (extensive) EXAMPLES?

Satire in Indian literature? WHAT is usually criticized?

Satire in Indian philosophy? Criticism of WHAT? (Tattvopaplavasimha: of all philosophical-religious "truths" without trying to establish one's own).

Writing satirical criticism in Sanskrit in a manuscript is not the same as expressing such criticism in the most accessible "language" thinkable: comics published in a weekly. 

HOW was satirical criticism in ancient, classical India RECEIVED? 

Did anyone suffer on account of critical views expressed in Sanskrit? Or only when it was 

expressed in a more popular language like Hindi (Kabir)?

Best,

jan houben

Prof. Dr. Jan E.M. Houben,
Directeur d Etudes « Sources et Histoire de la Tradition Sanskrite »
Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes, Sciences historiques et philologiques,
Sorbonne – 54, rue Saint-Jacques

CS 20525 – 75005 Paris – France. 

johannes.houben@ephe.sorbonne.fr
https://ephe-sorbonne.academia.edu/JanEMHouben

 

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