Dear colleagues,

I am pleased to announce a new publication:

Marcus SCHMÜCKER (Ed.), Viṣṇu-Nārāyaṇa : Changing Forms and the Becoming of a Deity in Indian Religious Traditions. (Veröffentlichungen zu den Sprachen und Kulturen Südasiens 40. Sitzungsberichte der philosophisch-historischen Klasse 934). Vienna: Austrian Academy of Sciences Press 2023.

The contributions collected in this volume deal with the complex history of the Indian deity Viṣṇu-Nārāyana. This conception of God evolved in various traditions in India, especially in South India, during the first millennium CE. The history of this development is reconstructed here by various means, including philological exegesis, the history of ideas, and iconographic evidence. In their respective discussions, the contributors examine a range of textual material in Sanskrit, Tamil, and Maṇipravāḷa, including the early Caṅkam literature of the 3rd to 6th century CE; the Vaiṣṇava text corpus, in particular the Nālāyiradivviyapirabandham (6th–9th century CE); Purāṇic literature, especially the Viṣṇupurāṇa (5th–6th century CE); Pāñcarātra literature; and the later (10th–14th century CE) literature of the philosophical and theological tradition of theistic Viśiṣṭādvaita Vedānta, in which Viṣṇu-Nārāyaṇa plays a central role. Also examined is how Viṣṇu-Nārāyaṇa came to be seen as a solitary supreme God, with a reconstruction of the theological arguments supporting this monotheism.

You can access the book here: https://verlag.oeaw.ac.at/en/product/vi-u-n-r-ya-a/99200861?name=vi-u-n-r-ya-a&product_form=5007 (open access).

Best regards,

Marion Rastelli

Mag.Dr. Marion Rastelli

Institute for the Cultural and Intellectual History of Asia

Austrian Academy of Sciences

Georg-Coch-Platz 2 / 4th floor

1010 Vienna

Austria

Phone +43 1 51581 6417

Postal address:

Mag.Dr. Marion Rastelli

Institute for the Cultural and Intellectual History of Asia

Austrian Academy of Sciences

Dr.-Ignaz-Seipel-Platz 2

1010 Vienna

Austria