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

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De : Himanshu <hn2001himanshu@gmail.com>
Envoyé : jeudi 4 septembre 2025 04:50
À : Lyne Bansat-Boudon <Lyne.Bansat-Boudon@ephe.psl.eu>
Cc : indology@list.indology.info <indology@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@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

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De : INDOLOGY <indology-bounces@list.indology.info> de la part de Himanshu via INDOLOGY <indology@list.indology.info>
Envoyé : mercredi 3 septembre 2025 17:34
À : indology@list.indology.info <indology@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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