We are pleased to announce the publication of the latest two volumes of the Proceedings of the Dubrovnik International Conference on the Sanskrit Epics and Purāṇas (DICSEP).

Volume 8 (ed. Sven Sellmer, Ivan Andrijanić, gen. ed. Mislav Ježić) contains the following contributions:

Renate Söhnen-Thieme: Spoken Sanskrit in the Epic

Mislav Ježić: Mŷthos, Épos, and Lógos: Myth, Epic, and Logic. On the Relationship between Hieratic, Aristocratic and Philosophical Traditions: a Comparative Approach

Joanna Jurewicz: Cosmogony, Storytelling and Irony in the Mahābhārata. Why Kṛṣṇa laughs in Bhagavadgītā 2,10

Przemysław Szczurek: In Search of the Beginning of the Strīparvan

Ivan Andrijanić: Fate, Dharma, and Dispassion: Demonic Dialogues in the Mokṣadharmaparvan

Hideki Teshima: Yudhiṣṭhira and the Notion of the Buddhist King Cakravartin: An Analysis of His Image as Reflected in the Āśvamedhikaparvan

Greg Bailey: Some Buddhist Understandings of the Mahābhārata in the Light of the Lalitavistara and its Intertextual Significance

Mandakranta Bose: Private Dilemma and Public Ceremony: The Performance of Authority in the Rāmāyaṇa

McComas Taylor: Reading the Viṣṇu-Purāṇa as Literature: Exploring Purāṇic Narrative Structure

Natalia Lidova: Lokapālas – the Guardians of the World. On the Origin and Nature of the Concept in the Brahmanic tradition

Sven Sellmer: Epic and Non-Epic Ślokas: Comparing Versification in the Great Epics and the Kathāsaritsāgara

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Volume 9 (ed. Sven Sellmer, Ivan Andrijanić, gen. ed. Mislav Ježić) has also been published and includes the following contributions:

Johannes Bronkhorst: The Bhagavadgītā and Karmic Retribution

Mislav Ježić: The Text History, the Impact on the Mahābhārata, and the Dating of the Bhagavadgītā

Péter Száler: Bhāratas and Sāgaras. Recurrent Motifs in the Sanskrit Genealogies

Krešimir Krnic: Epics and Ethics

Diletta Falqui: The Lotus as upamāna in Compounded rūpakas “Lotus-Face”, “Lotus-Eyes”. Epic Genesis of a Mahākāvya Motive

Giulia Buriola Meneghin: Stories in Histories: The Case of Prapannāmṛta 123–125.

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Both volumes will be officially presented during the DICSEP 11 on Monday, 3 August, at 6:00 p.m. (CEST) in Dubrovnik.

The programme of this year's conference is available on the conference website:

The conference, including the book presentation, may also be followed live via Zoom. Anyone interested in attending online is kindly invited to request the Zoom link by emailing iandrij@m.ffzg.hr.

We warmly welcome all colleagues interested in Sanskrit epics, Purāṇic literature, and related fields.