Hi Jarrod,

What an interesting idea. A must read

Bob

Dr. R.P. Goldman

William and Catherine Magistretti Professor of Sanskrit Emeritus

and

Professor in the Graduate School

Department of South and Southeast Asian Studies

The University of California at Berkeley

On Sep 3, 2026, at 5:06 AM, Whitaker, Jarrod via INDOLOGY <indology@list.indology.info> wrote:

Dear Colleagues

It's a pleasure to share with you all the news of the publication of my new monograph, The Power of Hate Speech in Ancient India: Beasts, Demons, and Scorched-Earth Poetry (Bloomsbury Academic, 2026). 

The Kindle version was available in August and the Hardcover is published today, September 3rd, from Amazon or Bloomsbury. 

https://tinyurl.com/3zt58kvs

https://tinyurl.com/4dc9wb5d

The book argues that early Vedic poet-priests deployed various forms of hate speech to negotiate interpersonal conflict and social status. It illuminates a lived reality in which ancient Indian ritualists had to contend with serious threats to the staging of their ritual performances from rival ritualists, members of the wider community, cultural outsiders, and even wild animals. Consequently, this book offers an in-depth study of how ancient Indian poet-priests construct and reproduce their identities and sociopolitical expectations in ritual performances through the ubiquitous use of ritualized hate speech. It provides hitherto unnoticed insights into the complex discursive practices, ethical values, and interpersonal relationships that ritual practitioners had to negotiate some three thousand years ago in north India.

Table of Contents
Introduction
1: Ritual Order Vs Monstrous Chaos
2: Hate Speech
3: Bráhman-Haters and Brahmáns As Haters
4: “Discord-Sowers,” Pests, and the Animal-Other
Conclusion
Appendix 1: Translation Of RV.7.104.1-25
Appendix 2: Translation Of RV.10.87.1-25
Appendix 3: Rgvedic Appearances of “Hate” as a Subjective Quality
Bibliography 

Cheers

Jarrod

--

Jarrod L. Whitaker, Ph.D.
Professor for the Study of Religions
Department Chair

Department for the Study of Religions
Wake Forest University
1834 Wake Forest Rd
Winston-Salem, NC, 27106

336.758.4162
whitakjl@wfu.edu

ॐ मणिपद्मे हूँ

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