Character of the Self in Ancient India

Brian Black is Research Associate at the School of Oriental and African Studies at the University of London.

• AcknowledgmentsAbbreviationsIntroductionOpening statementWhat are the Upanisads?The self, life, death, and immortalityThe historical and social contextCharacterizing the selfLiterary charactersThe social conditions of knowledgeMystery or mystique: The character of knowledge1. Teachers and students: The emergence of teaching as an object of discourseIntroductionSandilya and the teaching of atman and brahmanSandilya: From ritualist to teacherUddalaka Aruni and the teaching of tat tvam asiUddalaka and Svetaketu: Acting out the upanayanaIndra as the persistent studentNarada and Sanatkumara: Knowledge of atman as more important than the VedasNaciketas and the initiation of an Upanishadic brahminThe graduation of a brahmin student in the Taittiriya UpanisadSatyakama and the beginnings of a brahmin hagiographyConclusion2. Debates between brahmins: The competitive dynamics of the brahmodyaIntroductionThe brahmodya and the sacrificeUddalaka Aruni and the brahmodya in the Satapatha BrahmanaYajnavalkya and the philosophical tournamentYajnavalkya’s interlocutors: The social and political implications of debateYajnavalkya and the tactics of debateLosing face or losing one’s head? The motif of head shatteringUpanishadic teachings and material wealthYajnavalkya and renunciationThe life story of YajnavalkyaConclusion 3. Kings and brahmins: The political dimensions of the UpanisadsIntroductionThe myth of ksatriya authorshipJanaka and Yajnavalkya: Negotiating the brahmin’s position in the courtJanaka and Yajnavalkya in the Brhadaranyaka UpanisadKings as teachers: Asvapati teaches a group of brahmin householdersUddalaka Aruni and Svetaketu: Instructions for how to seek patronageConflicting agendas for how kings should teach brahminsUpanishadic knowledge as a political discourseThe battle of the pranas as a political metaphorPravahana and the teaching of the five firesConclusion4. Brahmins and women: Subjectivity and gender construction in the UpanisadsIntroductionThe gender of the self: Atman and the male bodyThe self, virility, and immortalityYajnavalkya and Satyakama: Competing ideals of male subjectivityThe myth of recovering an authentic female voiceGargi: The debating tactics of a female philosopherWomen and gandharvas: The lack of authority for female speakersThe ambiguities of Satyakama’s mother and wifeMaitreyi and Katyayani: Knowledge of atman versus striprajnaConclusionConclusion NotesGlossaryBibliographyIndex

"Black's book is well researched and intelligent … Most impressive is his ability to bring out the concrete and the social in these narratives, including issues of wealth, prestige, regional rivalry, and gender relations." — Journal of the American Oriental Society"…[an] innovative and stimulating account of early Indian thought." — History of Religions"…among the first to analyze the Upanisadic texts as literature as well as foundational philosophical texts … Black's effortless writing style does not over-simplify, but draws together a vast amount of background information in order to enrich the characterisations of the leading teachers in the Upanisads." — Culture and Religion"This is an outstanding book." — Patrick Olivelle, editor of Between the Empires: Society in India 300 BCE to 400 C"This is the finest, most insightful, and most theoretically sophisticated book on the Upanisads I have ever read. For years I have had students come up to me after class and ask me to recommend a book on the Upanisads and I never could. Now, at last, we have a long critical read of these texts from a multitheoretical perspective: sociological, historical, rhetorical, and gendered." — Jeffrey J. Kripal, author of The Serpent's Gift: Gnostic Reflections on the Study of Religion