Asvaghoṣa on Kings and Kingship
The present paper focuses on Asvaghoṣa's treatment of King Suddhodana and Kapilavāstu, the latter's kingdom, in the Buddhacarita (BC) and the Saundarananda (SNa). As I shall try to demonstrate, the poet's depiction of Suddhodana is strongly reminiscent of, and, I think, very likely ba...
| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | |
| Interlibrary Loan: | Interlibrary Loan for the Fachinformationsdienste (Specialized Information Services in Germany) |
| Published: |
[2018]
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| In: |
Indo-Iranian journal
Year: 2018, Volume: 61, Issue: 4, Pages: 311-352 |
| Further subjects: | B
Rājadharma
B Asvaghoṣa B Ancient Indian kingship B Dharmarāja B Yuga theory |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (Resolving-System) Volltext (doi) |
| Summary: | The present paper focuses on Asvaghoṣa's treatment of King Suddhodana and Kapilavāstu, the latter's kingdom, in the Buddhacarita (BC) and the Saundarananda (SNa). As I shall try to demonstrate, the poet's depiction of Suddhodana is strongly reminiscent of, and, I think, very likely based on, Brahmanical accounts of the rājadharma (BC 9.48) and the dharmarāja (BC 1.75) as they can be found, first and foremost, in the Mahābhārata (MBh). As for his description of the Sākya kingdom, it is obviously meant to be evocative of the "golden age" or, conversely, of its lack of any characteristic of the kaliyuga, which again points to Asvaghoṣa's likely acquaintance with epic descriptions of the kaliyuga and/or the yugānta as they can be found, e.g., in the so-called Mārkaṇḍeya section of the MBh (esp. 3.186 and 188). |
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| ISSN: | 1572-8536 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Indo-Iranian journal
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1163/15728536-06104004 |