[Buddha-l] Jayarava's Rave Jan 30th--Rethinking Indian History

[jkirk]

http://jayarava.blogspot.com/2009/01/rethinking-indian-history.ht
ml   

Citing some recently published sources, Jayrava presents us with
a view of the religious cultures in Maagadha around 500BCE that I
found rewarding because he produces a more creditable version of
the socio-cultural context in those days vis a vis relevant
texts, like the Brhadaranyaka Up. and the Pali suttas. The essay
also proposes that perhaps the Buddha wasn't acquainted with
so-called Brahminical texts (such as upanishads), and that the
ideas hitherto thought to have been imported by
Brahmins--rebirth, karma and aatman--were ideas likely being
circulated by Aajivikas and Jains.  "Recently scholars have
proposed a different model of India in the 5th century BCE in
which the Brahmins were not dominant in the Magadha region, and
in fact did not become so until around the beginning of the
common era."
It's an interesting read, and now I'd sure like to get those
books, especially Bronkhorst, but costs require using ILL.

Joanna K.