Dear All, Thank you all who have reacted with precious references to passages relevant to what is perhaps a kind of "radiance of peace" concept, expressed briefly in Yoga-sūtra 2.35, अहिंसाप्रतिष्ठायां, तत्सन्निधौ वैरत्यागः । It seems that only the extensive passages in the Rāmāyaṇa Kakawin to which Andrea Acri referred extends the concept explicitly to human society. I am grateful for the references to the Mahābhārata, Śākuntalopākhyāna (famously elaborated also by Kālidāsa), and the Telugu commentary on it. Also the reference to the Caitanya-caritāmṛta in Sanskritic Bengali bring us beyond the scope of Sanskrit literature in the strict sense of the word. The reference to Aśvaghoṣa’s Saundarānanda I find important because it concerns the legendary sage Kapila, known as one of the founders of the Sāṁkhya system of philosophy (as I have argued, Sāṁkhya was originally more a movement, partly in protest to Vedic ritualism, and became a philosophical system afterwards). The scene described in this reference is almost a Sāṁkhya illustration of the concept (later on?) formulated in YS 2.35. One part of a similar formula is perhaps found in the saṁnyāsa-vidhi attributed to a certain Kapila, अभयं सर्वभूतेभ्यो मत्तस् स्वाहा ।(Baudhāyana-Gṛhya-Śeṣa-Sūtra 4.16.4). The other part remains here apparently unexpressed, namely: the expectation that this declaration will lead to वैरत्यागः and to wild animals etc. to provide, reciprocatively, abhayam to the ascetic (and, near the ascetic, to each other). A very similar or rather parallel concept, expressed in different terms, is found, in my view, in the maitrī and maitrī-bhāvanā of Buddhism, as discussed by Lambert Schmithausen in his *Maitrī and Magic : Aspects of the Buddhist Attitude Toward the Dangerous in Nature*, Vienna, 1997. As we know that nonviolence was and is an important religious duty in JAINISM it would be interesting to know whether in that context, too, a concept of a "radiance of peace" was known or developed... With best wishes to all,
On Sun, 25 Dec 2022 at 19:13, Jan E.M. Houben <[email protected]> wrote: > Dear All, > According to Yoga-sūtra 2.35, अहिंसाप्रतिष्ठायां, तत्सन्निधौ वैरत्यागः । > which apparently means that when someone is thoroughly established in > non-violence, (mutual) enmity disappears in his environment. > Commentaries and references given for aphorism and referred to for > instance in James Wood’s translation emphasize that in this situation > *even* wild animals, no more attack their prey. An example is Kirāṭārjunīya > 2.55 (meter viyoginī): Vyāsa is looked at by Yudhiṣṭhira: > madhurair avaśāni lambhayann api tiryañci śamaṃ nirīkṣitaiḥ / > paritaḥ paṭu bibhrad enasāṃ dahanaṃ dhāma vilokanakṣamam // > “Calming even wild animals by his gentle looks, spreading a blazing > radiance around which burns away guilt, (but which yet) can be gazed at > (the sage, i.e., Vyāsa son of Parāśara, was seen by the king, Yudhiṣṭhira)” > (tr. following Roodbergen 1984, p. 143; cp. also Raghuvaṁśa 13.50, 14.79.) > Are any more convincing stories or anecdotes known in Sanskrit literature, > in which the peace-creating influence suggested in YS 2.35 inspires animals > or *even* humans to behave in a more peaceful way ? > With best wishes for a Peaceful Christmas New Year to all: > > शान्ते ! ऽस्मिन् लोक एधस्व विद्यातः प्रेमतस्तथा । > > तव भक्तजनानां च कल्याणमस्तु सर्वदा ॥ > -- *Jan E.M. Houben* Directeur d'Études, Professor of South Asian History and Philology *Sources et histoire de la tradition sanskrite* École Pratique des Hautes Études (EPHE, Paris Sciences et Lettres) *Sciences historiques et philologiques * Groupe de recherches en études indiennes (EA 2120) *johannes.houben [at] ephe.psl.eu <[email protected]>* *https://ephe-sorbonne.academia.edu/JanEMHouben <https://ephe-sorbonne.academia.edu/JanEMHouben>* *https://www.classicalindia.info* <https://www.classicalindia.info> LabEx Hastec OS 2021 -- *L'Inde Classique* augmentée: construction, transmission et transformations d'un savoir scientifique
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