SOUTH 11 >- 1 2 O C T O B E R 1 9 9 6 N O O R D W I J K E R H O U T , THE
NETHERLANDS
1 NOVEMBER 1 9 9 6 A M S T E R D A M , THE
The Second Himalayan Languages Symposium By GEORGE VAN DRI EM
he Second Hima layan Languages Symposium was held this year at Noordwijkerhout, hosted by the Himalayan Langues Project of Leiden University. The Symposium was sponsored by the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences, the Himalayan Lan guages Project of Leiden University, the faculty of Arts of Leiden Univer sity, the International Institute for Asian Studies (HAS), the Research School CNWS, and anonymous pri vate donors. There were contributions on Him alayan languages from different lan guage families, e.g. Tibeto-Burman languages (Kathmandu Newar, Dolakha Newar, Classical Newar, Sampang, Puma, Bantawa, Kulung, Magar, Yamphu, Belhare, Kham, Monpa, Manchad, Garo, Tibetan, Khampa Tibetan, Rabha, Bodo, and Gurung); Indo-European languages (Nepali, Maithili, Assamese); and on the fascinating and morphologically complex language isolate, Burushaski. Theoretical topics included clau se chaining, Sino-Bodic historical morphophonology, verb root typolo gy, discourse phenomena, aspect and Aktionsart, pronominals and pro-
nominalization, internal reconstruction, historical and compara tive morphology, nominalization, syllable structure, grammaticalization of auxiliaries, tones, Tibetan in digenous grammatical tradition, a sociolinguistic study of a Himalayan language community, dialectology, loan and contact phenomena, nomi nal declensions, conjugations, kin ship terms, classifiers, ethnolinguistic identity and intergroup relations, glottal segments. This time, at the request of schol ars in Asia, North America, and Eu rope, the Himalayan Languages Symposium was coordinated in tan dem with the XXXIXth International Conference on Sino-Tibetan Lan guages and Linguistics. Each event was formally held under its own aegis, but the unique coordination of the two events at the same venue enabled participants in each event to attend both scholarly forums. Next year, these two scholar forums again go their separate ways. ■
17 > 2 0 JULY 1 9 9 7 S ANT A B AR B AR A, USA
The Third Himalayan Languages Symposium he Third Hima layan Languages Symposium will be held on 17-20 July 1997 at the University of California at Santa Bar bara. Himalayan language scholar Professor Carol Genetti is the Chair man of the acting Organization Committee. Make your reservations now! ■ l 8
Third Himalayan Languages Sym posium Carol Genetti Department of Linguistics University of California Santa Barbara, CA 93106 USA Tel: + 1-805-893 3574 Fax: + 1-805-893 8016 E-mail: cgenetti@humanitas.ucsb.edu
• h a s n e w s l e t t e r n s i l • W inter 1997
ASI A NETHERLANDS
4th Gonda Lecture by Heinrich von Stietencron
Hindu Religious Traditions and the Concept o f‘Religion’ H in d u ism is n ot a religion in the sam e sense as Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, or Buddhism , Jainism , D aoism , or Shintoism are. H in d u ism is an en tity which contains w ith in its e lf a set o f several distin ct religions, w ith differ ent th eologies, and am ong w hich there are even several m on oth eism s. Each o f these has its ow n set o f holy scrip tures and each o f w hich addresses a different h igh est god. This was the principal argum ent in the fourth Gonda Lecture, held on x N o vem ber 1996, by H einrich von Stietencron, professor and head o f the D epartm ent o f Indology and Comparative H istory o f R eligions o f the U niversity o f T übingen in Germany. By G. W. MULLER
~r ishnuism, Sivaism, Advaita
T
Vedanta, and Smarta religion, the nirguna-bhakti or satnami religions and religious movements of the 19th century like Brahma Samaj, the Arya Samaj and the Radhasvamis - all have been considered sects of Hinduism. Von Stietencron argues it is time to study them as separate religions which all form part of Hindu cul ture. Various factors contributed to creating the Western invention of Hinduism as a religion. Western missionaries, who first reached India in the late 15th century, sha red the notion that the world was divided into the followers of four re ligions: Judaism; Christianity; Islam; and the religion of Satan. The last one covered those peoples with out a revelation. For this reason, in Western eyes native Indian religious thoughts and practices could only be part of one religion. Cogently, the Muslim administration in India made a tax-relevant distinction be tween Hindus, i.e. native Indians not converted to Islam, and Mus lims; for the British this association with a religiously defined tax estab lished a religious connotation for the term Hindu, which served to support their own preconceived no tion. Another important factor was the role of Adviata Vedanta in the 19th century. This movement rele gated plurality and difference to the realm of ignorance and stressed the ultimate unity, not only of Indian religions, but of spirituality world wide. The obvious question in this con text is what we should to under stand by religion. Religion in the present sense of the term is of rela
V
Heinrich von Stietencron
tively recent origin. In early Chris tianity religio was one of the human virtues: the attitude of awe or com plete absorption before God. In the 16th and 17th centuries religio ac quired a different meaning: it un derwent a transition to refer to a universal property of man: to the fear of God in general and to the re sulting relationship of man to God, which includes sacrifice, prayer, dance, and songs of praise, and other manifestations, as well as to moral behaviour. By the middle of the 18th century, the term ‘religion’ had finally reached its present meaning. Sufficiently divested of specifically Christian notions, rela tively open and undefined it had be come universally applicable to all sorts of religions. If we look at the Hindu religions with this Western conception of re ligion in mind, it transpires that each of these religions, as an entity, qualifies to be called a religion, but that Hinduism as a whole does not. We find decisive differences in each of the Hindu religions. In ritual there are contradicting prescrip
tions. At the level of theology, there are markedly differing conceptions about the nature and manifesta tions of divine beings, and about the ultimate reality or the character and name of the highest god. These differences are embodied in differ ent sets of sacred scriptures. Each of the Hindu religions has a different initiation (diksa) and a different g u ruparam para, i.e., the lines of tradi tion from authorized teacher to ini tiated pupil are not the same. Final ly, the religious institutions of the various Hindu religions form dif ferent sets of spiritual hierarchies and ofinstinations. In short, there is no code of religious behaviour valid for all Hindus. Nor is there any authorative scripture that guides them all in their pattern of social life and spiritual aspirations. It could be asked whether West erners are entitled to apply their term ‘religion’ to phenomena out side their own tradition. In Sanskrit there is no word corresponding to religion, but then there was none in pre-17th-century Europe either. Pertinently, the testimony of sacred scriptures in Samhitas and Agamas proves beyond doubt that the con cept of the Hindus of what consti tuted important sectors of religion was the same as ours. What do we gain by saying that there are several religions in Hindu ism? First of all, it removes misun derstandings, enabling interrelig ious dialogue to function more ef fectively. It also gives us a different perspective on Hindu society with its astonishingly peaceful coexis tence of different creeds. For us, who are used to reckoning with missionary zeal and religious con frontation, it is important to re mark that the many interfaces be tween the religions where rigid structures dissolve and differences become irrelevant. ■
G.W. Muller is the executive secretary of the J. Gonda Foundation (do Royal Nether lands Academy o f Sciences, P.O. Box 19121, 1000 GC Amsterdam, the Netherlands).