Illuminating Worlds explores the foundations of the world's longest continuous multilingual literary tradition. It provides fresh and accessible translations of classical Indian texts from ancient Vedic hymns to the songs of Tamil bhakti. Organized both chronologically and thematically, this wide-ranging collection gives a broad perspective on Indian history while highlighting the deep connections between multiple literary traditions.
Spanning time, texts and languages, this anthology- the first of its kind-provides a comprehensive survey of ancient India's most important literary contributions.
Srinivas Reddy is a scholar, translator and classical sitarist. His research ranges over multiple disciplines including translation studies, history, cultural studies and musicology, but his foundation lies in the translation of classical Indian literature. His earlier books include Giver of the Worn Garland (Penguin 2010), The Dancer and the King (Penguin 2014), The Cloud Message (Penguin 2017) and Raya (Juggernaut 2020). Srinivas is currently based in India as a Fulbright-Nehru scholar. www.sankalpana.org
Srinivas Reddy is a scholar, translator and classical sitarist. His research ranges over multiple disciplines including translation studies, history, cultural studies and musicology, but his foundation lies in the translation of classical Indian literature. His earlier books include Giver of the Worn Garland (Penguin 2010), The Dancer and the King (Penguin 2014), The Cloud Message (Penguin 2017) and Raya (Juggernaut 2020). Srinivas is currently based in India as a Fulbright-Nehru scholar. Ashoka's grand and inclusive vision of a tolerant society seems even more relevant now than it did during his time.
The celebrated Mauryan king Ashoka, the 'Beloved of the Gods', ruled over a vast multicultural empire that embraced peoples of many religious, ethnicities and backgrounds. Though a staunch convert to Buddhism himself, Ashoka did not see Buddhism as the state religion; rather, he sought spiritual growth for his people, regardless of their faith. He supported the growth of the 'essentials (sara) principles which he believed to be at the core of all religions. Furthermore, he saw the foundation of such spiritual growth to be tolerance, in this case the term for it being vacaguti-restraint of speech that praises one's own religion or condemns another's. He adds that not acting in this way would be a blatant affront to one's own faith. And finally, he offers a practical way forward by encouraging interfaith interaction. For Ashoka, coming together as a community (samavāya') and honouring people of other faiths is the primary way to foster tolerance and religious harmony. This is a profound vision of multiculturalism: one that is not secular but pluralistic, and one that is not merely tolerant but celebratory in spirit.
More than two millennia after Ashoka issued his famous edicts, South Asia remains one of the most culturally and religiously diverse regions of the world. Today, India is home to millions of Buddhists and Christians, to the third largest Muslim community in the world and to a majority of the world's Hindus, Jains and Sikhs. In 2021 the Pew Research Center published an extensive study on religions in India, amassing data from over 30,000 interviews in seventeen different languages. The study reveals several interesting findings, like the fact that three out of four Muslims believe in karma, that one out of three Christians believe in the sanctity of the river Ganga and that almost all Indians, irrespective of religion, believe that respecting one's elders is fundamental to their faith. On the whole, the study has one central finding the overwhelming majority of Indians across all religious communities affirm that tolerance is a religious mandate and a civic duty The report states: "Indians are united in the view that respecting other religions is a very important part of what it means to be a member of their own religious community. The peaceful coexistence of multiple world views is a core feature of Indian religiosity and, more broadly, an axiom of Indian cultural pluralism. The study goes on to state that Indians of all religious backgrounds overwhelmingly feel they are very free to practise their faiths. Within this spirit of tolerance, however, communities strongly see themselves as distinct and different from each other. This seems to be at odds with the homogenising potential of modern secularity, but perhaps that is the key to multicultural diversity to accept differences and maintain identities but also to embrace differences and foster civic unity.
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