A Comparative Survey of the Indradhvaja Ceremony (Gārgīyajyotiṣa 45)

| Posted in: India history

Journal name: History of Science in South Asia
Original article title:
The journal “History of Science in South Asia” (HSSA) publishes high-quality research on the history of science, focusing on South Asia but also welcoming studies on broader cultural influences. It adopts a broad definition of “science” and encourages theoretical discussions and offers open access. Although initially supported by the Sayahna Foundation, it is now aided by the University of Alberta and Érudit.

Original source:

This page is merely a summary which is automatically generated hence you should visit the source to read the original article which includes the author, publication date, notes and references.

Author(s):

Marko Geslani
University of South Carolina, Columbia


History of Science in South Asia:

(Individual submissions go through peer-review)

Year: 2019 | Doi: 10.18732/hssa.v7i0.44

Copyright (license): Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.


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Summary of article contents:

This article gives a preliminary survey of Gārgīyajyotiṣa 45, a ritual description of the festival of Indra's Banner (indradhvaja), based on manuscript evidence. The testimony of Garga is compared to the description of the same rite in Varāhamihira's Bṛhatsaṃhitā (chapter 42), with reference to later Puranic versions. Since Varāhamihira has explicitly referenced Garga's text on multiple occasions, this comparison brings to light Varāhamihira's own innovations with respect to his source material. While Varāhamihira did not produce the ritual ex nihilo, he seems to have added greater specificity to the ritual's mantric content and overnight structure, and to the broader connectivity between the Indradhvaja festival and other events in the nascent royal calendar.

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Discover the significance of concepts within the article: ‘A Comparative Survey of the Indradhvaja Ceremony (Gargiyajyotisa 45)’. Further sources in the context of India history might help you critically compare this page with similair documents:

Mantra, Puja, Indra, Manu, Purohita, Yatra, Garga, Indradhvaja, Varahamihira, Brihatsamhita, King, Fourth day, Bright fortnight, Tree spirit, Basket, Night vigil, Indra's banner, Auspicious object, Military campaign, Auspicious sound, Auspicious ornaments, Bali offering, Fire offering, Seed syllable, King's departure.

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