Brill’s Encyclopedia of Hinduism Online
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Subject: Asian Studies
Brill’s Encyclopedia of Hinduism presents the latest research on all the main aspects of the Hindu traditions. Its 438 essays are original work written by the world’s foremost scholars on Hinduism. The encyclopedia presents a balanced and even-handed view of Hinduism, recognizing the divergent perspectives and methods in the academic study of a religion that has ancient historical roots with many flourishing traditions today. Including all essays from the heralded printed edition, Brill’s Encyclopedia of Hinduism is now to be regularly updated with new articles and available in a fully searchable, dynamic digital format.
Subscriptions: see brill.com
Edited by: Knut A. Jacobsen (Editor-in-Chief), University of Bergen, and Helene Basu, University of Münster, Angelika Malinar, University of Zürich, Vasudha Narayanan, University of Florida (Associate Editors)
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Brill’s Encyclopedia of Hinduism presents the latest research on all the main aspects of the Hindu traditions. Its 438 essays are original work written by the world’s foremost scholars on Hinduism. The encyclopedia presents a balanced and even-handed view of Hinduism, recognizing the divergent perspectives and methods in the academic study of a religion that has ancient historical roots with many flourishing traditions today. Including all essays from the heralded printed edition, Brill’s Encyclopedia of Hinduism is now to be regularly updated with new articles and available in a fully searchable, dynamic digital format.
Subscriptions: see brill.com
Wisdom and Knowledge (Jñāna/Vidyā)
(2,025 words)
Knowledge (
jñāna, vidyā) is a fundamental category of Indian religion and philosophy, denoting not only knowledge of the world, but also higher knowledge of the true nature of reality, which is a liberating cognition. In a more technical sense, in philosophy
jñāna can be translated as “judgment,” “cognition,” or “awareness,” and there was a rigorous debate in classical Indian philosophy about knowledge and its relation to perception and self-awareness. The term
vidyā refers to any knowledge or science and was traditionally organized into four branches: 1. the triple Veda; 2. logi…
Date:
2020-05-18