{"title":"Patrick Olivelle","description":null,"products":[{"product_id":"upanisads-book-patrick-olivelle-9780199540259","title":"Upanisads","description":"The Upanisads are the central scriptures of Hinduism. They represent some of the most important literary products in the history of Indian culture and religion, both because they played a critical role in the development of religious ideas in India and because they are our greatest source for the religious, social, and intellectual history of ancient India. Composed at a time of great social, economic, and religious change, the Upanisads document the transition from the archaic ritualism of the Veda into new religious ideas and institutions.   The first major English translation of the ancient Upanisads for over half a century, Olivelle's work incorporates the most recent historical and philological scholarship. The introduction and detailed notes make this edition ideal for the non-specialist as well as for students of Indian religions.  ABOUT THE SERIES: For over 100 years Oxford World's Classics has made available the widest range of literature from around the globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxford's commitment to scholarship, providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features, including expert introductions by leading authorities, helpful notes to clarify the text, up-to-date bibliographies for further study, and much more.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49516331434257,"sku":"GOR002892379","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ WELL_READ \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49651746767121,"sku":"GOR008822305","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ GARDNERS","offer_id":49730182086929,"sku":"NGR9780199540259","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":49763028992273,"sku":"CIN019954025XG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ VERY_GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50313314959633,"sku":"CIN019954025XVG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ WELL_READ \/ SBYB","offer_id":50338719760657,"sku":"CIN019954025XA","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":51000207769873,"sku":"NIN9780199540259","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":51371562402065,"sku":"GOR008941244","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":52473428443409,"sku":"NLS9780199540259","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ LIKE_NEW \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":53478875595025,"sku":"GOR012291674","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/019954025X.jpg?v=1751356092"},{"product_id":"law-code-of-manu-book-patrick-olivelle-9780192802712","title":"The Law Code of Manu","description":"The Law Code of Manu is the most authoritative and best-known legal text of ancient India. A seminal Hindu work, it is important for its classic description of the many social institutions that have come to be identified with Indian society. Patrick Olivelle's translation is based on his critically edited text.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49535030952209,"sku":"GOR007597515","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50484712571153,"sku":"CIN0192802712G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ WELL_READ \/ SBYB","offer_id":51328740294929,"sku":"CIN0192802712A","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":53409898627345,"sku":"GOR002648213","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0192802712.jpg?v=1750811840"},{"product_id":"pancatantra-book-patrick-olivelle-9780199555758","title":"Pancatantra","description":"The Pancatantra is the most famous collection of fables in India and was one of the earliest Indian books to be translated into Western languages. No other Indian work has had a greater influence on world literature, and no other collection of stories has become as popular in India itself. A significant influence on the Arabian Nights and the Fables of La Fontaine, the Pancatantra teaches the principles of good government and public policy through the medium of animal stories. Its positive attitude towards life and its advocacy of ambition, enterprise, and drive counters any preconception of passivity and other-worldliness in ancient Indian society.   Patrick Olivelle presents the Pancatantra in all its complexity and rich ambivalence, examining central elements of political and moral philosophy alongside the many controversial issues surrounding its history, including its numerous versions and translations, and the reconstruction of the original text by Franklin Edgerton. This new translation vividly reveals the story-telling powers of the original author, while detailed notes illuminate aspects of ancient Indian society and religion to the non-specialist reader.  ABOUT THE SERIES: For over 100 years Oxford World's Classics has made available the widest range of literature from around the globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxford's commitment to scholarship, providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features, including expert introductions by leading authorities, helpful notes to clarify the text, up-to-date bibliographies for further study, and much more.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49568039239953,"sku":"GOR007059303","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ GARDNERS","offer_id":49727679725841,"sku":"NGR9780199555758","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ LIKE_NEW \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":50319407776017,"sku":"GOR013925429","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50346487906577,"sku":"CIN0199555753G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":51000104812817,"sku":"NIN9780199555758","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":53436528853265,"sku":"GOR006564748","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0199555753.jpg?v=1776766342"},{"product_id":"upanishads-book-patrick-olivelle-9780192822925","title":"Upanishads","description":"The Upanisads are the central scriptures of Hinduism, representing some of the most important literary products in the history of Indian culture and religion. This is a major English translation of the ancient texts and has an up-to-date introduction and detailed notes. This makes the edition ideal for non-specialists as well as students of Indian religions.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49570722447633,"sku":"GOR003036046","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49759104565521,"sku":"GOR002875079","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ WELL_READ \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49785686294801,"sku":"GOR009698788","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ WELL_READ \/ SBYB","offer_id":50345991995665,"sku":"CIN0192822926A","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50345997435153,"sku":"CIN0192822926G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ VERY_GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":51735664591121,"sku":"CIN0192822926VG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0192822926.jpg?v=1751323724"},{"product_id":"upanisads-book-patrick-olivelle-9780192835765","title":"Upanisads","description":"The Upanisads are the central scriptures of Hinduism. They represent some of the most important literary products in the history of Indian culture and religion, both because they played a critical role in the development of religious ideas in India and because they are our greatest source for the religious, social, and intellectual history of ancient India. Composed at a time of great social, economic, and religious change, the Upanisads document the transition from the archaic ritualism of the Veda into new religious ideas and institutions. The first major English translation of the ancient Upanisads for over half a century, Olivelle's work incorporates the most recent historical and philological scholarship.  The introduction and detailed notes make this edition ideal for the non-specialist as well as for students of Indian religions.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49572207296785,"sku":"GOR001310724","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ LIKE_NEW \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49595588247825,"sku":"GOR010976786","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50468952277265,"sku":"CIN0192835769G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":50689445986577,"sku":"GOR002526665","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ VERY_GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":51326361370897,"sku":"CIN0192835769VG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ WELL_READ \/ SBYB","offer_id":51424285786385,"sku":"CIN0192835769A","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0192835769.jpg?v=1750972757"},{"product_id":"law-code-of-manu-book-patrick-olivelle-9780199555338","title":"The Law Code of Manu","description":"The Law Code of Manu is the most authoritative and best-known legal text of ancient India. A seminal Hindu work, it is important for its classic description of the many social institutions which have come to be identified with Indian society. Patrick Olivelle's lucid translation is the first to be based on his critically edited text.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":49616676946193,"sku":"CIN0199555338G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ GARDNERS","offer_id":49726565908753,"sku":"NGR9780199555338","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ VERY_GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50134330999057,"sku":"CIN0199555338VG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ WELL_READ \/ SBYB","offer_id":50345697149201,"sku":"CIN0199555338A","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":51000136204561,"sku":"NIN9780199555338","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":51533486588177,"sku":"GOR012280363","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":53146968129809,"sku":"GOR009358642","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0199555338.jpg?v=1776767007"},{"product_id":"samnyasa-upanisads-book-patrick-olivelle-9780195070453","title":"The Samnyasa Upanisads","description":"The first readable and accurate translation of twenty of the most authoritative Hindu documents pertaining to ascetic ideals and the ascetic way of life, this text opens to students a major source for the study of the Hindu ascetical institutions and of the historical changes they underwent during a period of a thousand years or more. Beginning with an analysis of the historical context that gave rise to Indian ascetical institutions and ideologies, Patrick Olivelle moves on to elucidate the meaning of renunciation--the central institution of holiness in most Hindu traditions--and the function and significance of the various elements that constitute the rite of renunciation. The Samnyasa Upanisads will be an unparalleled source of information and insight for students of Hinduism and Indian asceticism, mysticism, and holiness.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ WELL_READ \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49652753334545,"sku":"GOR013654452","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50346178085137,"sku":"CIN0195070453G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":52402462720273,"sku":"NLS9780195070453","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0195070453.jpg?v=1750973026"},{"product_id":"arthasastra-book-patrick-olivelle-9781603848480","title":"The Arthasastra","description":"The only extant treatise on statecraft from classical India, the Arthsastra is an invaluable resource for understanding ancient South Asian political thought; it also provides a comprehensive and unparalleled panoramic view of Indian society during the period between the Maurya (320-185 BCE) and Gupta (320-497 CE) empires.  This volume offers modern English translations of key selections, organized thematically, from the Arthasastra. A general Introduction briefly traces the arc of ancient South Asian history, explains the classical Indian tradition of statecraft, and discusses the origins and importance of the Arthasastra. Thorough explanatory essays and notes set each excerpt in its intellectual, political, and cultural contexts.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ GARDNERS","offer_id":49735324238097,"sku":"NGR9781603848480","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50132759970065,"sku":"CIN1603848487G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ VERY_GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50990800306449,"sku":"CIN1603848487VG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":51851236049169,"sku":"GOR010514524","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1603848487.jpg?v=1776941218"},{"product_id":"ashoka-book-patrick-olivelle-9780300270006","title":"Ashoka","description":"An illuminating biography reconstructing the life and legacy of a unique king in world history and the most famous emperor in South Asian history","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ GARDNERS","offer_id":49744799039761,"sku":"NGR9780300270006","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":50527591137553,"sku":"GOR013986409","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":51243725160721,"sku":"NIN9780300270006","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":52548055105809,"sku":"CIN0300270003G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ LIKE_NEW \/ SBYB","offer_id":52996088758545,"sku":"CIN0300270003LN","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0300270003.jpg?v=1751259784"},{"product_id":"dharmasutras-book-patrick-olivelle-9780192838827","title":"The Dharmasutras","description":"The Dharmasutras are the four surviving works of the ancient Indian expert tradition on the subject of dharma, or the rules of behaviour a community recognizes as binding on its members. Written in a pithy and aphoristic style and representing the culmination of a long tradition of scholarship, the Dharmasutras record intense disputes and divergent views on such subjects as the education of the young and their rites of passage, ritual procedures and religious ceremonies, marriage and marital rights and obligations, dietary restrictions, the right professions for and the proper interaction between different social groups, sins and their expiations, institutions for the pursuit of holiness, king and the administration of justice, crimes and punishments, death and ancestral rites. In short, these unique documents give us a glimpse of how people, especially Brahmin males, were ideally expected to live their lives within an ordered and hierarchically arranged society. In this first English translation of the Dharmasutras for over a century, Patrick Olivelle uses the same lucid and elegant style as in his award-winning translation of the Upanisads and incorporates the most recent scholarship on ancient Indian law, society, and religion. Complex material is helpfully organized, making this the ideal edition for the non-specialist as well as for students of Indian society and religion.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":50181338661137,"sku":"GOR003697308","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ WELL_READ \/ SBYB","offer_id":50345317007633,"sku":"CIN0192838822A","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50346107404561,"sku":"CIN0192838822G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ VERY_GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":52993000145169,"sku":"CIN0192838822VG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0192838822.jpg?v=1751323760"},{"product_id":"king-governance-and-law-in-ancient-india-book-patrick-olivelle-9780190644123","title":"King, Governance, and Law in Ancient India","description":"King, Governance, and Law in Ancient India presents an English translation of Kautilya's Arthasastra (AS.) along with detailed endnotes. When it was discovered around 1905, the AS. was described as perhaps the most precious work in the whole range of Sanskrit literature, an assessment that still rings true. Patrick Olivelle's new translation of this significant text, the first in close to half a century, takes into account a number of important advances in our knowledge of the texts, inscriptions, and archeological and art historical remains from the period in Indian history to which the AS. belongs.  The AS. is what we would today call a scientific treatise. It codifies a body of knowledge handed down in expert traditions and is specifically interested in two things: first, how a king can expand his territory, keep enemies at bay, enhance his external power, and amass riches; second, how a king can best organize his state bureaucracy to consolidate his internal power, to suppress internal enemies, to expand the economy, to enhance his treasury through taxes, duties, and entrepreneurial activities, to keep law and order, and to settle disputes among his subjects. The AS. stands alone: there is nothing like it before and there is nothing like it after.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"US \/ VERY_GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50274385658129,"sku":"CIN0190644125VG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":50999656677649,"sku":"NIN9780190644123","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":52488764096785,"sku":"NLS9780190644123","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0190644125.jpg?v=1751163861"},{"product_id":"five-discourses-of-worldly-wisdom-book-patrick-olivelle-9780814762080","title":"Five Discourses of Worldly Wisdom","description":"The king despairs of his idle sons, so he hires a learned brahmin who promises to make their lessons in statecraft unmissable. The lessons are disguised as short stories, featuring mainly animal protagonists. Many of these narratives have traveled across the world, and are known in the West as Aesop's fables.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50279972831505,"sku":"CIN0814762085G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ VERY_GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50399525568785,"sku":"CIN0814762085VG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":51008214434065,"sku":"NIN9780814762080","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0814762085.jpg?v=1763481239"},{"product_id":"early-upanisads-book-patrick-olivelle-9780195124354","title":"The Early Upanisads","description":"This is the full edition of the early Upanisads, the central scriptures of Hinduism. Featuring Patrick Olivelle's acclaimed new English translation (Oxford, 1996), it also includes the complete Sanskrit text, as well as variant readings, scholarly emendations, and explanations of Olivelle's choices of particular readings. The volume also contains a concordance of the two recensions of the Brhadaranyaka Upanisad, and an extensive bibliography.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"US \/ VERY_GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50345417703697,"sku":"CIN0195124359VG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":52402031165713,"sku":"NLS9780195124354","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0195124359.jpg?v=1751132558"},{"product_id":"y-257-jnavalkya-dharma-347-257-stra-book-patrick-olivelle-9789390232345","title":"Y\u0026#257;jñavalkya Dharma\u0026#347;\u0026#257;stra","description":null,"brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"- \/ - \/ -","offer_id":50997141635345,"sku":"","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":50997143568657,"sku":"NIN9789390232345","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":52145988174097,"sku":"NLS9789390232345","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}]},{"product_id":"law-code-of-vi-7779-7751-u-book-patrick-olivelle-9789386552884","title":"The Law Code Of Vi\u0026#7779;\u0026#7751;u","description":"The Law Code of Visnu (Vaisnava-Dharmasastra) is one of the latest of the ancient Indian legal texts composed around the seventh century CE in Kashmir. Both because the Vaishnava-Dharmasastra is the only Dharmasastra that can be geographically located and because it introduces some interesting and new elements into the discussion of Dharmasastric topics, this is a document of interest both to scholars of Indian legal literature and to cultural historians of India, especially of Kashmir. The new elements include the first Dharmasastric evidence for a wife burning herself at her husband's cremation and the intrusion of devotional religion (bhakti) into Dharmasastras. This volume contains a critical edition of the Sanskrit text based on fifteen manuscripts, an annotated English translation, and an introduction evaluating its textual history, its connections to previous Dharmasastras, its date and provenance, its structure and content, and the use made of it by later medieval writers.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"- \/ - \/ -","offer_id":51066440483089,"sku":"","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":51066443071761,"sku":"NIN9789386552884","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":52507927838993,"sku":"NLS9789386552884","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/9386552884.jpg?v=1750732790"},{"product_id":"ascetics-and-brahmins-book-patrick-olivelle-9780857284327","title":"Ascetics and Brahmins","description":"This volume brings together papers on Indian ascetical institutions and ideologies published by Patrick Olivelle over a span of about thirty years. Asceticism represents a major strand in the religious and cultural history of India, providing some of the most creative elements within Indian religions and philosophies. Most of the major religions, such as Buddhism and Jainism, and religious philosophies both within these new religions and in the Brahmanical tradition, were created by world-renouncing ascetics. Yet ascetical institutions and ideologies developed in a creative tension with other religious institutions that stressed the centrality of family, procreation and society. It is this tension that has articulated many of the central features of Indian religion and culture. The papers collected in this volume seek to locate Indian ascetical traditions within their historical, political and ideological contexts.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":52138878501137,"sku":"NLS9780857284327","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/9780857284327.jpg?v=1757565499"},{"product_id":"language-texts-and-society-book-patrick-olivelle-9780857284310","title":"Language, Texts, and Society","description":"This collection brings together a series of Patrick Olivelle's research papers, published over a period of about ten years, whose unifying theme is the search for hidden historical context and developments within words and texts. Words (and cultural histories represented by words) that scholars often take for granted as having a continuous and long history are often new - sometimes even being neologisms. They can thus provide important indications of cultural and religious innovations. Olivelle's book on the asramas, as well as the short pieces included in this volume, such as those on ananda and dharma, seek to see cultural innovation and historical changes within the changing semantic fields of key terms. Closer examination of numerous Sanskrit terms taken for granted as central to 'Hinduism' provide similar results. Indian texts have often been studied in the past as disincarnate realities providing information on an ahistorical and unchanging culture. 'Language, Texts, and Society' is a small contribution towards correcting this method of textual study.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":52138880991505,"sku":"NLS9780857284310","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/9780857284310.jpg?v=1757565516"},{"product_id":"manu-s-code-of-law-book-patrick-olivelle-9780195171464","title":"Manu's Code of Law","description":"Manu's Code of Law is one of the most important texts in the Sanskrit canon, indeed one of the most important surviving texts from any classical civilization. It paints an astoundingly detailed picture of ancient Indian life-covering everything from the constitution of the king's cabinet to the price of a ferry trip for a pregnant woman-and its doctrines have been central to Indian thought and practice for 2000 years. Despite its importance, however, until now no one has produced a critical edition of this text. As a result, for centuries scholars have been forced to accept clearly inferior editions of Sanskrit texts and to use those unreliable editions as the basis for constructing the history of classical India. In this volume, Patrick Olivelle has assembled the critical text of Manu, including a critical apparatus containing all the significant manuscript variants, along with a reliable and readable translation, copious explanatory notes, and a comprehensive introduction on the structure, content, and socio-political context of the treatise. The result is an outstanding scholarly achievement that will be an essential tool for any serious student of India.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":52148461666577,"sku":"NLS9780195171464","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/9780195171464.jpg?v=1757603652"},{"product_id":"oxford-history-of-hinduism-hindu-law-book-patrick-olivelle-9780198702603","title":"The Oxford History of Hinduism: Hindu Law","description":"Through pointed studies of important aspects and topics of dharma in Dharmaśāstra, this comprehensive collection shows that the history of Hinduism cannot be written without the history of Hindu law. Part One provides a concise overview of the literary genres in which Dharmasastra was written with attention to chronology and historical developments. This study divides the tradition into its two major historical periods--the origins and formation of the classical texts and the later genres of commentary and digest--in order to provide a thorough, but manageable overview of the textual bases of the tradition. Part Two presents descriptive and historical studies of all the major substantive topics of Dharmasastra. Each chapter offers readers with salest knowledge of the debates, transformations, and fluctcating importance of each topic. Indirectly, readers will also gain insight into the ethos or worldview of religious law in Hinduism, enabling them to get a feel for how dharma authors thought and why. Part Three contains brief studies of the impact and reception of Dharmasastra in other South Asian cultural and textual traditions. Finally, Part Four draws inspiration from \"critical terms\" in contemporary legal and religious studies to analyze Dharmasastra texts. Contributors offer interpretive views of Dharmasastra that start from hermeneutic and social concerns today.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":52332817678609,"sku":"NLS9780198702603","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":52734520131857,"sku":"NIN9780198702603","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/9780198702603.jpg?v=1758152783"},{"product_id":"asrama-system-book-patrick-olivelle-9780195083279","title":"The Asrama System","description":"This is the first full-length study of the asrama system, a Hindu construct consisting of four legitimate ways of leading a religious life. Together with the varna (class) system, it forms one of the pillars of Hindu life. Olivelle traces its early history and how it gradually established connections with other Hindu religious institutions to emerge as one of the two central dimensions of the Hindu dharma. It represents a major study not only of Hindu religious history but also of the tradition of Indian hermeneutics.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"- \/ - \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":52336902111505,"sku":null,"price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":52336904012049,"sku":"NLS9780195083279","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/9780195083279.jpg?v=1758164894"},{"product_id":"between-the-empires-book-patrick-olivelle-9780195305326","title":"Between the Empires","description":"This volume is the result of an international conference organized by the South Asia Institute at the University of Texas. Patrick Olivelle has collected and edited the best papers to emerge from the conference. Part I of the book looks at what can be construed from archeological evidence. Part II concerns itself with the textual evidence for the period. Taken together, these essays offer an unprecedented look at Indian culture and society in this distant epoch.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"- \/ - \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":52452520263953,"sku":null,"price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":52452520722705,"sku":"NLS9780195305326","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/9780195305326.jpg?v=1776940813"},{"product_id":"king-governance-and-law-in-ancient-india-book-patrick-olivelle-9780199891825","title":"King, Governance, and Law in Ancient India","description":"King, Governance, and Law in Ancient India presents an English translation of Kautilya's Arthashastra (AS.) along with detailed endnotes. When it was discovered in 1923, the Arthashastra was described as perhaps the most precious work in the whole range of Sanskrit literature, an assessment that still rings true. This new translation of this significant text, the first in close to half a century takes into account a number of important advances in our knowledge of the texts, inscriptions, and archeological and art historical remains from the period in Indian history to which the AS. belongs (2nd-3rd century CE, although parts of it may be much older). The text is what we would today call a scientific treatise. It codifies a body of knowledge handed down in expert traditions. It is specifically interested in two things: first, how a king can expand his territory, keep enemies at bay, enhance his external power, and amass riches; second, how a king can best organize his state bureaucracy to consolidate his internal power, to suppress internal enemies, to expand the economy, to enhance his treasury through taxes, duties, and entrepreneurial activities, to keep law and order, and to settle disputes among his subjects. The book is accordingly divided into two sections: the first encompassing Books 1-5 deals with internal matters, and the second spanning Books 6-14 deals with external relations and warfare. The AS. stands alone: there is nothing like it before it and there is nothing after it-if there were other textual productions within that genre they are now irretrievably lost. Even though we know of many authors who preceded Kautilya, none of their works have survived the success of the AS. Being \"textually\" unique makes it difficult to understand and interpret difficult passages and terms; we cannot look to parallels for help. The AS. is also unique in that, first, it covers such a vast variety of topics and, second, it presents in textual form expert traditions in numerous areas of human and social endeavors that were handed down orally. Expert knowledge in diverse fields communicated orally from teacher to pupil, from father to son, is here for the first time codified in text. These fields include: building practices of houses, forts, and cities; gems and gemology; metals and metallurgy; mining, forestry and forest management; agriculture; manufacture of liquor; animal husbandry, shipping, and the management of horses and elephants- and so on. Finally, it is also unique in presenting a viewpoint distinctly different from the Brahmanical \"party line\" we see in most ancient Indian documents.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":52666805387537,"sku":"NLS9780199891825","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/9780199891825.jpg?v=1762280931"},{"product_id":"rules-and-regulations-of-brahmanical-asceticism-book-patrick-olivelle-9780791422847","title":"Rules and Regulations of Brahmanical Asceticism","description":"This translation of a twelfth-century Sanskrit text is the most comprehensive presentation of Hindu ascetic practices available in English. It is also the clearest.  Rules and Regulations of Brahmanical Asceticism is the critical edition and translation of a twelfth-century Sanskrit text written by Yadava Prakasaa, whose life and activities are of historical interest because, according to tradition, he was the teacher of the great Vais'n'ava theologian Ramanuja.  This text is the oldest and most comprehensive example of medieval Sanskrit literature devoted to examining the duties of ascetics. Yadava Prakasaa is the only one who explicitly examines the thorny question of whether asceticism is a legitimate way of life for Brahmins. His topics include the people qualified to become ascetics; the rite for becoming an ascetic; the clothes and belongings of an ascetic; techniques of meditation; daily routines such as bathing, divine worship, and begging; proper conduct and etiquette; the manner of wandering; residence during the rains; expiatory penances; and the funeral.  In his introduction, Patrick Olivelle examines the place of Yadava's text within the literary and institutional history of Brahman'ical asceticism. He discusses the origins of asceticism in India; its incorporation into the Brahman'ical mainstream; and its variations within Hindu sects, as well as in Buddhist and Jain traditions.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"- \/ - \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":52820762558737,"sku":null,"price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":52820763509009,"sku":"NLS9780791422847","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/9780791422847.jpg?v=1764330567"},{"product_id":"grhastha-book-patrick-olivelle-9780190696153","title":"Grhastha","description":"For scholars of ancient Indian religions, the wandering mendicants who left home and family for a celibate life and the search for liberation represent an enigma. The Vedic religion, centered on the married household, had no place for such a figure. Much has been written about the Indian ascetic but hardly any scholarly attention has been paid to the married householder with wife and children, generally referred to in Sanskrit as gṛhastha: \"the stay-at-home.\" The institution of the householder is viewed implicitly as posing little historical problems with regard to its origin or meaning.   This volume problematizes the figure of the householder within ancient Indian culture and religion. It shows that the term gṛhastha is a neologism and is understandable only in its opposition to the ascetic who goes away from home (pravrajita). Through a thorough and comprehensive analysis of a wide range of inscriptions and texts, ranging from the Vedas, Dharmasastras, Epics, and belle lettres to Buddhist and Jain texts and texts on governance and erotics, this volume analyses the meanings, functions, and roles of the householder from the earliest times unti about the fifth century CE. The central finding of these studies is that the householder bearing the name gṛhastha is not simply a married man with a family but someone dedicated to the same or similar goals as an ascetic while remaining at home and performing the economic and ritual duties incumbent on him. The gṛhastha is thus not a generic householder, for whom there are many other Sanskrit terms, but a religiously charged concept that is intended as a full-fledged and even superior alternative to the concept of a religious renouncer.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":52960768131345,"sku":"GOR014669723","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/9780190696153.jpg?v=1766342260"},{"product_id":"the-asrama-system-the-history-and-hermeneutics-of-a-religious-institution-book-patrick-olivelle-9788121511353","title":"The Asrama System: The History and Hermeneutics Of A Religious Institution","description":null,"brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"- \/ - \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":53057159397649,"sku":null,"price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":53057159561489,"sku":"GOR008549287","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/9788121511353.jpg?v=1769168801"},{"product_id":"indian-lives-series-book-1-ashoka-book-patrick-olivelle-9789356993228","title":"Indian Lives Series Book 1 - Ashoka","description":null,"brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":53102206288145,"sku":"GOR014741472","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/9789356993228.jpg?v=1770313131"}],"url":"https:\/\/www.worldofbooks.com\/en-gb\/collections\/author-books-by-patrick-olivelle.oembed","provider":"World of Books ","version":"1.0","type":"link"}