Recounting the sacred: orality and textuality in a contemporary performance of the Sanskrit classic, the Bhāgavatapurāṇa

The Bhāgavatapuṛāna is one of the master-texts of the Sanskritic archive and is the foundational source of narratives relating to the deity Kṛṣṇa. Since it reached its current form about a millennium ago, public ‘performances’ of the text have been sponsored as a means of accumulating religious and social capital. These week-long events are a significant aspect of contemporary religious practice in the Hindu cultural world, but have received little or no scholarly attention. What is the role of the Sanskrit text in the oral performance of the Bhāgavatapuṛāna? How does the Sanskrit text function vis-à-vis the oral vernacular commentary with accompanies it? In this paper it is argued that a spectrum of social and cultural practices—ritual, oral, textual and performative—all contribute towards the validation and empowerment of the discourse

What enables canonical literature to function as “true”? The case of the Hindu Puranas

"Why do the devout believe in the canonical literature of their tradition? What enables great normative texts to function as “true discourse”? The idea of “true discourse” is premised on the understanding that truth is ultimately contingent and is socially constructed. We are in the realm of localized “truths,” rather than that of some Absolute Truth which functions as a universally accepted, recognized, and applicable yardstick. Local “truth” is the currency of a given epistemic community, that is, a community with a shared set of understandings and beliefs as to what constitutes true knowledge. Each community also has defined procedures and processes by which true knowledge is produced, legitimated, and disseminated...

Perfumed by golden lotuses: literary place and textual authority in the Brahma- and Bhāgavatapurāṇas

The creators of the Hindu scriptures known as the Brahma- and Bhāgavatapurāṇas lavished a great amount of descriptive detail on mythical and 'mythologised' places where important discourses were enunciated: the Naimiṣa forest, Mt Meru, Kurukṣetra, and Ānanda on the banks of the Ganges. At first glance this might appear to be idle expression of literary virtuosity, but I suggest that this careful creation of literary place has an impact, intentional or not, on the reception of the text. Drawing on the idea of the construction of authoritative discourse and reader-response criticism, I suggest that the perfect, transcendent literary spaces created by the narratives' authors exert a specific effect on their reception by the puranic interpretive community. The discourse enunciated in such space appears to be perfect and transcendental. The power of literary place imbues and valorises the discourse and assists it to function as authoritative

Heavenly Carrots and Earthly Sticks: How Phalasruti Paratexts Empower Puranic Discourse

Using Genette's theoretical framework of the 'paratext', this article analyses various phalaśruti texts found in the Skandapura. These enumerate the 'rewards of hearing', that is, supposed benefits accruing to the audience as the result of listening to

"Skilful methods can achieve what power cannot": flexible delivery of Sanskrit at the Australian National University as a model for small-enrolment languages

Sanskrit is better known for its antiquity and profundity than for its ability to attract undergraduates, so Sanskrit classes in Western universities have always been small. Yet as universities find themselves squeezed for funding, few can afford to offer courses that routinely attract low numbers, and many have already closed their doors to would-be Sanskrit students. At the Australian National University, however, enrolments are increasing because of our use of educational technologies to provide flexible delivery of Sanskrit teaching. With texts, audio resources and video-recorded lectures available online, and face-to-face tutorials presented through video-conferencing, Australian students can now benefit from high quality, accredited undergraduate courses in Sanskrit regardless of where they live. Two years after introducing flexible delivery, Sanskrit en-rolments have doubled, students are thriving, and accountants are being held at bay. The future also looks bright, with a promise of substantial growth in enrolments nationally and even internationally. Surprisingly, the greatest obstacles to the introduction of flexible delivery have not been technological, but administrative. Through examining the experiences of lecturer and students, this paper discusses the pros and cons of flexible delivery of a small enrolment language for the university sector

Differential Reinforcement of Alternative Behavior Increases Resistance to Extinction: Clinical Demonstration, Animal Modeling, and Clinical Test of One Solution

Basic research with pigeons on behavioral momentum suggests that differential reinforcement of alternative behavior (DRA) can increase the resistance of target behavior to change. This finding suggests that clinical applications of DRA may inadvertently increase the persistence of target behavior even as it decreases its frequency. We conducted three coordinated experiments to test whether DRA has persistence-strengthening effects on clinically significant target behavior and then tested the effectiveness of a possible solution to this problem in both a nonhuman and clinical study. Experiment 1 compared resistance to extinction following baseline rates of reinforcement versus higher DRA rates of reinforcement in a clinical study. Resistance to extinction was substantially greater following DRA. Experiment 2 tested a rat model of a possible solution to this problem. Training an alternative response in a context without reinforcement of the target response circumvented the persistence-strengthening effects of DRA. Experiment 3 translated the rat model into a novel clinical application of DRA. Training an alternative response with DRA in a separate context resulted in lower resistance to extinction than employing DRA in the context correlated with reinforcement of target behavior. The value of coordinated bidirectional translational research is discusse

Characterization of the sub-mesoscale energy cascade in the Alboran Sea thermocline from spectral analysis of high-resolution MCS data

Part of the kinetic energy that maintains ocean circulation cascades down to small scales until it is dissipated through mixing. While most steps of this downward energy cascade are well understood, an observational gap exists at horizontal scales of 103-101 m that prevents characterizing a key step in the chain: the transition from anisotropic internal wave motions to isotropic turbulence. Here we show that this observational gap can be covered using high-resolution multichannel seismic (HR-MCS) data. Spectral analysis of acoustic reflectors imaged in the Alboran Sea thermocline shows that this transition is likely caused by shear instabilities. In particular, we show that the averaged horizontal wavenumber spectra of the reflectors vertical displacements display three subranges that reproduce theoretical spectral slopes of internal waves [λx > 100 m], Kelvin-Helmholtz-type shear instabilities [100 m > λx > 33 m], and turbulence [λx < 33 m], indicating that the whole chain of events is occurring continuously and simultaneously in the surveyed area

Magnetic correlation functions in the slow and fast solar wind in the Eulerian reference frame

Simultaneous multiple point measurements of the magnetic field from seven spacecraft are employed to estimate the Eulerian correlation function and decorrelation time scales in the near Earth solar wind for two different solar wind speed ranges. We find that the Eulerian decorrelation time scale differs significantly in the slow solar wind (600 km/s) wind, where slab-type turbulence dominates. In slow solar wind, the decorrelation time is 215 ± 43 min, and in fast solar wind, the decorrelation time scale is 114 ± 23 min, which indicates thatdecorrelation times vary with the nature of the turbulence. The values reported here are comparable to estimates of decorrelation times based on a number of different models, but do not clearly support or refute any specific solar wind turbulence model. These results may be useful in magnetohydrodynamic modeling of the solar wind and can contribute to our understanding of solar and galactic cosmic ray diffusion in the heliosphere.Fil: Weygand, James M.. University of California; Estados UnidosFil: Matthaeus, W. H.. University of Delaware; Estados UnidosFil: Kivelson M. G.. University of California; Estados UnidosFil: Dasso, Sergio Ricardo. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciónes Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Ciudad Universitaria. Instituto de Astronomía y Física del Espacio. - Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Instituto de Astronomía y Física del Espacio; Argentina. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Departamento de Física; Argentin

The constitution of risk communication in advanced liberal societies

This article aims to bring to the fore some of the underlying rationales that inform common conceptions of the constitution of risk communication in academic and policy communities. ‘Normative’, ‘instrumental’ and ‘substantive’ imperatives typically employed in the utilisation of risk communication are first outlined. In light of these considerations a theoretical scheme is subsequently devised leading to the articulation of four fundamental ‘idealised’ models of risk communication termed the ‘risk message’ model, the ‘risk dialogue’ model, the ‘risk field’ model and the ‘risk government’ model respectively. It is contended that the diverse conceptual foundations underlying the orientation of each model suggest a further need for a more contextualised view of risk communication that takes account not only of the strengths and limitations of different formulations and functions of risk communication, but also the underlying knowledge/power dynamics that underlie its constitution. In particular it is hoped that the reflexive theoretical understanding presented here will help to bring some much needed conceptual clarity to academic and policy discourses about the use and utility of risk communication in advanced liberal societies