Brahmin Authority and Patronage in Ancient India: Creation of a Trans-Regional Elite Culture

"This research project will occupy me during my sabbatical leave (2003-2004).  It concerns developments in the Brahmanical Hindu tradition between the period of the rise of urban trade centers in the Ganges Valley and the Gupta era (roughly, 600 BCE - 600 CE).  During these centuries, Brahmin priestly authorities adapted their tradition to new social and political realities, including the rise of Buddhism and other ascetic movements.  These changes can be traced through a close study of ritual and sectarian texts.  In particular, I hope to clarify stages in the development of the codes of domestic ritual and Dharmashastra (sacred law), wherever possible making use of manuscript materials to help identify the patterns of irregularity that are often obscured in printed editions.  I will juxtapose this textual work with a survey of early inscriptions in stone and copper, mostly recording grants to Brahmins, monks, and religious institutions, and other acts of munificence.  The growing prominence of Brahmins as recipients of patronage correlates with wider use of Sanskrit in the records, and the claim that Sanskrit learning and veneration of Brahmins are the criteria of “Arya” (noble or elite) social status.  By Gupta times, Sanskrit and Brahmin authority are the hallmarks of an elite culture linking diverse regions, including parts of Southeast Asia.  It is my hope that this work will further be useful for modeling in comparative terms the trans-regional spread of ideas and institutions in the premodern world.  During this period, I (with my family) will be based at the Ecole Française d’Extrême-Orient and the Institut Français de Pondichéry, both in Pondicherry, India, though the research will also require work at numerous archives and sites in the region.  This project has partly grown out of previous research conducted in India in 1998 with the support of the American Institute of Indian Studies and the National Endowment for the Humanities, as well as Glenn Grants in subsequent summers.  For more information, visit http://home.wlu.edu/~lubint"