Sudipta Munsi

Postdoctoral Researcher, Department of South Asian, Tibetan and Buddhist Studies, University of Vienna; Ph.D. (University of Cagliari, Italy).

[Sudipta Munsi @sudipta_munsi]

@sharmasatyan @MisraNityanand Many thanks!

[Sudipta Munsi @sudipta_munsi]

Re. the documentation of scientific achievements from the ancient world, it is not enough to show the mere existence of a view (say on the physical sciences, life sciences, etc.); it is equally (if not more) important to show what chain of thoughts could have led to the view. 1/

[Sudipta Munsi @sudipta_munsi]

This will also save historians of science and intellectual historians from doing any disservice to the actual intellectual accomplishments of the ancients, as well as the modern scientists. 5

Might be of interest to @MisraNityanand @sharmasatyan

[Sudipta Munsi @sudipta_munsi]

Such a careful consideration of the context of the so-called scientific views found in the ancient world will help contextualise those accomplishments without paving way for pseudo scientific claims. 4/

[Sudipta Munsi @sudipta_munsi]

@MisraNityanand Mr. Misra is one of those rarest scholars in India who has an insider's knowledge of specific domains of the sciences, is a trained Sanskritist, & does not claim omiscience. His opinions are philologically grounded, historically responsible, & scientifically rigorous.

[Sudipta Munsi @sudipta_munsi]

@MisraNityanand @MisraNityanand Mr. Misra, it is absolutely necessary that informed and careful scholars like you author authentic books on corrective IKS. It will have a permanent impact on ways of doing scholarship.

[Sudipta Munsi @sudipta_munsi]

@sharmasatyan Shocking!

[Sudipta Munsi @sudipta_munsi]

@sharmasatyan Wow! The point about performing the vratas makes very mych sense especially with reference to sick and elderly people.

[Sudipta Munsi @sudipta_munsi]

@sharmasatyan Can it be an allusion to 'श्येनेनाभिचरन् यजेत'?

[Sudipta Munsi @sudipta_munsi]

@sharmasatyan I agree with your first two observations!

[Sudipta Munsi @sudipta_munsi]

Śaṅkarācārya seems to say that surrendering the results of karman to Īśvara brings about “greater amount of results”. He says in his Gītā (VI.1) commentary:

कर्म कृतम् ईश्वरे संन्यस्य इत्यतः कर्तुः कर्म फलं नारभत इति चेत् , न ; ईश्वरे संन्यासस्य अधिकतरफलहेतुत्वोपपत्तेः ॥

[Dr. Satyan Sharma @sharmasatyan]

From chapter 5 of Manusmṛti.

Verse 46 says that the one who doesn’t want to pain beings through ‘bandhana’ and ‘vadha’, attains lasting peace/happiness.

Slavery is also a kind of ‘bandhana’ which generates pain. Manu states great rewards for not doing it.

[Sudipta Munsi @sudipta_munsi]

@sharmasatyan In case 1, what will be the procedure (itikartavyata)?

[Sudipta Munsi @sudipta_munsi]

@sharmasatyan Certainly from the colonial times.

[Sudipta Munsi @sudipta_munsi]

@sharmasatyan Excellent finding! It surely helps burst the twin myths of Sanskrit not being the spoken language and its being the written language of only the elites!!

[Sudipta Munsi @sudipta_munsi]

@sharmasatyan A very important document related to upward social mobility. Many thanks for sharing! So Sanskritisation is presented here as the means to upward social mobility.

[Sudipta Munsi @sudipta_munsi]

@sharmasatyan Since dharma is necessarily adrstaphala, and it is not to be confused with ethics or morality, the 2nd pt. made in BS does not seem convincing. I think a further caveat is there: this applies only to the pratilomajas & the residents of forts (as mentioned in the beginning).