Videos by Manasicha Akepiyapornchai
“Sacred Literacy: An Overview of the Multilingual Siamese Grantha Manuscripts”
Presented at The... more “Sacred Literacy: An Overview of the Multilingual Siamese Grantha Manuscripts”
Presented at The Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn Anthropology Centre, Thailand (by invitation with Peera Panarut) 22 views
Thanks to Charun Asawarachan
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Forthcoming by Manasicha Akepiyapornchai
To be published in One God, One Śāstra: Philosophical Developments towards and within Viśiṣṭādvai... more To be published in One God, One Śāstra: Philosophical Developments towards and within Viśiṣṭādvaita Vedānta between Nāthamuni and Veṅkaṭanātha, edited by Elisa Freschi and Marcus Schmücker
Publications by Manasicha Akepiyapornchai
In Exploring Multilingualism and Multiscriptism in Written Artefacts (2024)
Gender and Medieval Mysticism from India to Europe, 2023
Can women attain liberation? If so, how? These questions permeate many religious traditions in th... more Can women attain liberation? If so, how? These questions permeate many religious traditions in the Indian context, where patriarchy and the exclusion of women are some of the dominating characteristics. In this chapter, I explore the matters through the textual study of the Śrīvais ̣n ̣ava community, which has been active in Tamil Nadu, South India, since around the tenth century CE. The community proclaims the soteriological doctrine of self-surrender or the surrender of oneself to God. Self-surrender can be generally defined as the abandonment of one's own agency and desire to God, who is the only refuge and goal. To do so, one has to trust that God is the only one who can end suffering and liberate us. According to some Śrīvais ̣n ̣ava theologians, selfsurrender is supposed to be accessible to all since surrendering oneself to God is all it takes. However, the narrative of the cowherd women proves otherwise. The narrative, which is derived from a Sanskrit scripture, the Bhā gavata Purā n ̣a, refers to love in separation of God in the form of Kr ̣s ̣n ̣a, a cowherd boy, and his group of cowherd lovers at Vr ̣ndāvana, one of the sacred landscapes in northern India. Although the Bhā gavata Purā n ̣a has never been one of the community's favorite texts, the narrative inspires religious compositions both in the Sanskrit and Tamil languages and plays a role in the theological debates on the eligibility of women in attaining liberation in the medieval period (from twelfth to fifteenth century CE). The cowherd women were usually celebrated as the ideal devotees due to their passionate love for Kr ̣s ̣n ̣a and excessive longing when they are separate from him. This chapter charts the presence and reception of the narrative with the focus on its theological implication regarding the status of women in soteriology. I center one of the most important Śrīvaiṣṇava theologians of the medieval period, Vedāntadesíka. In his philosophical writing, the Sanskrit Nyā yasiddhā ñjana, Vedāntadesíka argued that it is impossible for these low-born women to just attain liberation. They can do so only because they were high-caste male brahmins in their previous births. In other words, the cowherd women can attain liberation only because they possess the male gender in their past lives. Their female gender in the present life is not static and invariable, and the fluidity of gender makes their soteriological journey possible and successful. Such fluidity of gender and its soteriological function can be traced back to the Tamil poetry
A chapter in อมฤตพิทยา (Amṛtavidyā), edited by Natchapol Sirisawad and Boondarika Boonyo, 143–153... more A chapter in อมฤตพิทยา (Amṛtavidyā), edited by Natchapol Sirisawad and Boondarika Boonyo, 143–153. Nonthaburi, Thailand: Nitidharma Press.
The Journal of Hindu Studies, 2023
Marking one’s forehead plays a role in identifying one’s identity in various sectarian traditions... more Marking one’s forehead plays a role in identifying one’s identity in various sectarian traditions in India, from the premodern period to the modern day. One such tradition is the Śrīvaiṣṇava tradition, the most influential Vaiṣṇava tradition of South India, of which the practice of marking one’s forehead was well established since the premodern time. In this article, I investigate the meanings of forehead marks or the ūrdhvapuṇḍra within the Śrīvaiṣṇava tradition. In particular, I compare the premodern discussions in the Sanskrit texts from the time of the most influential Śrīvaiṣṇava ācārya, Rāmānuja (traditional dates ca. 1017–1137), to the time of one of the most significant post-Rāmānuja ācāryas, Vedāntadeśika (traditional dates ca. 1268–1369), and the contemporary positions presented by Prativādi Bhayaṅkaram Aṇṇaṅkarācārya (1891–1983) in his Satsaṃpradāyārthasāranidhi (1947). I argue that the premodern debate on the superiority of the ūrdhvapuṇḍra among the sectarian marks of the Vaiṣṇavas and Śaivas was transformed into the dispute between the two Śrīvaiṣṇava subcommunities, the Teṉkalais and Vaṭakalais, in the present context. Moreover, the arguments and authoritative sources of the premodern authors differ markedly from what we find in the modern text, the Satsaṃpradāyārthasāranidhi. Despite this difference, marking one’s forehead has always been a way for the Śrīvaiṣṇava tradition to indicate their religious identity and sectarian belonging from the past to the present.
This article examines the Ś rīvaiṡṅava validation of the doctrine of selfsurrender to the Supreme... more This article examines the Ś rīvaiṡṅava validation of the doctrine of selfsurrender to the Supreme God Viṡṅu (prapatti). Prapatti is mentioned by Rāmānuja (traditional dates: circa 1017-1137 CE), the most authoritative teacher (ācārya) of the tradition, as an auxiliary to the path of devotion (bhaktiyoga) that he teaches as a means to mokṣa. After the time of Rāmānuja, prapatti was developed as an alternative means. However, the post-Rāmānuja teachers were committed to arguing that Rāmānuja teaches prapatti as an independent means. The article focuses on Vedāntadeśika (traditional dates: circa 1268-1369 CE), the most influential post-Rāmānuja teacher, and his interpretation of Rāmānuja's prapatti as a teaching of soteriological prapatti in Vedāntadeśika's under-researched Nikṣeparakṣā. Vedāntadeśika's interpretation reflects his harmonization of Rāmānuja's ambivalent statements regarding prapatti and synthetization of traditional authorities. This study thus contributes to the understanding of Vedāntadeśika's Nikṣeparakṣā and its development of the doctrine of prapatti and to his critical role in systematizing this doctrine. Keywords Self-surrender (prapatti) • The Nikṣeparakṣā • Vedāntadeśika • Rāmānuja • Śrīvaiṡṅavism • Hinduism The Ś rīvaiṡṅava doctrine of self-surrender to the Supreme God Viṡṅu (prapatti) was laid down by Rāmānuja (traditional dates: circa 1017-1137 CE), the most revered teacher (ācārya) of the tradition, in his Bhagavadgītābhāṣya, which is the commentary on the Bhagavadgītā, and his Sanskrit devotional prose poems, the
The Cloud, 2023
เข้าคลาสเรียนภาษาสันสกฤต ม.เท็กซัส ตามติดชีวิต ‘นักสันสกฤต’ สาวไทยคนเดียวในอเมริกา
In this paper, I investigate multilingualism in the context of the early and medieval Śrīvaiṣṇava... more In this paper, I investigate multilingualism in the context of the early and medieval Śrīvaiṣṇavas, the most influential South Indian Vaiṣṇava religious community, through the analysis of the Śrīvaiṣṇavas’ interpretations of Bhagavadgītā 18.66, which is widely regarded by the tradition as the teaching on the soteriological doctrine of self-surrender and one of the three sacred secrets. I aim to, first, chart the historical change in the contexts of the interpretations, both in Sanskrit and Manipravala, a hybrid Tamil-Sanskrit. Then, I propose to construct a bigger picture pertaining to their influence and discrepancies. I divide this paper into three parts, each representing a significant historical turning point: 1) the Bhagavadgītā as the scriptural support for the path of devotion; 2) its status as one of the traditional secrets in Manipravala; and 3) its role in the Sanskrit validation of the doctrine of self-surrender.
Manuscript Cultures and Epigraphy of the Tai World, 2022
Journal of South Asian Intellectual History, 2019
In this paper, I investigate South Asian multilinguality by focusing on the medieval South Indian... more In this paper, I investigate South Asian multilinguality by focusing on the medieval South Indian Śrīvaiṣṇava religious tradition (originated in the tenth century CE), which employ Sanskrit, Tamil, and Maṇipravāḷa, a hybrid language comprising both Sanskrit and Tamil, in their composition. Through the lens of translation and hybrid-ity, I propose to complicate the recent scholarship on the Sanskrit and vernacular languages (e.g., Pollock and interlocutors) and also respond to the scholarly call for research that addresses the distinctive history of South Asian multilinguality. In particular , it explores the use of multiple linguistic media by one of the most significant Śrīvaiṣṇava theologians, Vedāntadeśika (c. 1268-1369 CE), in his Rahasyatrayasāra. The Rahasyatrayasāra which deals with soteriological and ritual aspects of the Śrīvaiṣṇavas was composed in Maṇipravāḷa and furnished with Sanskrit and Tamil opening and concluding verses. Through the investigation of the Maṇipravāḷa content in relation to the verses in the Rahasyatrayasāra, I argue that Maṇipravāḷa can be considered translation as it brings the Sanskrit and Tamil streams of the tradition together into a single context that can accommodate both. For a multilingual community like the Śrīvaiṣṇavas, Maṇipravāḷa, which represents translation into a hybrid, makes possible the collective religious identity.
Symposia: The Journal of Religion , 2018
Conference Presentations by Manasicha Akepiyapornchai
The Making of the Sacredness: Siamese Brahmanical Manuscripts
Material Enchantments and Sacred Economies Panel
Association for Asian Studies (AAS) Virtual Annu... more Material Enchantments and Sacred Economies Panel
Association for Asian Studies (AAS) Virtual Annual Conference, 2021.
Monday, March 22, 12:30 PM – 2:00 PM
"Mīmāṃsā Beyond Yāgaśālā," World Sanskrit Conference (Vancouver, Canada 2018).
“Placing Rāmānuja within the Intellectual History of the Śrīvaiṣṇava Tradition," 48th Annual Conf... more “Placing Rāmānuja within the Intellectual History of the Śrīvaiṣṇava Tradition," 48th Annual Conference on South Asia (Wisconsin – Madison 2019).
Abstract-CBC (Turin 2019)
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Videos by Manasicha Akepiyapornchai
Presented at The Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn Anthropology Centre, Thailand (by invitation with Peera Panarut)
Forthcoming by Manasicha Akepiyapornchai
Publications by Manasicha Akepiyapornchai
Conference Presentations by Manasicha Akepiyapornchai
Association for Asian Studies (AAS) Virtual Annual Conference, 2021.
Monday, March 22, 12:30 PM – 2:00 PM
Presented at The Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn Anthropology Centre, Thailand (by invitation with Peera Panarut)
Association for Asian Studies (AAS) Virtual Annual Conference, 2021.
Monday, March 22, 12:30 PM – 2:00 PM