No single standard translation of the mantra known as Sāvitrī, Gāyatrī, or Gāyatrī-Mantra (Ṛgveda III 62.10) has ever become widely accepted. Many authors seem to have felt that a famous mantra such as this one must have, or allow for, several interpretations and translations – a position that is not without justification, especially when it c…[Read more]

In the series Puṣpikā – Tracing Ancient India through Texts and Traditions: Contributions to Current Research in Indology, the proceedings of the International Indology Graduate Research Symposium (IIGRS) are published. Puṣpikā is a peer-reviewed series that provides early-career scholars with a platform to share the results of their researc…[Read more]

Throughout its history, the renowned Kaṭha Upaniṣad has often been described as being both incoherent and contradictory. The aim of this paper is to show to what purpose the text was created. To this end, it discusses the connection of the three paths to salvation depicted in the text, viz. the Agnicayana (a powerful Vedic fire-ritual), the Upa…[Read more]

Der berühmten Kaṭha-Upaniṣad wurde oft Inkohärenz und Widersprüchlichkeit unterstellt: Das vedische Feuerritual, das in ihr erwähnt wird, ließ sich in den Augen der meisten Interpreten nicht mit der Erkenntnislehre und den Yoga-Praktiken, die den Großteil des Textes ausmachen, vereinbaren. Die Master-Arbeit versucht zu ergründen, wie ein derart…[Read more]

The short mantra known as Gāyatrī or Sāvitrī (Ṛgveda III 62.10) is one of the most frequently recited texts of mankind. Over the course of time it has not only been personified as the “Mother of the Vedas,” but has even come to be venerated as a goddess. The present study reveals for the first time how the mantra gained prominence as a religious…[Read more]