Centre for the Study of Social Systems
School of Social Sciences
CSSS Colloquium
Ahmed Sohaib
(Centre for the Study of Comparative Religions and Civilizations, Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi)
on
Who Gets to Ride the Wheel of Dhamma? Frames of Inclusion and Exclusion in Early Buddhist Texts
Date & Time: August 17, 2017 (Thursday), 3.00 pm
Venue: CSSS Committee Room (Room No: 13), SSS-II
Abstract: More often it has been assumed that since Buddhism developed endogenously, hence at the level of culture and communality of psyche its followers had their identity within the broader framework of the Indian socio-religious systems, and did not seek their identity outside it. However, the Pali texts demonstrate that the early Buddhists were both cognisant of their distinction from ‘Other’ religious groups/ideologies and purposely articulated their distinct identity vis-à-vis members of ‘other’ sects. Throughout the Pali Nikāyas one repeatedly comes across words like ariyasāvaka (‘well-taught Ariyan disciple’) and puthujjana (‘untaught many folk’). It has been argued that it represents the spiritual division of the Buddhist world which “transcends the purely social one of the monk and layman”. While broadening the comprehension of these terms, this paper would lay out an alternative premise: this categorization articulated the division between the ‘well-taught’ disciples of the Buddha, and the ‘untaught manyfolk’, belonging to diverse non-Buddhist creeds.
Bio: Ahmed Sohaib studied early Indian History for his Masters and M.Phil at the Centre for Historical Studies, JNU, New Delhi. He has been researching ‘classical’ Buddhism and is interested in studying the trajectories of social history of early Buddhism. His other research interests include social significance of early Buddhist narrative art and patterns of early Buddhist onomastics. He has contributed papers to academic journals and edited volumes.
