The Examination of Religion (Dharmaparīkṣā): A Jain Tradition of Narrative Adaptations - (Gonda Indological Studies) (Hardcover)

About the Book

This book is the first to study six versions of the Dharmaparīkṣā - a Jain narrative that ridicules Brahmanical beliefs and authority. It reveals how Jain authors adapted the story across languages and centuries, offering new insights into Jain polemics and South Asian practices of translation.

Book Synopsis

Repetition, reconfiguration, or adaptation form key characteristics of the Indian literary traditions. Jain literature exemplifies this vividly, especially through its rich narrative tradition. This book studies one such narrative, known as the Dharmaparīkṣā ('Examination of Religion'), which has intrigued audiences for its ridiculing critique of Brahmanical beliefs and authority.
This book is the first to examine six versions of the story in classical and vernacular languages and from different periods, together as a tradition of adaptations. Revealing the adaptive practices Jain authors applied as literary and socio-historical contexts evolved, the book offers a diachronic perspective on Jain polemics, and on the conceptualization of adaptation and translation in South Asia.

About the Author

Heleen De Jonckheere, Ph.D. (2020), Ghent University, is FWO senior postdoctoral fellow at that university. She has published articles and book chapters on Jain religion and literature in Sanskrit, Prakrit and Old Hindi. Her current project focuses on Apabhramsha literature in the tenth century.