Abstracts:

1. Giuliano Boccali, The Ocean between Itihasa and Mahakavyas ( until Pravarasena )

The image of the ocean – unlike that of the mountains - is not much developed in pre-kavya literature, even in the Ramayana, which would offer many occasions to describe it. However, the topic of the ocean has begun to develop - with Kalidasa – exactly in connection with Rama’s story, before becoming quite common in all the  mahakavya-s. After a short synthesis dealing with the Pali Canon and the Itihasa-s, the paper explores all the different motifs used in the description of the ocean in the Raghuvamsa by Kalidasa and the Setubandha by Pravarasena, where we can actually find the first long digression devoted to the sea. So, the inventory of these motifs offers the possibility to establish a relation between them and the rasa-s the authors mean to evoke. 

2. Jaroslav Vacek, “Parrot” in Old Tamil Sangam Literature – formulas and images

The paper describes systematically the 66 occurrences of kiLi in Sangam literature and specifies the types of formulas and various types of phrases, in which the word occurs (attributive, verbal etc, including simple occurrences). Then the anthropomorphous references and contexts are briefly discussed, which is relevant for the proper interpretation of the poems. In the end the paper refers to a few parallels in Sanskrit Kāvya.

3. Alexander Dubyanskiy, Messenger Poems in Tamil Poetry

The motive of an object of nature taken as a messenger in love situations is a characteristic feature of Indian classical poetry. A possibility for a lover to address an animal, a bird, or a plant lies in archaic layers of human consciousness and in literature has to be rationally justified. Thus, Kalidasa in “Meghaduta” explains that yaksha’s talk to a cloud is due to his shattered state of mind. The motive of a messenger is common for early Tamil poetry also. The poems clearly show a general function of a messenger  as a mediator between the parted lovers. Though in love (akam) poems messengers are as a rule human beings, natural objects are also addressed. There are several poems in cankam anthologies which can be defined as tUtu, that is messenger-poems. They are not big but contain main features that constitute the genre: addressing an object of nature, praising or describing it, asking to deliver (or to bring) a message, the message itself. In some poems we find elements of a geographic descriptions, but, curiously enough, in Tamil poems of later periods these elements were not developed into a description of the route to be taken by a messenger. This also goes for poems composed in the 17-18 cc. which represent a well developed genre of Medieval Tamil poetry. Specific features of this genre are outlined in the paper

4. David Smith, Kissing in Kāvya

This paper is a detailed and analytical review of kissing in kāvya, with special reference to mahākāvyas and the works of Bana.

5. C.Rajendran, Humanizing Nature-A study in the imagery of Kalidasa

Much of poetry of all ancient civilizations abounds in the description of nature, but this is especially true in the case of an eco-friendly civilization like that of India. Kalidasa inherited and reproduced a world view of ancient India wherein the distinction between human beings and nature is not clearly demarcated. But he carried this vision further in classical poetry so much so that nature becomes a very prominent presence in the narrations centered on human life. Most of the critics have rightly remarked that we cannot understand the vision of Kalidasa without a reference to his vision of nature vis-à-vis the human being. It is true that if we make a quantum leap from early Vedic poetry like these to the universe of Kalidasa, we do not find much of a difference in the attitude to nature. Just as the Vedic seer finds no absolute difference between dawn the phenomenon and dawn the maiden, Kalidasa also does not find any difference between natural phenomenon and human beings. However, the humanizing process in Kalidasa's poetry requires a closer scrutiny since it involves several strands .It is quite natural in epic poetry related to mythical events to regard mountains and rivers as human personalities, as, say when the Mahabharata describes Bhisma as the son of the River Ganga or the Ramayana describing Ahalya being converted into a stone. In the arena of secular literature also, as in the case of the animal fables as in Pancatantra, humanizing a bird or an animal is as easy and natural as in the mythical tales. Kalidasa's poetry profusely makes use of such trans human metamorphosis in poems like the Raghuvamsa where a Gandharva is converted into an elephant and vice versa or the conversation between King Dilipa and the lion is as natural as between two human rivals .For such supernatural behavior, Kalidasa does not offer any apology or explanation. Sanskrit literature as a whole is dependent on such trans rational discourses wherein the human beings are a part of a continuum and the transition from one end to another is natural. But Kalidsasa's poetry also consists of another type of deeper engagement with nature which does not fit in this conventional framework .It has a uniqueness which deserves our special attention. The main reason for this is that Kalidasa instinctively and consistently humanizes nature to a degree unseen in any other poet .Nature here ceases to appear as a mute spectator witnessing the human drama, but as a living presence, partaking in the joys and sorrows of the sentient world. This type of humanization is not seen elsewhere in Sanskrit poetry, even in the Ramayana, a work evidently a source of inspiration to Kalidasa. A closer look at Kalidasa�s poetry also shows that it is the intense emotional experience which triggers off the personification and humanization of nature, as suggested by Anandavardhana. The powerful emotions, particularly love and pathos spill over from the sentient world to the insentient in Kalidasa's imagination quite effortlessly.

6. Cinzia Pieruccini, The Loving Creeper and Tree

In the first act of the Abhijnanasakuntala of Kalidasa, when Sakuntala is shown watering the plants of the asrama where she lives, the dialogue between the heroine and her girlfriends about the loving union between a mango tree and a navamallika creeper climbing on it prefigures Sakuntala’s imminent marriage. Frequently found in kavya literature, the image of the creeper and the tree as lovers proves to be extremely ancient: it appears already in the Rgveda and in some Atharvanic love spells, where we can perhaps detect its origins. For clear symbolic reasons, which have the grammatical support of Sanskrit terminology,  the tree is invariably seen as the male lover, the creeper as the female; and the image is connected with the comparison of the slender figure of a young woman with a flowering creeper, very common as well in kavya poetry.

7. Daniela Rossella, Savouring God: Nature, Senses, and the Taste of the Divine in Indian and Western Mystical Poetry

In keeping with my current researches, the purpose of my paper is to point out some imagines (tied to the natural world and to the sensory sphere) that are recurring both in the Krishnaite mystical texts, and in those of the Western nuptial mysticism. These imagines aim at describing the passionate union with God, which is perceived by these mystical poets as the supreme goal of the devotee, and as the unique (tasty and tastable) essence of the eternal blissfulness, warmly felt, and depicted, in terms derived from romantic/erotic love

8. Mariola Pigoniowa, The Lament of Rati

The paper gives an analysis of the lament of Rati in Kalidasa’s Kumarasambhava, Canto IV. Elements constituting the Roman funeral speech (laudatio funebris) may be discerned here; these are, apart from the lament itself, also eulogy and consolation. Several comparisons taken from the world of nature serve to enhance the dramatic effect of the canto.

9. Tiziana Pontillo, A lexical study of the terms for the sea in the Rāmāyana and Raghuvamsa

Are “sagara” and “samudra” veritable synonymic variants in the Ramayana and in the Raghuvamsa? Are they two different lexemes severally employed? Is there any context which excludes the use of one or the other ? In this paper I shall try to answer some questions of this kind, examining about three hundred occurrences of the above-mentioned words, respectively selected from the Baroda critical edition of Ramayana with the help of the Pada-Index edited by R.T. Vyas and R.I. Nanavati (3 volumes: 1989; 1998; 2001) and the Ramayana E-Text input by Muneo Tokunaga, included in Go¨ttinger Register of Electronic Texts in Indian Languages (Archiv of E-Texts in R.E. Emmerick’s Encoding) and from the Kalidasa-Lexicon by A. Scharpe. All occurrences will be arranged according to the attributes, verbs or other items with which “sagara” and “samudra” are combined, in order to single out the formulaic expressions involving exclusively either the former or the latter or else alternatively any of them without a true semantic distinction. Consequently I shall make an attempt to find a possible reason for a particular lexical choice. Special attention will be paid to some passages which insert the ocean into figurative speech, mainly if it is implied as upamana in some upamas or rupakas, with the aim of discovering what is the standard imagery concerning this natural element in the Ramayana and Raghuvamsa. Above all it will be verified (also in this particular context) if only one of the two lexemes corresponds to specific upamitas or, rather, whether both might have been used indifferently. The present study, that is restricted to the analysis of the Ramayana and Raghuvamsa usage of the terms for the sea has to be considered a further development of an earlier inquiry (published in “Pandanus” 2003) about the sea-images to be found in pre-Kavya literature, although this later study is more directly confined to supplying a precise inventory of the lexical features of the selected words.

10. Bruno Lo Turco, Love and nature in the Moks.opāya

Both love and nature play pivotal roles in some tales of the Moks.opāya. It is well-known that love and nature are often closely related in kāvya: nature is frequently described as the reflection or the aura of a feeling of love. At a superficial level this is also true for the kāvya sections of the Moks.opāya. Nevertheless, at a deeper level, love and nature play conflicting roles in this work. Nature seems to confirm and corroborate the reality of the world around us, which in the view of the Moks.opāya, is an anti-soteriological feature, whereas love, insofar as it denies the substantiality of the world, can have a clear soteriological value

11. Paola Rossi, The Apsarasas' Image in the Pali Buddhist Canon

This paper aims to present a survey of the poetic image of the apsarasas in the canonical Buddhist literature, particularly in the narrative portions of the Pali Buddhist texts, like the Jātakas and the Mahāvastu, in which the apsarasas are one of the most appealing feminine characters. The apsaras is usually depicted as a heavenly nymph, a wonderful feminine supernatural being, dancer at the heavenly court of Indra, a dangerous temptress for the ascetics and an attractive protectress for the hero, glorifying his victory on the fields of battle. As it has been generally noticed, the apsaras is presented in the Indian literature beginning from the Vedic texts, where she is already connoted like a young woman connected with the waters and the heavenly world. In the Epic literature her literary status is better defined, through a wide inventory of images, from which the kāvya poetry derives. Therefore, special attention could be paid to the Buddhist texts and their apasaras? representation, which could be considered either parallel to the Epic ones or a possible source of the kāvya ones. In this sense, the analysis intends to be focused not only on the motifs and themes which involve the feminine character, but also on the specific lexicon which is used to connote her, especially in relation with nature. In particular, among the so common images above mentioned, the paper will highlight the figure of the apsaras who supports the heroes and leads them to the Indra’s world, where they abide, rather than the apsaras who tempts to seduce the ascetics, diverting them from their penance.

12. Anna Trynkowska: From Daśakumaaracarita II: How Sleeping Beauty Stole the Heart of Thieving Prince

In the modern outlines of the history of Classical Sanskrit literature (kaavya), Western as well as Indian, the estimation of the court epic prose (gadyakaavya) is, generally speaking, low. Gadyakaavyas are considered to be, among other things, overloaded with too numerous and too lengthy descriptions, supposedly tearing the plots of the works apart, which results in their lack of inner unity and harmony. The descriptive passages themselves are regarded as completely unjustified, chaotic piling up epithets upon epithets, until the inventiveness of the author, and the patience of his listeners or readers, is finally exhausted. The descriptions which take the form of one long sentence, so characteristic of the Classical Sanskrit court epic prose, are especially criticised; it is pointed out, with evident disapproval, that they sometimes extend over several pages of the printed editions of the text.
However, Robert Hueckstedt’s excellent book The Style of Baan.a. An Introduction to Sanskrit Prose Poetry (1985) conclusively proves the above-mentioned opinions to be unfounded with respect to the Hars.acarita and Kaadambarii of Baan.a, which should encourage us to look at other gadyakaavyas from the very same angle.
In this paper, I present an attempt at literary analysis of a chosen extended descriptive sentence forming part of the second chapter (ucchvaasa) of the Daśakumaaracarita of Dan.d.in.

13. Iwona Milewska: Love and Ascetics in the Mahābhārata

In my paper I take into comparative perspective the love story of Uma and Śiva from Kaalidaasa’s Kumaarasambhava and love stories connected with ascetics chosen from the third book of the Mahabharata. The questions addressed are whether and what kind of common motifs can be traced in these stories and whether the epic stories constituted any kind of paradigm for later development of love stories.

14. Mimma Congedo: The Transformation of Nature in the Aesthetics of Ananda Kentish Coomaraswamy

The paper aims at highlighting the presence and meaning of the concept of nature in the aesthetics of Ananda Kentish Coomaraswamy. The main texts dealing with aesthetics will be selected in the huge bibliography of the author, and briefly analysed; particular attention will be paid to The Transformation of Nature in Art. It will result that Coomaraswamy’s comparative approach also applies to this topic, since this scholar uses Western terminology and references in order to better clarify the role of nature in the Indian theory of art. Also, the paper will present a short survey of the Indian terminology employed and explained by Coomaraswamy in connection with nature. We will encounter terms like prakrti and maya, but also sadrsya and anukrti and the couple nama-rupa. A precise and definite concept of nature will be found in Coomaraswamy’s works, in harmony with Western Platonic and Mediaeval philosophy as well as Indian Vedanta: “objective” nature is but a mirror and shadow of a divine idea or energy, which is reflected in the phenomenal reality we perceive through our senses. Here is the paradox of Coomaraswamy’s theory of art: that supernatural dimension of nature is the true subject of every work of art. In fact, a work of art has to embody a divine archetype and help reaching it through meditation, and all the natural elements it may contain and represent are just symbols of that very divine reality.

15. Anna Bonisoli Alquati, The sixteenth sarga of Kālidāsa’s Raghuvamsa

This paper investigates the episode of king Kusa as it is told in the sixteenth sarga of Kālidāsa’s Raghuvamsa. This story and the way the poet dealt with it may be seen as paradigmatic of love and the natural environment in kāvya literature. A relationship of love, symbolized by female figures, often serves to represent the king and the development of his royal functions and life style. Keeping this idea in mind, we can actually divide the episode into three smaller parts, each representing a different aspect of the king’s life in the form of a love story: the marriage with his kingdom (embodied in this case by its capital city), secondly the pleasant love games with the harem, and finally the marriage to a woman of superior qualities who will ensure the dynasty’s triumphant continuance. These three loves are set mainly in the royal city and the forest-garden with all its amusements and delightful spots. The descriptions of the love relationships and the places where they are set are linked by the poet to create a world where emotions and nature merge and the rules of poetry dominate.
Moreover, because such descriptions are generally found in the classical mahākāvyas, the perspective can be widened to investigate the way kāvya poets represent the society around them. This paper seeks to bring to light the development of the social milieu of the Indian courts, where the kavis lived and worked.  The Indian court society as it is mirrored by kāvya poetry seems to be suspended between the celebration of the honour of the dynasty and the enjoyment of the pleasures of love and a rich life. 

16.Camillo Formigatti, Love as an Example for ‘Skill in Means’ in Buddhist Poetic Literature.

My presentation will deal with two main themes (or rather with two aspects of the same theme). The first is the theme of love as an example for ‘skill in means’ (upāyakauśalya) which is an important theme in Buddhist literature. The episode of Nanda's conversion is a case in point here, as elaborated in two versions of the story: A÷vaghoùa's Saundaranandamahākāvya and Kùemendra's Sundarînandāvadāna. These two authors have been chosen because they stand respectively at the beginning and end of the history of Buddhist poetic literature. The first and shorter part of the presentation will be concerned with a comparison of the various sources of the story, not only from the Pali canon but also from the Tibetan version of the Mūlasarvāstivādavinaya. Then second part will involve a presentation of the most important differences between the two versions mentioned above in order to show clearly how the authors used the same basic material in different ways. In the case of Kùemendra another legend dealing with the same theme will be drawn upon, namely his Udrāyan.āvadāna, in order to explain better how he employs his poetic genius. The aim of the presentation is to show how a theme, such as that of love, is dealt with in Buddhist literature, not only as an obstacle on the path to enlightenment, but rather, or also, as an occasion to obtain it.

17.Petr Duda, Plants and Trees in Hindu Temple Worship

Summary: An outline of one of the aspects of nature in the Sacred. The role of plants and trees in Hindu worship and the rules for their use in the ritual. Plants generally used and forbidden in the ritual. The connection between the roles particular plants play in mythology and in worship. Plants and trees liked and disliked by, and some of them being the attributes or even representatives of, major Gods and Goddesses (tulasi, bilva, asvattha, etc.). Plants as the means vs. the very object of worship. Mantras and hymns addressing the plants and trees used for worship or being worshipped. Levels of suitability for worship within single species. Suggestions for further research.