The teachings of the VÂYAVÎYASAMHITÂ

Part of ’Towards an History of Saivasiddhanta’ project

Objectives

1/ The research project " The Teachings of the Vâyavîyasamhitâ " consists of a systematic study of the Vâyavîyasamhitâ (Sivapurâna), which is distinctive, as it belongs to the Purâna genre as much as for its strongly âgamic and doctrinal nature. If mythology is the main theme of the Sivapurâna as a whole, however it plays a minor role (about ten chapters out of seventy-six) in the samhitâ we are dealing with: it is simply the minimal frame of the presentation of ritual and doctrine. One of the main problematic to be clarified is this paradoxical state of fact: although the connection between the Vâyavîyasamhitâ and the Saivasiddhânta school is corroborated by the doctrinal exposition, this text constantly invokes the Pâsupatas.

On the crossroad of different traditions, this project comes under two research programs of the IFP : "South Indian Cultural Applications of Purânic Tradition" and "History of the Saivasiddhânta in South India".

2/ Simultaneously, a collaboration is carried out to the critical edition of the second volume of the Dîptâgama, under the direction of Prof. Bruno Dagens, with Dr. Marie-Luce Barazer-Billoret and Vincent Lefèvre, within the frame-work of the IFP research program: "Critical Analysis of the Dîptâgama - Saivism in South India through the critical study of a sanskrit text".

Materials and Methods

The Vâyavîyasamhitâ is a non-dated text coming from a composite whole. Considering that its study comes under different disciplines, different methods are used to serve its purpose : history of religions (old and medieval saivism), sanskrit philology, anthropology. With the following three broad directions:

1. Examination of the internal consistency and of the process (accumulation, adaptation, borrowings) leading to the final text. 2. Study of ritual and doctrine, using parallel texts: Agamas (mainly from manuscript collection of the IFP), Lingapurâna, Vâyupurâna, Kûrmapurâna, Shivadharmottara, etc. 3. Clarification of certain aspects of ritual with pandits from the FIP and missions in living temples of South India.

Partners

The project is in the frame-work of an agreement signed between IFP and the Formation de recherche associée FRE 2350 (Université Paris-III/CNRS) otherwise known as LACMI (" Langues, textes, histoire et civilisation du monde indien ") of which Christelle Barois is a member.

Funding

French Institute of Pondicherry

Team

Download research abstracts (.pdf)

• Christelle, Barois, PhD student in Indology at the Université Paris-III - Sorbonne nouvelle, Paris. Recipient of an IFP research scholarship. Thesis title: " Les Enseignements de la Vâyavîyasamhitâ - Etude de rituel et de doctrine sivaïtes en contexte purânique ".
• PhD supervisor: Nalini Balbir, Professor, UFR " Orient et monde arabe ", Université Paris-III - Sorbonne nouvelle, Paris.

Main Outputs

• BAROIS C., 2005. Prolegomena to the Vâyavîyasamhitâ , 12th Word Sanskrit Conference, Helsinki, 14-18 July 2003, in Vol. 3.1. Puranas, Agamas and Tantras. Ed. Dagens.B & Koskikallio. P , Motilal Banarsidass Publishers, Delhi.