9

The Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute or BORI prepares critical editions of Hindu scriptures.

They also seem to remove portions from ancient manuscripts deeming such portions as interpolations.

My question is how do we judge whether they are even qualified to do such a job or not (i.e to adjudge the authenticity of Hindu scriptures)?

Also what methods they use to come up with critical editions by rejecting several stories that are found in the original manuscripts?

TheLittleNaruto
  • 7,316
  • 3
  • 32
  • 75
Rickross
  • 111,864
  • 14
  • 239
  • 439
  • 2
    I think this question belongs to Meta ? – TheLittleNaruto Jan 28 '19 at 10:07
  • 1
    I am not sure I also thought that way initially .. I discussed with a Mod too before posting here .. IMO it is related here too as they deal with Hindu scriptures .. let the users decide @TheLittleNaruto – Rickross Jan 28 '19 at 10:09
  • AFAIK -They employ authoritve personalities from respected sampradayas (who's text is to be critically edited) as the head of that work.And taking help of grammarians , experts , Indologist etc.they first publish the critical edition asking for suggestions and responces etc.and then decide. – SwiftPushkar Jan 28 '19 at 10:16
  • https://hinduism.stackexchange.com/a/16245/5620 – SwiftPushkar Jan 28 '19 at 10:21
  • BTW the Nyaya Darshana pramanas and various Nyayas were basically invented with keeping into account identification of right and wrong in religious teaching as well as texts also. – SwiftPushkar Jan 28 '19 at 10:32
  • Ok then u can answer from that angle too and then judge whether BORI is qualified or not ..@SwiftPushkar – Rickross Jan 28 '19 at 10:33
  • So they might be taking help of some pramanas mentioned in Scriptures as well.Like lakshnas of Puranas , chandas etc. – SwiftPushkar Jan 28 '19 at 10:34
  • 2
    Some of leela of God can be understood only by sadhana.. not intellect!!! They have dismissed some portions which are not understood through intellegence as interpolations which is completely wrong. – Agamas Tantras Jan 28 '19 at 11:33
  • Ok so do u know which such portions they hv rejected like that? @AkshayS also if portions are getting removed simply because they appear to them as extra-sensory (hence absurd) then the scriptures will be reduced to half their sizes – Rickross Jan 28 '19 at 11:52
  • 1
    Answers would basically be opinions unless there is BORI person here to address this. – Ambi Jan 28 '19 at 12:12
  • 1
    @Ambi Yes, that is the reason the question should be posted to BORI and not us. We can't say what methods they use. We will only post inaccurate information and opinions.I think this is off-topic. – Sarvabhouma Jan 28 '19 at 17:23
  • @Ambi, there are lot of questions/answers on this site which 'quote' BORI as source. Tomorrow, if I create a new BORING critical edition and start quoting it, people will definitely ask to verify my qualifications. Even if there are no answers, or even opinionated ones, i think this question should stay, so that people who chance upon it are aware that there are many others who question BORI's validity. – ram Jan 29 '19 at 10:37
  • @ram I do appreciate your thought process. But this is very specific to a particular organization and it's internal policies on how they come up with some editions. I don't think anyone here knows the inner workings of that institute... Or if there is, they are pretty silent. It is not that I don't think of this is a valid question but that I don't think it can answered accurately in here by the active crowd. – Ambi Jan 29 '19 at 10:42
  • @Ambi, yes we're in agreement. answers may be invalid but the question is valid. – ram Jan 29 '19 at 14:13
  • What is meant by critical editions of hindu scriptures? – Pinakin Feb 02 '19 at 10:39
  • @ChinmaySarupria, it's a misspelling, should be called 'criticizing editions of hindu scripture' – ram Feb 02 '19 at 13:00

1 Answers1

2

I will answer this question by taking the example of Adi Parva of Mahabharata.

To understand the method to come up with the critical edition, the following document by Vishnu Sukthankar can be read -

http://gretil.sub.uni-goettingen.de/gretil_elib/Suk933__Sukthankar_ProlegomenaMBh1.pdf

  • 1
    Link-only answers are not recommended. If the link dies your answer becomes invalid. Better to copy the relevant information directly into the answer. Read the section 'Provide context for links' here. – Say No To Censorship Feb 02 '19 at 20:04
  • Its about 130 pages long. Too long to copy. Not every question has a 1 or 2 page answer. –  Feb 02 '19 at 20:06
  • You only need to quote the relevant part not 130 pages. – Say No To Censorship Feb 02 '19 at 20:07
  • As I said, not every question has a 1 or 2 page answer. Atleast have the courtesy to go thru the link before commenting. –  Feb 02 '19 at 20:08
  • I read that report a couple of times already. I'm just making you aware of the site rules. See this meta post for more information. – Say No To Censorship Feb 02 '19 at 20:14
  • Site rules or no site rules, people who want to understand the methods of BORI must be prepared to spend some time reading. It is not something that can be explained in a couple of pages. –  Feb 02 '19 at 20:18
  • 1
    Not trying to bug you. But users should not have to leave this site to read/figure out the answer. If something cannot be explained in 1-2 pages then it's best to leave the information as a comment under the question. – Say No To Censorship Feb 02 '19 at 20:22
  • Let users decide whether or not they want to leave this site to read the answer. –  Feb 02 '19 at 20:24