Etymology, genealogy and history in Early South Asia

Hegarty, James Marcel ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4769-2449 2011. Etymology, genealogy and history in Early South Asia. Religions of South Asia 5 (1/2) , pp. 103-127.

Full text not available from this repository.

Abstract

This paper explores the relationship between etymology, genealogy and the literary exploration of the past in early South Asia. By means of a close reading of a range of materials drawn from the Atharvaveda, Brahmanas and Upanishads, as well as the Nirukta, the Brihaddevata and the Mahabharata, it demonstrates that there is a progression from etymology, to expanded etymology (narratives spun from the details of etymologies), to full accounts of birth and descent, that is to say, genealogy, and, from there, to larger-scale historical accounts. The paper thus shows that etymology played an important part in the formation of consensus understandings of the past in early South Asia.

Item Type:	Article
Date Type:	Publication
Status:	Published
Schools:	History, Archaeology and Religion
Subjects:	B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > BL Religion C Auxiliary Sciences of History > CS Genealogy D History General and Old World > D History (General)
Publisher:	Equinox Publishing
ISSN:	1751-2689
Last Modified:	20 Oct 2022 09:19
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/31445

Actions (repository staff only)

Edit Item