Continuità e mutamento nelle religioni indiane. Contributo all'analisi di un tema centrale per gli studi indologici

The paper, “Continuity and change in Indian religions. A contribution to the analysis of a central theme for indological studies”, detects a possible way to interpret the relationship between historical variations and continuity in the study of Indian religions from a wide range of methodological points of view (anthropological, sociological, historical). Starting with the perspective of Sanskritization (from M. N. Srinivas to S. Pollock), and going on with a seminal indological study ( J. Gonda), four different case studies are taken into consideration : 1) the process through which the Vedic sacrifice is internalized in the horizon of the upanisadic thought ; 2) the notion of emergency norm (apaddharma) in Indian normative texts being part of the smrti, such as the Manavadharmasastra (P. V. Kane) ; 3) the institution of a monastic order for renouncers (samnyasin) with the creation of the system of the ten [monastic] names (dasanamisamnyasi); M. Clark) ; 4) the taxonomy of the theory of the descents on earth of the supreme God (avatara ; S. M. Gupta, L. W. Hubbell, G. Somany) seen in the light of the hermeneutic concept of Inclusivism (P. Hacker, W. Halbfass). The paper concludes that the category of resilience is possibly the best way to enlighten the dialectic relationship between change and continuity within Indian religions, apart from the category of aurality (B. Lo Turco).