Description
Book SynopsisPersonhood is central to the worldview of ancient India. Across voluminous texts and diverse traditions, the subject of the puru?a, the Sanskrit term for person, has been a constant source of insight and innovation. Yet little sustained scholarly attention has been paid to the precise meanings of the puru?a concept or its historical transformations within and across traditions. In Puru?a: Personhood in Ancient India, Matthew I. Robertson traces the history of Indic thinking about puru?as through an extensive analysis of the major texts and traditions of ancient India.Through clear explanations of classic Sanskrit texts and the idioms of Indian traditions, Robertson discerns the emergence and development of a sustained, paradigmatic understanding that persons are deeply confluent with the world. Personhood is worldhood. Puru?a argues for the significance of this worldly thinking about personhood to Indian traditions and identifies a host of techniques that were developed to extend and e
