A report on Paul Dundas

Scholar and a senior lecturer in Sanskrit language and head of Asian Studies in the University of Edinburgh.

- Paul Dundas

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Rigveda (padapatha) manuscript in Devanagari, early 19th century. The red horizontal and vertical lines mark low and high pitch changes for chanting.

Sanskrit

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Classical language of South Asia that belongs to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages.

Classical language of South Asia that belongs to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages.

Rigveda (padapatha) manuscript in Devanagari, early 19th century. The red horizontal and vertical lines mark low and high pitch changes for chanting.
A 17th-century birch bark manuscript of Pāṇini's grammar treatise from Kashmir
An early use of the word for "Sanskrit" in Late Brahmi script (also called Gupta script): Gupta ashoka sam.jpgGupta ashoka skrr.jpgGupta ashoka t.svg Saṃ-skṛ-ta Mandsaur stone inscription of Yashodharman-Vishnuvardhana, 532 CE.
Sanskrit's link to the Prakrit languages and other Indo-European languages
The Spitzer Manuscript is dated to about the 2nd century CE (above: folio 383 fragment). Discovered in the Kizil Caves, near the northern branch of the Central Asian Silk Route in northwest China, it is the oldest Sanskrit philosophical manuscript known so far.
A 5th-century Sanskrit inscription discovered in Java, Indonesia—one of the earliest in southeast Asia after the Mulavarman inscription discovered in Kutai, eastern Borneo. The Ciaruteun inscription combines two writing scripts and compares the king to the Hindu god Vishnu. It provides a terminus ad quem to the presence of Hinduism in the Indonesian islands. The oldest southeast Asian Sanskrit inscription—called the Vo Canh inscription—so far discovered is near Nha Trang, Vietnam, and it is dated to the late 2nd century to early 3rd century CE.
Sanskrit language's historical presence has been attested in many countries. The evidence includes manuscript pages and inscriptions discovered in South Asia, Southeast Asia and Central Asia. These have been dated between 300 and 1800 CE.
One of the oldest surviving Sanskrit manuscript pages in Gupta script (c. 828 CE), discovered in Nepal
One of the oldest Hindu Sanskrit inscriptions, the broken pieces of this early-1st-century BCE Hathibada Brahmi Inscription were discovered in Rajasthan. It is a dedication to deities Vāsudeva-Samkarshana (Krishna-Balarama) and mentions a stone temple.
in the form of a terracotta plaque
Sanskrit in modern Indian and other Brahmi scripts: May Śiva bless those who take delight in the language of the gods. (Kālidāsa)
One of the earliest known Sanskrit inscriptions in Tamil Grantha script at a rock-cut Hindu Trimurti temple (Mandakapattu, c. 615 CE)
The ancient Yūpa inscription (one of the earliest and oldest Sanskrit texts written in ancient Indonesia) dating back to the 4th century CE written by Brahmins under the rule of King Mulavarman of the Kutai Martadipura Kingdom located in eastern Borneo
Sanskrit festival at Pramati Hillview Academy, Mysore, India

However, states Paul Dundas, a scholar of Jainism, these ancient Prakrit languages had "roughly the same relationship to Sanskrit as medieval Italian does to Latin."

The hand symbolizes Ahiṃsā, the wheel dharmachakra, the resolve to halt saṃsāra (transmigration).

Jainism

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Ancient Indian religion.

Ancient Indian religion.

The hand symbolizes Ahiṃsā, the wheel dharmachakra, the resolve to halt saṃsāra (transmigration).
Classification of Saṃsāri Jīvas (transmigrating souls) in Jainism
Lord Neminatha, Akota Bronzes (7th century)
Jain miniature painting of 24 tirthankaras, Jaipur, c. 1850
Jain temple painting explaining Anekantavada with Blind men and an elephant
A Jain monk in meditation, wearing the characteristic white robe and face covering
Nishidhi stone, depicting the vow of sallekhana, 14th century, Karnataka
Praying at the feet of a statue of Bahubali
Jain worship may include ritual offerings and recitals.
Celebrating Das Lakshana (Paryushana), Jain Center of America, New York City
The birth of Mahavira, from the Kalpa Sūtra (c.1375–1400 CE)
Shikharji
Idol of Suparśvanātha
A symbol to represent the Jain community was chosen in 1975 as part of the commemoration of the 2,500th anniversary of Mahavira’s nirvana.
Rishabhdev, believed to have lived over 592.704×1018 years ago, is considered the traditional founder of Jainism.
The ruins of Gori Jain temples in Nagarparkar, Pakistan, a pilgrimage site before 1947.
Ranakpur Jain Temple
Dilwara Temples
Parshvanath Temple in Khajuraho
Girnar Jain temples
Jal Mandir, Pawapuri
Lodhurva Jain temple
Palitana temples
Saavira Kambada Basadi, Moodbidri, Karnataka
Jain temple, Antwerp, Belgium
Brahma Jinalaya, Lakkundi
Hutheesing Jain Temple

According to Dundas, the Jain scholar Jinadattasuri wrote during a time of Muslim destruction of temples and persecution that "anybody engaged in a religious activity who was forced to fight and kill somebody would not lose any spiritual merit but instead attain deliverance".

Idol in library of Lodhadham near Mumbai, Maharashtra.

Yashovijaya

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Notable Indian philosopher and logician.

Notable Indian philosopher and logician.

Idol in library of Lodhadham near Mumbai, Maharashtra.

Paul Dundas calls Yashovijaya as the last truly great intellectual figure in Jainism, who rose to fame on account of his learning and mastery of sophisticated logical techniques as well for his interest of mysticism in later life.

Krishna slays Shishupala (c. 1850)

Shishupala Vadha

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Work of classical Sanskrit poetry (kāvya) composed by Māgha in the 7th or 8th century.

Work of classical Sanskrit poetry (kāvya) composed by Māgha in the 7th or 8th century.

Krishna slays Shishupala (c. 1850)
Krishna slays Shishupala (c. 1850)
Illustration of cakrabandha constraints, with hidden message. (See [[:File:Magha-chakrabandha-devanagari.svg|Devanagari version]].)

Paul Dundas (2017). The Killing of Shishupala, Murty Classical Library of India, Harvard University Press. ISBN: 978-0-674-66039-7