Hindu dharma senses in Vālmīki’s Rāmāyaṇa

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.23925/1677-1222.2023vol23i1a16

Keywords:

Hindu traditions, Vālmīki’s Rāmāyaṇa, Hindu dharma, Mystical devotion (bhakti)

Abstract

This paper aims to present a brief inventory of the primary meanings that Hindu dharma assumes in Vālmīki’s Rāmāyaṇa epic. A survey of the meanings of the word dharma in the text (saṃhitā) of the epic is followed by an explanation and elucidation not only of the word itself but of the terms composed by it according to the contexts in which they appear, with passages that illustrate each of these same meanings. A significant semantic elasticity is clearly perceived in the uses that Vālmīki’s Rāmāyaṇa makes of Hindu dharma, ranging from Vedic existential aspirations to different modalities of everyday praxis of Hindu orthodoxy, as well as processes of personification and abstract references to cosmological principles.

Author Biography

Matheus Landau de Carvalho, Universidade Federal de Juiz de Fora

Bacharel e Licenciado em História, com Habilitação em Patrimônio Histórico, pela Universidade Federal de Juiz de Fora (UFJF) - 2009. Especialista (2010), Mestre (2013) e Doutorando (2019-) pelo Programa de Pós-graduação em Ciência da Religião, pela mesma Universidade.

References

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2023-1

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Published

2023-07-27

Issue

Vol. 23 No. 1 (2023): Religion and humor

Section

Intercâmbio

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