Timothy Lubin
Biographic Data
| ID | 699435 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Timothy Lubin |
| GIVEN NAMES | Timothy |
| FAMILY NAME | Lubin |
| SIGNATURE | LUBIN T |
| AFFILIATIONS | Washington and Lee University |
| ORCID | 0000-0001-8352-5870 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 20 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 14 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 20 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2001 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2023 |
| H-INDEX | 2 |
Status between Law and Religion
The juridical status of persons nowadays tends to be discussed only in narrow contexts: civic status (citizen, alien, and various visa statuses), marital status, penal status, employment status, religious or ethnic status within colonial and postcolonial states, status of the fetus, corporate personal status, and so on. In the century and a half since Henry Maine’s 1861 treatise, Ancient Law , in which he discerned a general movement from status …
Brahmin Felon and the Wise Thief
I begin by analysing Mimamsa hermeneutics as employed in Visvarupa’s and Vijñanesvara’s commentaries on Yajñavalkya Dharmasastra 2.21, which proclaims principles for dealing with conflicts of smrti-rules, taking as an illustration the problem of self-defence against a Brahmin attacker (quoting Manava Dharmasastra 8.348–51). I then examine Bharuci’s and Medhatithi’s arguments on Manava Dharmasastra 8.314–18 (the example of the ‘wise thief’ who see…
Status in Ancient and Medieval Law
Journal Article Status in Ancient and Medieval Law: Introduction Get access Timothy Lubin Timothy Lubin Jessie Ball duPont Professor of Religion and Adjunct Professor of Law, Washington and Lee University, Lexington, Virginia 24450, USA Email: [email protected] https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8352-5870 Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar American Journal of Legal History, Volume 63, Issue 2, June 2023, Pages 61–65, h…
Religious Endowments in Ancient India and the Institutionalization of Brahmin Caste Status
Giving to worthy recipients has been meritorious public piety in India at least since the Mauryan empire. Most consequential were grants in perpetuity of land or capital as a ‘religious foundation’ for monks or Brahmins, conferred by means of a charter (śāsana). Grants to Brahmins typically created or supported an agrahāra, a residential enclave with attached farmland and villages, on terms analogous to those of grants to Buddhist or Jaina mendic…
Retrofitting a Vedic Origin for a Classical Hindu Goddess
Many Hindu deities as known from classical sources (i.e, from the epics, Purāṇas, and later religious literature and iconography) have a very slender profile in the Vedic texts, appearing in only a few passages and often represented in ways that seem peripheral to their full, classical personae. Ritualists and devotees steeped in that older literature took pains to connect those deities to Vedic mantras and rites, in order to validate them with t…
Custom in the Vedic Ritual Codes as an Emergent Legal Principle
The degree to which the early dharma literature was an extrapolation from the earlier ritual codes can be seen from a number of shared features of form and content. One of these that has not received more than passing notice is the fact that the Dharmaśāstric principle of regarding customary norms as a valid basis of dharma, both in general (sadācāra, śiṣṭācāra) and in limited spheres (deśācāra, grāmadharma, kuladharma, etc.), has its origins in …
Writing and the Recognition of Customary Law in Premodern India and Java
Explaining what made ancient Greek law unusual, Michael Gagarin observes that most premodern legal cultures "wrote extensive sets (or codes) of laws for academic purposes or propaganda but these were not intended to be accessible to most members of the community and had relatively little effect on the actual operation of the legal system." This article addresses the implications of writing for customary or regional law in South and Southeast Asia…
The Vedic Student
This chapter examines the form and purpose of the Vedic studentship, and the special importance that came to be attached to it as Brahmins sought to reposition their tradition as a basis for establishing religious and legal norms for society. Studentship took the form of a regimen ( vrata ) of mildly ascetical observances (strict chastity and restrictions on speech, diet, and dress, along with other ritual duties), collectively known as brahmacar…
The Theory and Practice of Property in Premodern South Asia
This article reviews the main scholastic norms relevant to property and land rights in ancient and medieval India, and then surveys a range of inscriptions that illustrate the contours of land law in practice. The evidence suggests that India developed a sophisticated concept of landed property from earliest history, with conceptual tools and legal instruments to define the rights of owners vis-à-vis rulers, rival claimants, and holders of subord…
Rites et pratiques de l’hospitalité
G reater M agadha and the New B rahmanism
Aśoka’s Disparagement of Domestic Ritual and Its Validation by the Brahmins
The Elusive Snātaka
International audience
Religion and Identity in South Asia and Beyond
Beyond Sacred Violence
The Virtuosic Exegesis of the Brahmavadin and the Rabbi
Despite the vast spatial and theological gulfs separating the Rabbinic and Brahmanic communities, their respective intellectual projects have a number of analogous features. My discussion will (1) outline for each tradition a set of interpretive strategies, showing how these two sets are strikingly similar in approach and logic. Then I will (2) propose that these resemblances are not entirely coincidental. They largely stem from a similar view of…
Veda on Parade
An analysis is presented of a month-long Vedic ritual performance undertaken in 1992 by holy man Ranganath Selukar Maharaj in rural Maharashtra, examining its ritual structure, the rhetoric of religious reform and national welfare (including the influence of Arya Samaj doctrine, Hindu nationalism, and Marathi Vaishnava bhaktti on him), and the appeal made by both the ritual's organizers and its opponents to the authority of science and “modern ra…
Veda on parade
Journal Article Veda on Parade: Revivalist Ritual as Civic Spectacle Get access Timothy Lubin Timothy Lubin Timothy Lubin is Assistant Professor of Religion at Washington and Lee University, Lexington VA 24450 Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Journal of the American Academy of Religion, Volume 69, Issue 2, June 2001, Pages 377–408, https://doi.org/10.1093/jaarel/69.2.377 Published: 01 June 2001
Science, patriotism, and Mother Veda
Vratá Divine and Human in the Early Veda
The relationship between Rigvedic and post-Rigvedic usages of the word vratd has not been adequately explained, despite several studies of the concept. This paper distinguishes three aspects of the word's meaning in the Rg Veda and in the mantra-period texts: (1) rule' in the general sense of a fixed articulation of will or authority; (2) as the attribute of a god, it denotes the distinctive natural and social laws that the god ordains and mainta…
The Theory and Practice of Property in Premodern South Asia
This article reviews the main scholastic norms relevant to property and land rights in ancient and medieval India, and then surveys a range of inscriptions that illustrate the contours of land law in practice. The evidence suggests that India developed a sophisticated concept of landed property from earliest history, with conceptual tools and legal instruments to define the rights of owners vis-à-vis rulers, rival claimants, and holders of subord…
Aśoka’s Disparagement of Domestic Ritual and Its Validation by the Brahmins
Science, patriotism, and Mother Veda
Status in Ancient and Medieval Law
Journal Article Status in Ancient and Medieval Law: Introduction Get access Timothy Lubin Timothy Lubin Jessie Ball duPont Professor of Religion and Adjunct Professor of Law, Washington and Lee University, Lexington, Virginia 24450, USA Email: [email protected] https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8352-5870 Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar American Journal of Legal History, Volume 63, Issue 2, June 2023, Pages 61–65, h…
Religious Endowments in Ancient India and the Institutionalization of Brahmin Caste Status
Giving to worthy recipients has been meritorious public piety in India at least since the Mauryan empire. Most consequential were grants in perpetuity of land or capital as a ‘religious foundation’ for monks or Brahmins, conferred by means of a charter (śāsana). Grants to Brahmins typically created or supported an agrahāra, a residential enclave with attached farmland and villages, on terms analogous to those of grants to Buddhist or Jaina mendic…
Retrofitting a Vedic Origin for a Classical Hindu Goddess
Many Hindu deities as known from classical sources (i.e, from the epics, Purāṇas, and later religious literature and iconography) have a very slender profile in the Vedic texts, appearing in only a few passages and often represented in ways that seem peripheral to their full, classical personae. Ritualists and devotees steeped in that older literature took pains to connect those deities to Vedic mantras and rites, in order to validate them with t…
The Virtuosic Exegesis of the Brahmavadin and the Rabbi
Despite the vast spatial and theological gulfs separating the Rabbinic and Brahmanic communities, their respective intellectual projects have a number of analogous features. My discussion will (1) outline for each tradition a set of interpretive strategies, showing how these two sets are strikingly similar in approach and logic. Then I will (2) propose that these resemblances are not entirely coincidental. They largely stem from a similar view of…
Vratá Divine and Human in the Early Veda
The relationship between Rigvedic and post-Rigvedic usages of the word vratd has not been adequately explained, despite several studies of the concept. This paper distinguishes three aspects of the word's meaning in the Rg Veda and in the mantra-period texts: (1) rule' in the general sense of a fixed articulation of will or authority; (2) as the attribute of a god, it denotes the distinctive natural and social laws that the god ordains and mainta…
Veda on Parade
An analysis is presented of a month-long Vedic ritual performance undertaken in 1992 by holy man Ranganath Selukar Maharaj in rural Maharashtra, examining its ritual structure, the rhetoric of religious reform and national welfare (including the influence of Arya Samaj doctrine, Hindu nationalism, and Marathi Vaishnava bhaktti on him), and the appeal made by both the ritual's organizers and its opponents to the authority of science and “modern ra…
Veda on parade
Journal Article Veda on Parade: Revivalist Ritual as Civic Spectacle Get access Timothy Lubin Timothy Lubin Timothy Lubin is Assistant Professor of Religion at Washington and Lee University, Lexington VA 24450 Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Journal of the American Academy of Religion, Volume 69, Issue 2, June 2001, Pages 377–408, https://doi.org/10.1093/jaarel/69.2.377 Published: 01 June 2001
Science, patriotism, and Mother Veda
Vratá Divine and Human in the Early Veda
The relationship between Rigvedic and post-Rigvedic usages of the word vratd has not been adequately explained, despite several studies of the concept. This paper distinguishes three aspects of the word's meaning in the Rg Veda and in the mantra-period texts: (1) rule' in the general sense of a fixed articulation of will or authority; (2) as the attribute of a god, it denotes the distinctive natural and social laws that the god ordains and mainta…
The Virtuosic Exegesis of the Brahmavadin and the Rabbi
Despite the vast spatial and theological gulfs separating the Rabbinic and Brahmanic communities, their respective intellectual projects have a number of analogous features. My discussion will (1) outline for each tradition a set of interpretive strategies, showing how these two sets are strikingly similar in approach and logic. Then I will (2) propose that these resemblances are not entirely coincidental. They largely stem from a similar view of…
Beyond Sacred Violence
The Elusive Snātaka
International audience
Religion and Identity in South Asia and Beyond
Aśoka’s Disparagement of Domestic Ritual and Its Validation by the Brahmins
G reater M agadha and the New B rahmanism
Rites et pratiques de l’hospitalité
The Vedic Student
This chapter examines the form and purpose of the Vedic studentship, and the special importance that came to be attached to it as Brahmins sought to reposition their tradition as a basis for establishing religious and legal norms for society. Studentship took the form of a regimen ( vrata ) of mildly ascetical observances (strict chastity and restrictions on speech, diet, and dress, along with other ritual duties), collectively known as brahmacar…
The Theory and Practice of Property in Premodern South Asia
This article reviews the main scholastic norms relevant to property and land rights in ancient and medieval India, and then surveys a range of inscriptions that illustrate the contours of land law in practice. The evidence suggests that India developed a sophisticated concept of landed property from earliest history, with conceptual tools and legal instruments to define the rights of owners vis-à-vis rulers, rival claimants, and holders of subord…
Retrofitting a Vedic Origin for a Classical Hindu Goddess
Many Hindu deities as known from classical sources (i.e, from the epics, Purāṇas, and later religious literature and iconography) have a very slender profile in the Vedic texts, appearing in only a few passages and often represented in ways that seem peripheral to their full, classical personae. Ritualists and devotees steeped in that older literature took pains to connect those deities to Vedic mantras and rites, in order to validate them with t…
Custom in the Vedic Ritual Codes as an Emergent Legal Principle
The degree to which the early dharma literature was an extrapolation from the earlier ritual codes can be seen from a number of shared features of form and content. One of these that has not received more than passing notice is the fact that the Dharmaśāstric principle of regarding customary norms as a valid basis of dharma, both in general (sadācāra, śiṣṭācāra) and in limited spheres (deśācāra, grāmadharma, kuladharma, etc.), has its origins in …
Writing and the Recognition of Customary Law in Premodern India and Java
Explaining what made ancient Greek law unusual, Michael Gagarin observes that most premodern legal cultures "wrote extensive sets (or codes) of laws for academic purposes or propaganda but these were not intended to be accessible to most members of the community and had relatively little effect on the actual operation of the legal system." This article addresses the implications of writing for customary or regional law in South and Southeast Asia…
Status between Law and Religion
The juridical status of persons nowadays tends to be discussed only in narrow contexts: civic status (citizen, alien, and various visa statuses), marital status, penal status, employment status, religious or ethnic status within colonial and postcolonial states, status of the fetus, corporate personal status, and so on. In the century and a half since Henry Maine’s 1861 treatise, Ancient Law , in which he discerned a general movement from status …
Brahmin Felon and the Wise Thief
I begin by analysing Mimamsa hermeneutics as employed in Visvarupa’s and Vijñanesvara’s commentaries on Yajñavalkya Dharmasastra 2.21, which proclaims principles for dealing with conflicts of smrti-rules, taking as an illustration the problem of self-defence against a Brahmin attacker (quoting Manava Dharmasastra 8.348–51). I then examine Bharuci’s and Medhatithi’s arguments on Manava Dharmasastra 8.314–18 (the example of the ‘wise thief’ who see…
Status in Ancient and Medieval Law
Journal Article Status in Ancient and Medieval Law: Introduction Get access Timothy Lubin Timothy Lubin Jessie Ball duPont Professor of Religion and Adjunct Professor of Law, Washington and Lee University, Lexington, Virginia 24450, USA Email: [email protected] https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8352-5870 Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar American Journal of Legal History, Volume 63, Issue 2, June 2023, Pages 61–65, h…
Religious Endowments in Ancient India and the Institutionalization of Brahmin Caste Status
Giving to worthy recipients has been meritorious public piety in India at least since the Mauryan empire. Most consequential were grants in perpetuity of land or capital as a ‘religious foundation’ for monks or Brahmins, conferred by means of a charter (śāsana). Grants to Brahmins typically created or supported an agrahāra, a residential enclave with attached farmland and villages, on terms analogous to those of grants to Buddhist or Jaina mendic…
Philosophy (15 works) · Law (12 works) · Political science (11 works) · Sociology (11 works) · History (10 works) · Indian and Buddhist Studies (10 works) · Religious studies (8 works) · Art (7 works) · Philosophy (7 works) · Ancient history (6 works)