Knut A Jacobsen
Biographic Data
| ID | 1265807 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Knut A Jacobsen |
| GIVEN NAMES | Knut A |
| FAMILY NAME | Jacobsen |
| SIGNATURE | JACOBSEN K A |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Bergen |
| ORCID | 0000-0001-8725-4756 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 33 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 18 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 28 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 5 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1993 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 2 |
Mangfoldet av sāmkhya-filosofier og sāmkhya filosofi som praksis
Sāṃkhya regnes som Indias eldste filosofiske system, og det er også blitt hevdet at sāṃkhya ikke bare er et av Indias filosofiske systemer, men er Indias filosofi. At sāṃkhya kan kalles Indias filosofi er fordi sāṃkhya danner fundament for mange filosofiske og teologiske tradisjoner og også preger mange andre indiske kunnskapstradisjoner. Mangfold av tradisjoner og tolkninger preger sāṃkhya-filosofi i fortid og nåtid. I artikkelen argumenterer je…
Jurisprudence and geography of Hindu majoritarianism
In this introduction, we first outline the background to this collection of papers and recall some of the conversations that were its genesis, before introducing the questions we wish to address through it. We then situate the collection within scholarship on Hindu majoritarianism and suggest that a nuanced understanding needs to take into account both its institutional and everyday dimensions. To do so, we focus on both jurisprudence and geograp…
Hindu Diasporas
This book presents histories and religious traditions of Hindus with a South Asian ancestral background living outside of South Asia. Hinduism is today a global religion with significant presence in many countries in the world on all continents. The most important cause of this global expansion is migration and the term ‘Hindu diasporas’ is today used to refer to this part of the worldwide presence of Hinduism. The book presents and analyses the …
Oxford History of Hinduism
The ritual of parikramā, Hinduization of space and the case of Ayodhyā
The article looks at the uses of the concept of parikramā (circumambulation of a sacred spot) in the 2019 Supreme Court of India judgement on the Ayodhyā dispute and its aftermath. It unpacks the Hindu majoritarian refashioning of a well-established ritual of place by analyzing the judgement and the subsequent mobilization of parikramās by the Uttar Pradesh Government in tourist and pilgrimage initiatives in Ayodhyā. The article argues that parik…
Pilgrimage Space, Hinduization of Space, Hindutva Politics of Space, and the Case of Ayodhyā as a Religious and Religiopolitical Hotspot
In this article I analyze aspects of religious geography in the mobilization by Hindu nationalists in India in the 1980s and 1990s and how Hindu nationalism and Hindu religious geography were merged in the case of the Ayodhyā conflict. Ayodhyā was consciously changed from a pilgrimage center ( tīrtha ) of diminishing religious importance into a religiopolitical hotspot by political forces. The potential for a Hindu–Muslim conflict and for mobiliz…
Handbook of Hinduism in Europe (2 vols)
Handbook of Hinduism in Europe portrays and analyses how Hindu traditions have expanded across the continent, and presents the main Hindu communities, religious groups, forms, practices and teachings. The Handbook does this in two parts, Part One covers historical and thematic topics which are of importance for understanding Hinduism in Europe as a whole and Part Two has chapters on Hindu traditions in every country in Europe. Hindu traditions ha…
Classical Yoga Philosophy and the Legacy of Samkhya
Classical Yoga Philosophy and the Legacy of Samkhya: With Sanskrit Text and English Translation of Patanjala Yogasutra-s, Vyasa Bhasya and Tattvavaisaradi of Vacaspatimisra, by Gerald James Larson. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 2018. 1040 pp., £100.00 (hb). ISBN 9-788-12084-201-4
Second generation’ Sikh autobiographies and authobiographical novels in European languages
The article analyzes autobiographies and autobiographical novels by Sikh authors who were born and grew up in Europe and North America as sources for understanding developments of Sikh religion. It uses the concepts panjabiat (Punjabi-ness), Sikh religion and modernity/Western society to understand the tensions and conflicts described in these books. The authors had to work out the differences between panjabiat, Sikh religion and modernity/Wester…
Revivals of ancient religious traditions in modern India
The article compares the early stages of the revivals of Sāṃkhyayoga and Buddhism in modern India. A similarity of Sāṃkhyayoga and Buddhism was that both had disappeared from India and were revived in the modern period, partly based on Orientalist discoveries and writings and on the availability of printed books and publishers. Printed books provided knowledge of ancient traditions and made re-establishment possible and printed books provided a v…
Sikhism
Sikh Diaspora
This rich and fascinating collection of essays on Sikh diasporic experiences, edited by Michael Hawley, Associate Professor in Religious Studies at Mount Royal University in Canada, is a welcome co
A Storm of Songs
This fascinating book about histories of religious poetry and songs in the Indian vernaculars deals with a number of issues related to research on bhakti (devotion). However, its primary topic is how the idea that Hindu bhakti constituted a single and unitary history developed and attained status as a paradigm among historians of Indian literature and languages as well as in religious studies. A precursor to the bhakti movement paradigm was the i…
Gurus of Modern Yoga, written by Mark Singleton and Ellen Goldberg
Routledge Handbook of Contemporary India
Foundation -- India and the world -- Society, class, caste and gender -- Religion and diversity -- Cultural change and innovations
From the History of Religions to the Science of Religion in Norway
The focus in this article is on the developments in the study of religion in Norway during the last fifty years, reflecting over continuities and breaks with the past, over changes in themes, theories and methods as well as over relations to the surrounding world
Yoga Powers
List of Figures A Note on Transliteration Abbreviations Introduction: Yoga Powers and Religious Traditions - Knut A. Jacobsen chapter 1: Angelika Malinar, Yoga powers in the Mahabharata chapter 2: David Gordon White, How Big Can Yogis Get? How Much Can Yogis See? chapter 3: Brad Clough, The Cultivation of Yogic Powers in the P a li Path Manuals of Therava da Buddhism chapter 4: David V. Fiordalis, The Wondrous Display of Superhuman Power in the V…
Yoga Powers
Yoga powers
Establishing Tamil Ritual Space
The purpose of this essay is to make a contribution to the study of religious pluralism in the south Asian diasporas. The essay compares the establishment of ritual traditions of the Tamil Hindus and the Tamil Roman Catholics in Norway. There are several parallel developments, and the essay identifies some of these similarities. It is argued that features sometimes assumed to be unique of the Hindu diaspora may not always be so, but may be common…
Three Functions of Hell in the Hindu Traditions
In this article are analysed three functions of hell in the Hindu traditions, a narrative, a social and an economic. Because of the strong images the narratives of hell contain, they are excellent means to catch the attention of the audience. The social function of hell is to protect the social order, the security of the people and especially to protect the privileges of those on top of the hierarchy. Since gifts to the priests are matched with s…
South Asian Religions on Display
Introduction: Religion on Display Knut A. Jacobsen Part 1: Processions in South Asia 1. The Re-Invention of Tamil Funeral Processions Isabelle Clark-Deces 2. Getting in Line: The Kumbha Mela Festival Processions James Lochtefeld 3. Mapping the Management of Threatening Gods and Social Conflict: A Territorial Approach to Processions in a South Indian Village (Tamil Nadu) Pierre-Yves Trouillet 4. Space, Sound, Auspiciousness, and Performance in Nor…
The Meaning of Prakṛti in the Yogasūtra and Vyāsabhāṣya
It is a common mistake, especially, perhaps, among students of the religions and philosophies of India, to assume that the word prakṛti, best known as the ultimate material principle in the Sāṃkhya and Yoga systems of religious thought, the material cause of the world in Hindu theologies and, as such, an epithet of the goddesses in Hinduism, always refers to an ultimate principle. Even in Sāṃkhya and Yoga texts the word prakṛti is used in various…
What similes in Sāṃkhya do
The Child Manifestation of Śiva in Contemporary Hindu Popular Prints
God posters have become one of the most visible aspects of popular religious culture in South Asia. In this article I argue that the God poster industry has created opportunities for iconographic innovations, but that the God posters nevertheless build on traditional sacred narratives and conceptions of the Hindu gods found especially in the Hindu epics and the Purānas.. Even if the iconographic representation of the child manifestations of Śiva …
Jurisprudence and geography of Hindu majoritarianism
In this introduction, we first outline the background to this collection of papers and recall some of the conversations that were its genesis, before introducing the questions we wish to address through it. We then situate the collection within scholarship on Hindu majoritarianism and suggest that a nuanced understanding needs to take into account both its institutional and everyday dimensions. To do so, we focus on both jurisprudence and geograp…
Routledge Handbook of Contemporary India
Foundation -- India and the world -- Society, class, caste and gender -- Religion and diversity -- Cultural change and innovations
From the History of Religions to the Science of Religion in Norway
The focus in this article is on the developments in the study of religion in Norway during the last fifty years, reflecting over continuities and breaks with the past, over changes in themes, theories and methods as well as over relations to the surrounding world
The ritual of parikramā, Hinduization of space and the case of Ayodhyā
The article looks at the uses of the concept of parikramā (circumambulation of a sacred spot) in the 2019 Supreme Court of India judgement on the Ayodhyā dispute and its aftermath. It unpacks the Hindu majoritarian refashioning of a well-established ritual of place by analyzing the judgement and the subsequent mobilization of parikramās by the Uttar Pradesh Government in tourist and pilgrimage initiatives in Ayodhyā. The article argues that parik…
Pilgrimage Space, Hinduization of Space, Hindutva Politics of Space, and the Case of Ayodhyā as a Religious and Religiopolitical Hotspot
In this article I analyze aspects of religious geography in the mobilization by Hindu nationalists in India in the 1980s and 1990s and how Hindu nationalism and Hindu religious geography were merged in the case of the Ayodhyā conflict. Ayodhyā was consciously changed from a pilgrimage center ( tīrtha ) of diminishing religious importance into a religiopolitical hotspot by political forces. The potential for a Hindu–Muslim conflict and for mobiliz…
Second generation’ Sikh autobiographies and authobiographical novels in European languages
The article analyzes autobiographies and autobiographical novels by Sikh authors who were born and grew up in Europe and North America as sources for understanding developments of Sikh religion. It uses the concepts panjabiat (Punjabi-ness), Sikh religion and modernity/Western society to understand the tensions and conflicts described in these books. The authors had to work out the differences between panjabiat, Sikh religion and modernity/Wester…
Three Functions of Hell in the Hindu Traditions
In this article are analysed three functions of hell in the Hindu traditions, a narrative, a social and an economic. Because of the strong images the narratives of hell contain, they are excellent means to catch the attention of the audience. The social function of hell is to protect the social order, the security of the people and especially to protect the privileges of those on top of the hierarchy. Since gifts to the priests are matched with s…
What similes in Sāṃkhya do
The Anthropocentric Bias in Eliade's Interpretation of the Samkhya and the Samkhya-Yoga Systems of Religious Thought
In spite of the idea of selves transmigrating between embodiments in plants, animals, humans and divinities, constituting a cosmic ecology, being fundamental in Hindu religions, Mircea Eliade in his famous books on Yoga denied this dogma in his presentation of the Samkhya and Yoga systems of religious thought. This denial makes Samkhya and Yoga appear uncompromisingly anthropocentric and their understanding of the religious position of the human …
The Institutionalization of the Ethics of “Non-Injury” toward All “Beings” in Ancient India
Ordinary nature
This paper analyses the uses of the word ‘nature’ (in Pāli pakati, Sanskrit prakrti) in the Pāli scripture. In the Pāli scripture pakati is never used as a concept of nature considered as a unity or an entity, or as a material cause, as in the Sāmkhya and Yoga, but it describes acts which are considered natural, regular and usual. The article tries to answer three questions. 1. What is the meaning of the term pakati in the Pāli scripture? 2. What…
Buddha Nature
The Institutionalization of the Ethics of “Non-Injury” toward All “Beings” in Ancient India
The Anthropocentric Bias in Eliade's Interpretation of the Samkhya and the Samkhya-Yoga Systems of Religious Thought
In spite of the idea of selves transmigrating between embodiments in plants, animals, humans and divinities, constituting a cosmic ecology, being fundamental in Hindu religions, Mircea Eliade in his famous books on Yoga denied this dogma in his presentation of the Samkhya and Yoga systems of religious thought. This denial makes Samkhya and Yoga appear uncompromisingly anthropocentric and their understanding of the religious position of the human …
The Female Pole of the Godhead in Tantrism and the Prakrti of Sāmkhya
The dualism of the consciousness principle (puruṣa) and the material principle (Prakrti) in the Sāmkhya and Pātañjala-Sāmkhya (Yoga) traditions of religious thought has often been thought of as a dualism of a male and a female principle. Contrary to what is often assumed however the material principle of Sāmkhya and Pātañjala-Sāmkhya does not possess a female identity. This paper argues that the identification of the Sāmkhya and Pātañjala-Sāmkhya…
The Anthropocentric Bias in Eliade's Interpretation of the Sāmkhya and the Sāmkhya-Yoga Systemns of Religious Thought
In spite of the idea of selves transmigrating between embodiments in plants, animals, humans and divinities, constituting a cosmic ecology, being fundamental in Hindu religions, Mircea Eliade in his famous books on Yoga denied this dogma in his presentation of the Samkhya and Yoga systems of religious thought. This denial makes Samkhya and Yoga appear uncompromisingly anthropocentric and their understanding of the religious position of the human …
The sacred geography of Kapila
To most scholars of Hinduism, the sage Kapila is a person associated only with ancient India and known mainly as the mythical founder of the Sāmkhya system of religious thought. This is the Kapila whose teaching is known through Yuktidīpikā, the Sāmkhyakārikā by Isvarakrsna and other Sāmkhya texts and the tradition of technical commentaries on them. In India this Kapila belongs to a scholarly tradition preserved mainly by pandits with a knowledge…
Hinduism and Ecology
The Child Manifestation of Śiva in Contemporary Hindu Popular Prints
God posters have become one of the most visible aspects of popular religious culture in South Asia. In this article I argue that the God poster industry has created opportunities for iconographic innovations, but that the God posters nevertheless build on traditional sacred narratives and conceptions of the Hindu gods found especially in the Hindu epics and the Purānas.. Even if the iconographic representation of the child manifestations of Śiva …
The Meaning of Prakṛti in the Yogasūtra and Vyāsabhāṣya
It is a common mistake, especially, perhaps, among students of the religions and philosophies of India, to assume that the word prakṛti, best known as the ultimate material principle in the Sāṃkhya and Yoga systems of religious thought, the material cause of the world in Hindu theologies and, as such, an epithet of the goddesses in Hinduism, always refers to an ultimate principle. Even in Sāṃkhya and Yoga texts the word prakṛti is used in various…
What similes in Sāṃkhya do
South Asian Religions on Display
Introduction: Religion on Display Knut A. Jacobsen Part 1: Processions in South Asia 1. The Re-Invention of Tamil Funeral Processions Isabelle Clark-Deces 2. Getting in Line: The Kumbha Mela Festival Processions James Lochtefeld 3. Mapping the Management of Threatening Gods and Social Conflict: A Territorial Approach to Processions in a South Indian Village (Tamil Nadu) Pierre-Yves Trouillet 4. Space, Sound, Auspiciousness, and Performance in Nor…
Establishing Tamil Ritual Space
The purpose of this essay is to make a contribution to the study of religious pluralism in the south Asian diasporas. The essay compares the establishment of ritual traditions of the Tamil Hindus and the Tamil Roman Catholics in Norway. There are several parallel developments, and the essay identifies some of these similarities. It is argued that features sometimes assumed to be unique of the Hindu diaspora may not always be so, but may be common…
Three Functions of Hell in the Hindu Traditions
In this article are analysed three functions of hell in the Hindu traditions, a narrative, a social and an economic. Because of the strong images the narratives of hell contain, they are excellent means to catch the attention of the audience. The social function of hell is to protect the social order, the security of the people and especially to protect the privileges of those on top of the hierarchy. Since gifts to the priests are matched with s…
Yoga Powers
Yoga powers
Yoga Powers
List of Figures A Note on Transliteration Abbreviations Introduction: Yoga Powers and Religious Traditions - Knut A. Jacobsen chapter 1: Angelika Malinar, Yoga powers in the Mahabharata chapter 2: David Gordon White, How Big Can Yogis Get? How Much Can Yogis See? chapter 3: Brad Clough, The Cultivation of Yogic Powers in the P a li Path Manuals of Therava da Buddhism chapter 4: David V. Fiordalis, The Wondrous Display of Superhuman Power in the V…
From the History of Religions to the Science of Religion in Norway
The focus in this article is on the developments in the study of religion in Norway during the last fifty years, reflecting over continuities and breaks with the past, over changes in themes, theories and methods as well as over relations to the surrounding world
Gurus of Modern Yoga, written by Mark Singleton and Ellen Goldberg
Routledge Handbook of Contemporary India
Foundation -- India and the world -- Society, class, caste and gender -- Religion and diversity -- Cultural change and innovations
Sikhism
Sikh Diaspora
This rich and fascinating collection of essays on Sikh diasporic experiences, edited by Michael Hawley, Associate Professor in Religious Studies at Mount Royal University in Canada, is a welcome co
A Storm of Songs
This fascinating book about histories of religious poetry and songs in the Indian vernaculars deals with a number of issues related to research on bhakti (devotion). However, its primary topic is how the idea that Hindu bhakti constituted a single and unitary history developed and attained status as a paradigm among historians of Indian literature and languages as well as in religious studies. A precursor to the bhakti movement paradigm was the i…
Second generation’ Sikh autobiographies and authobiographical novels in European languages
The article analyzes autobiographies and autobiographical novels by Sikh authors who were born and grew up in Europe and North America as sources for understanding developments of Sikh religion. It uses the concepts panjabiat (Punjabi-ness), Sikh religion and modernity/Western society to understand the tensions and conflicts described in these books. The authors had to work out the differences between panjabiat, Sikh religion and modernity/Wester…
Revivals of ancient religious traditions in modern India
The article compares the early stages of the revivals of Sāṃkhyayoga and Buddhism in modern India. A similarity of Sāṃkhyayoga and Buddhism was that both had disappeared from India and were revived in the modern period, partly based on Orientalist discoveries and writings and on the availability of printed books and publishers. Printed books provided knowledge of ancient traditions and made re-establishment possible and printed books provided a v…
Philosophy (27 works) · Religious studies (20 works) · Sociology (20 works) · History (17 works) · Hinduism (14 works) · Indian and Buddhist Studies (14 works) · Art (12 works) · Political science (12 works) · Epistemology (11 works) · Law (11 works)