Discovering The Vedas : Origins, Mantras, Rituals, Insights

Book Summary

This is a remarkable book. It untangles the many complexities of the Vedas and combines Staal's scholarly respect for the texts, with explanations that are lucid and occasionally witty. His insights are thoughtful and perceptive. -Romila Thapar In this unprecedented guide to the Vedas, Frits Staal, the celebrated author of Agni: The Vedic Ritual of the Fire Altar and Universals: Studies in Indian Logic and Linguistics examines almost every aspect of these ancient sources of Indic civilisation. Staal extracts concrete information from the Oral Tradition and Archaeology about Vedic people and their language, what they thought and did, and where they went and when. He provides essential information about the Vedas and includes selections and translations. Staal sheds light on mantras and rituals, that contributed to what came to be known as Hinduism. Significant is a modern analysis of what we can learn from the Vedas today: the original forms of the Vedic sciences, as well as the perceptive wisdom of the composers of the Vedas. The author puts Vedic civilisation in a global perspective through a wide-ranging comparison with other Indic philosophies and religions, primarily Buddhism For Staal, originally a logician, the voyage of discovering the Vedas is like unpeeling an onion but without the certainty of reaching an end. Even so, his book shows that the Vedas have a logic all their own. Accessible, finely-argued, and with a wealth of information and insight, Discovering the Vedas is for both the scholar and the interested lay reader About The Author Frits Staal has written about language, philosophy and ritual but his scientific pursuits encompass diverse areas and disciplines. Born in Amsterdam in 1930, he studied several languages, including Greek and Arabic, but concentrated on physics and mathematical logic before a Government of India scholarship took him to India, Indian philosophy and Sanskrit. He traveled on both sides of the Himalayas, taught and did research for extended periods in Europe and Asia, but spent most of his life in the Departments of Philosophy and of South and Southeast Asian Studies at the University of California, Berkeley, where he is now Professor Emeritus. His most well-known books are The Vedic Ritual of the Fire Altar, Universals: Studies in Indian Logic and Linguistics and Rules without Meaning. After retirement he moved to Thailand, having long predicted that civilization would return to Asia under the intellectual guidance of India and China

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