Violence Denied: Violence, Non-Violence and the Rationalization of Violence in South Asian Cultural History

In the course of millennia of dealing with problems of violence, South Asia has not only elaborated the ideal of total avoidance of violence in a unique manner, it also developed arguments justifying and rationalizing its employment under certain circumstances. Some of these arguments seemingly transform all sorts of ‘violence’ into ‘non-violence’.
Historical and cultural aspects of the tensions between violence and its denial and rationalization in South Asia are taken up in the contributions of this volume which deal with topics ranging from the origins of the concept of ahiṃsā, to the iconography and interpretation of a self-beheading goddess, and violent heroines in Ajñeya’s Hindi short stories.

Jan E.M. Houben, at present working at the Kern Institute, Leiden University, obtained his Ph.D. in 1992 for a thesis on Bhartrhari's philosophy of language, and published on South Asia's philosophical and linguistic tradition as well as on Vedic ritual.
Karel R. van Kooij, Professor of South Asian Art and Material Culture, Kern Institute, Leiden University, obtained his Ph.D. in 1972 for a thesis on the Kālikāpurāṇa, and published on Buddhist and Hindu Iconography with regard to Nepal, India and Sri Lanka.