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Edwin Bryant (Indologist)

May 04, 2023

Edwin Francis Bryant is an American Indologist. Currently, he is professor of religions of India at Rutgers University. He published seven books and authored a number of articles on Vedic history, yoga, and the Krishna tradition. In his research engagements, he lived several years in India where he studied Sanskrit and was trained with several Indian pundits.[1]

Edwin Francis Bryant
Born (1957-08-31) August 31, 1957 (age 65)
NationalityBritish
OccupationProfessor of religions of India
Academic background
Alma materColumbia University
Academic work
DisciplineReligious Studies
InstitutionsRutgers University
Main interestsYoga, Hindu philosophy

Academic career

Edwin Bryant received his Ph.D in Indic languages and Cultures from Columbia University in 1997 with a dissertation on the "Indigenous Aryans Debate". He taught Hinduism at Harvard University for three years, and is presently professor of Religions of India at Rutgers University where he teaches courses on Hindu philosophy and religion.[2] He has received numerous fellowships.[2]

In addition to his academic courses, Bryant currently teaches workshops at yoga studios and teacher training courses throughout the country.[3] His lectures and workshop engagements include: The Bhagavad Gita, The Yoga Sutras, Indian Philosophy and Bhakti, and the Krishna Tradition. Indian Philosophy workshop includes "the foundational philosophical texts of yoga and examine the underpinnings and essential principles of the classical schools of Hindu philosophy... beginning with their foundations in the Upanishads, the earliest mystico-philosophical tradition of India, and evolving into the Yoga Sutras, Vedanta Sutras, Bhagavad Gita, and other post-Vedic texts."[4]

Works

Bryant has published seven books and authored a number of articles on Vedic history, yoga, and Krishna-bhakti tradition. He is an expert on Krishna tradition[5] and has translated the story of Krishna from the Sanskrit Bhagavata Purana.[6]

  • Edwin F. Bryant, The Quest for the Origins of Vedic Culture: The Indo-Aryan Migration Debate. — Oxford; New York: Oxford University Press, 2001. — xi, 387 p. — ISBN 0-19-513777-9, ISBN 0-19-516947-6 (pbk.)
  • Edwin F. Bryant, Krishna: The Beautiful Legend of God; Śrīmad Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Book X; with chapters 1, 6 and 29-31 from Book XI, Translated with an introduction and notes by Edwin F. Bryant. — London: Penguin Books, 2003. — xxxi, 515 p. — ISBN 0-14-044799-7
  • Edwin F. Bryant and Maria L. Ekstrand, The Hare Krishna Movement: The Postcharismatic Fate of a Religious Transplant. New York; Chichester: Columbia University Press, 2004. — xix, 448 p. — ISBN 0-231-12256-X
  • Edwin F. Bryant and Laurie L. Patton, Indo-Aryan Controversy: Evidence and Inference in Indian History. London: Routledge, 2005. — 522 p. — ISBN 0-7007-1462-6 (cased), ISBN 0-7007-1463-4 (pbk.)
  • Edwin F. Bryant, Krishna: a Sourcebook. Oxford; New York: Oxford University Press, 2007. — xiv, 575 p. — ISBN 0-19-514891-6 (hbk.) ISBN 0-19-514892-4 (pbk.)
  • Edwin F. Bryant, The Yoga Sūtras of Patañjali: A New Edition, Translation, and Commentary with Insights from the Traditional Commentators; illustrated. New York: North Point Press, 2009. — xvii, 598 p. — ISBN 0-86547-736-1
  • Edwin F. Bryant, Bhakti yoga: Tales and teachings from the Bhāgavata Purāṇa, New York, North Point Press. 2017. 688 p. — ISBN 0-86547-775-2

The Quest for the Origins of Vedic Culture

Bryant is the author of The Quest for the Origins of Vedic Culture (Oxford University Press, 2001).[7]

J. P. Mallory says the book:

... systematically exposes the logical weaknesses of most of the arguments that support the consensus of either side. This is not only an important work in the field of Indo-Aryan studies but a long overdue challenge for scholarly fair play.[8]

Michael Witzel writes:

A balanced description and evaluation of the two century old debate dealing with the origins of the Indo-Aryan speaking peoples of South Asia. [Bryant] presents both sides of the issue, that is the traditional western, linguistic and philological consensus of immigration from Central Asia, and the more recent Indian position that denies any immigration and that asserts an indigenous South Asian origin. He probes for loopholes on both sides....

Indo-Aryan Controversy: Evidence and Inference in Indian History

This book, edited by Edwin Bryant and Laurie Patton,[9] contains a series of articles by proponents of the "Indigenous Aryans" position and scholars of the Indo-Aryan migration theory, with some alternative interpretations. According to Edwin Bryant, most of the evidence regarding the origin of Indo-Aryans is inconclusive and he is not convinced of the Indo-Aryan migrations theory, but he is also not convinced of an "Out-of-India position", since the support for it is not significant. He notes that the discovery of Indo-Aryan language family was foundational to the investigation of the origins of the Western civilization, and the relationship between the Indo-Aryan family and the remaining Indo-European languages must be established. However, he states: "... I find most of the evidence that has been marshalled to support the theory of Indo-Aryan migrations into the subcontinent to be inconclusive upon careful scrutiny, but on the other, I have not been convinced by an Out-of-India position, since there has been very little of significance offered so far in support of it."

In a review, Sanskrit linguist Stephanie W. Jamison likened the effort of the volume to calls to "teach the controversy" by the proponents of Intelligent Design. She states that the Indo-Aryan controversy is a "manufactured one" with a non-scholarly, religio-nationalistic attack on scholarly consensus and the editors (Bryant and Patton) have unwittingly provided it a gloss of intellectual legitimacy. The editors are not linguists, she contends, and they have accepted patently weak or false linguistic arguments. So their apparently even-handed assessment lacks merit and cannot be regarded as objective scholarship.[10] Historian Sudeshna Guha concurs, saying that Bryant does not probe into the epistemology of evidence and hence perceives the opposing viewpoints unproblematic. On the contrary, she holds that the timing and renewed vigour of the indigenist arguments during the 1990s demonstrates unscholarly opportunism. Fosse and Deshpande's contributions to the volume provide a critical analysis of the historiography and the nationalist and colonial agendas behind it. She also holds Bryant's desire to present what he calls the views of "Indian scholars" for "reconstructing the religious and cultural history of their own country" as misleading because it patently ignores the views of historians of India who have done so since the beginning of the twentieth century.[11]

Translation of the Yoga Sutras and interpretation

In 2007 Bryant completed a translation of the Yoga Sutras and their traditional commentaries.[7] The translation was published in 2009 by North Point Press as The Yoga Sūtras of Patañjali (with Insights from the Traditional Commentators). In his article History Repeats Itself (Yoga Journal, Nov 2001), the author adds that "Our modern world, more than any other epoch in human history, has universalized and idolized consumerism - the indulgence of the senses of the mind - as the highest goal of life." In yoga, that creates unwanted influences, where "Our vrittis, the turbulences of the mind born from desire, are out of control."[12] Control and elimination of vrittis comprise significant portion of yoga practices and observances (yama and niyama) that culminates with nirodha, an arrested state of mind capable of one-pointedness. Otherwise, if unwanted vrittis are allowed to predominate, "We risk missing the whole point of the practice".

In the interview Inside the Yoga Tradition,[13] Bryant describes some tenets of his interpretation of the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, "I stress in my commentary that Patanjali is emphatic about the yamas and niyamas (vows and observances). We can't say that what he is teaching is applicable only to the time period in which he codified the Sutras or that they are only for Hindus living in India. Patanjali asserts that yamas and niyamas are great universal vows. He didn't have to further qualify them - universal means no exception whatsoever."

Discussing theistic overtones in Yoga Sutras of Patanjali and the practice of ishvara-pranidhana (commitment or surrender to God), David Gordon White points out in his The Yoga Sutra of Patanjali - A Biography,[14] "Edwin Bryant, who, in his recent splendid commentary on the Yoga Sutra, notes that Vijnanabhiksu considered ishvara-pranidhana to refer to the practice of devotion to Krishna, the Lord of the Bhagavat Gita. Bryant clearly aligns himself with this interpretation of the term, reading ishvara-pranidhana as submission to a personal god and asserting that most yogis over the past two millennia have been associated with devotional sects." Similar view is expressed by a commentator of Yoga Sutras of Patanjali (1999), Baba Hari Dass, "Ishvara pranidhana (surrender to God) is a method of the devotional path (Bhakti Yoga)".[15][16]

See also

References

  1. ^ Bryant, Edwin (2007). "Inside the Yoga Tradition". Inside the Yoga Tradition. edwinbryant.org. Retrieved 15 May 2016.
  2. ^ a b (PDF). Rutgers University. 22 April 2010. p. 1. Archived from the original (PDF) on 6 June 2011. Retrieved 22 April 2010.
  3. ^ Bryant, Edwin (May 2016). "Edwin Bryant, Ph.D. -- Workshop Schedule". About Edwin. rci.rutgers.edu. Retrieved 15 May 2016.
  4. ^ Bryant, Edwin (2016). "Introduction to Hindu Philosophy". Workshops. rci.rutgers.edu. Retrieved 15 May 2016.
  5. ^ "The Ahimsa Debate". Yoga Journal: 130. May 2006.
  6. ^ "Edwin Bryant". Yoga Journal: 68. November 2001.
  7. ^ a b Edwin Francis Bryant (2007). Krishna: a sourcebook. Oxford University Press US. pp. x. ISBN 978-0-19-514892-3.
  8. ^ Oxford University Press, The Quest for the Origins of Vedic Culture. The Indo-Aryan Migration Debate
  9. ^ Bryant, Edwin; Patton, Laurie (2005). The Indo-Aryan Controversy: Evidence and Inference in Indian History. Ney York: Routledge. ISBN 978-0700714636.
  10. ^ Jamison, Stephanie W. (2006). "The Indo-Aryan controversy: Evidence and inference in Indian history (Book review)" (PDF). Journal of Indo-European Studies. 34: 255–261.
  11. ^ Guha, Sudheshna (2007). "The Indo-Aryan controversy: Evidence and inference in Indian history (Book review)". Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society. Third Series. 17 (3): 340–343. doi:10.1017/S135618630700733X. JSTOR 25188742. S2CID 163092658.
  12. ^ Bryant, Edwin (Nov 2001). "History Repeats Itself". Yoga Journal. Retrieved 15 May 2016.
  13. ^ Bryant, Edwin (2007). "Inside the Yoga Tradition". Integral Yoga Magazine. Integral Yoga Magazine. Retrieved 15 May 2016.
  14. ^ White, David Gordon (2014). The Yoga Sutra of Patanjali. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press. pp. 179–80. ISBN 978--0-691-14377-4.
  15. ^ Dass, Baba Hari (1999). Yoga Sutras of Patanjali. Vol. A Study Guide for Book I - Samadhi Pada. Santa Cruz, CA: Sri Rama Publishing. p. 61. ISBN 0-918100-20-8.
  16. ^ Note: "The devotional path is considered dualistic in that there is a devotee and that to which the yogi is devoted (Ishvara). When the yogi merges completely in the object of devotion, duality is transcended and the non-dual state is achieved." (Baba Hari Dass, 1999, p. 61)

Further reading

  • Kent, Eliza (2004). "Book Review: "The Quest for the Origins of Vedic Culture: The Indo-Aryan Migration Debate"". Journal of Hindu-Christian Studies. 17. doi:10.7825/2164-6279.1326.
  • Glucklich, Ariel (2006). "The Indo-Aryan Controversy: Evidence and inference in Indian history (Book review)". International Journal of Hindu Studies. 10 (3): 333–334. JSTOR 20106980.
  • USA Today Magazine (July 1, 2005). "Hare Krishna comes of age: the movement has matured into a mainstream religion after years of tumult and scandal--but escaping the past never is easy". USA Today.
  • PTI (April 2, 2007). "US university to offer six courses on Hinduism". The Press Trust of India.
  • Rausch, Taylor (September 14, 2007). "Yoga: Where old meets new". columbiamissourian.com. Archived from the original on January 19, 2013.
  • Mohammedy, Farseem M. (January 19, 2008). "Retracing the old proto-historic migrations". The Daily Star.

External links

  • Edwin Bryant at Rutgers University
  • Edwin Bryant website
  • The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali - video lecture

May 04, 2023
edwin, bryant, indologist, edwin, francis, bryant, american, indologist, currently, professor, religions, india, rutgers, university, published, seven, books, authored, number, articles, vedic, history, yoga, krishna, tradition, research, engagements, lived, s. Edwin Francis Bryant is an American Indologist Currently he is professor of religions of India at Rutgers University He published seven books and authored a number of articles on Vedic history yoga and the Krishna tradition In his research engagements he lived several years in India where he studied Sanskrit and was trained with several Indian pundits 1 Edwin Francis BryantBorn 1957 08 31 August 31 1957 age 65 NationalityBritishOccupationProfessor of religions of IndiaAcademic backgroundAlma materColumbia UniversityAcademic workDisciplineReligious StudiesInstitutionsRutgers UniversityMain interestsYoga Hindu philosophy Contents 1 Academic career 2 Works 2 1 The Quest for the Origins of Vedic Culture 2 2 Indo Aryan Controversy Evidence and Inference in Indian History 2 3 Translation of the Yoga Sutras and interpretation 3 See also 4 References 5 Further reading 6 External linksAcademic career EditEdwin Bryant received his Ph D in Indic languages and Cultures from Columbia University in 1997 with a dissertation on the Indigenous Aryans Debate He taught Hinduism at Harvard University for three years and is presently professor of Religions of India at Rutgers University where he teaches courses on Hindu philosophy and religion 2 He has received numerous fellowships 2 In addition to his academic courses Bryant currently teaches workshops at yoga studios and teacher training courses throughout the country 3 His lectures and workshop engagements include The Bhagavad Gita The Yoga Sutras Indian Philosophy and Bhakti and the Krishna Tradition Indian Philosophy workshop includes the foundational philosophical texts of yoga and examine the underpinnings and essential principles of the classical schools of Hindu philosophy beginning with their foundations in the Upanishads the earliest mystico philosophical tradition of India and evolving into the Yoga Sutras Vedanta Sutras Bhagavad Gita and other post Vedic texts 4 Works EditBryant has published seven books and authored a number of articles on Vedic history yoga and Krishna bhakti tradition He is an expert on Krishna tradition 5 and has translated the story of Krishna from the Sanskrit Bhagavata Purana 6 Edwin F Bryant The Quest for the Origins of Vedic Culture The Indo Aryan Migration Debate Oxford New York Oxford University Press 2001 xi 387 p ISBN 0 19 513777 9 ISBN 0 19 516947 6 pbk Edwin F Bryant Krishna The Beautiful Legend of God Srimad Bhagavata Puraṇa Book X with chapters 1 6 and 29 31 from Book XI Translated with an introduction and notes by Edwin F Bryant London Penguin Books 2003 xxxi 515 p ISBN 0 14 044799 7 Edwin F Bryant and Maria L Ekstrand The Hare Krishna Movement The Postcharismatic Fate of a Religious Transplant New York Chichester Columbia University Press 2004 xix 448 p ISBN 0 231 12256 X Edwin F Bryant and Laurie L Patton Indo Aryan Controversy Evidence and Inference in Indian History London Routledge 2005 522 p ISBN 0 7007 1462 6 cased ISBN 0 7007 1463 4 pbk Edwin F Bryant Krishna a Sourcebook Oxford New York Oxford University Press 2007 xiv 575 p ISBN 0 19 514891 6 hbk ISBN 0 19 514892 4 pbk Edwin F Bryant The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali A New Edition Translation and Commentary with Insights from the Traditional Commentators illustrated New York North Point Press 2009 xvii 598 p ISBN 0 86547 736 1 Edwin F Bryant Bhakti yoga Tales and teachings from the Bhagavata Puraṇa New York North Point Press 2017 688 p ISBN 0 86547 775 2The Quest for the Origins of Vedic Culture Edit Bryant is the author of The Quest for the Origins of Vedic Culture Oxford University Press 2001 7 J P Mallory says the book systematically exposes the logical weaknesses of most of the arguments that support the consensus of either side This is not only an important work in the field of Indo Aryan studies but a long overdue challenge for scholarly fair play 8 Michael Witzel writes A balanced description and evaluation of the two century old debate dealing with the origins of the Indo Aryan speaking peoples of South Asia Bryant presents both sides of the issue that is the traditional western linguistic and philological consensus of immigration from Central Asia and the more recent Indian position that denies any immigration and that asserts an indigenous South Asian origin He probes for loopholes on both sides Indo Aryan Controversy Evidence and Inference in Indian History Edit This book edited by Edwin Bryant and Laurie Patton 9 contains a series of articles by proponents of the Indigenous Aryans position and scholars of the Indo Aryan migration theory with some alternative interpretations According to Edwin Bryant most of the evidence regarding the origin of Indo Aryans is inconclusive and he is not convinced of the Indo Aryan migrations theory but he is also not convinced of an Out of India position since the support for it is not significant He notes that the discovery of Indo Aryan language family was foundational to the investigation of the origins of the Western civilization and the relationship between the Indo Aryan family and the remaining Indo European languages must be established However he states I find most of the evidence that has been marshalled to support the theory of Indo Aryan migrations into the subcontinent to be inconclusive upon careful scrutiny but on the other I have not been convinced by an Out of India position since there has been very little of significance offered so far in support of it In a review Sanskrit linguist Stephanie W Jamison likened the effort of the volume to calls to teach the controversy by the proponents of Intelligent Design She states that the Indo Aryan controversy is a manufactured one with a non scholarly religio nationalistic attack on scholarly consensus and the editors Bryant and Patton have unwittingly provided it a gloss of intellectual legitimacy The editors are not linguists she contends and they have accepted patently weak or false linguistic arguments So their apparently even handed assessment lacks merit and cannot be regarded as objective scholarship 10 Historian Sudeshna Guha concurs saying that Bryant does not probe into the epistemology of evidence and hence perceives the opposing viewpoints unproblematic On the contrary she holds that the timing and renewed vigour of the indigenist arguments during the 1990s demonstrates unscholarly opportunism Fosse and Deshpande s contributions to the volume provide a critical analysis of the historiography and the nationalist and colonial agendas behind it She also holds Bryant s desire to present what he calls the views of Indian scholars for reconstructing the religious and cultural history of their own country as misleading because it patently ignores the views of historians of India who have done so since the beginning of the twentieth century 11 Translation of the Yoga Sutras and interpretation Edit In 2007 Bryant completed a translation of the Yoga Sutras and their traditional commentaries 7 The translation was published in 2009 by North Point Press as The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali with Insights from the Traditional Commentators In his article History Repeats Itself Yoga Journal Nov 2001 the author adds that Our modern world more than any other epoch in human history has universalized and idolized consumerism the indulgence of the senses of the mind as the highest goal of life In yoga that creates unwanted influences where Our vrittis the turbulences of the mind born from desire are out of control 12 Control and elimination of vrittis comprise significant portion of yoga practices and observances yama and niyama that culminates with nirodha an arrested state of mind capable of one pointedness Otherwise if unwanted vrittis are allowed to predominate We risk missing the whole point of the practice In the interview Inside the Yoga Tradition 13 Bryant describes some tenets of his interpretation of the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali I stress in my commentary that Patanjali is emphatic about the yamas and niyamas vows and observances We can t say that what he is teaching is applicable only to the time period in which he codified the Sutras or that they are only for Hindus living in India Patanjali asserts that yamas and niyamas are great universal vows He didn t have to further qualify them universal means no exception whatsoever Discussing theistic overtones in Yoga Sutras of Patanjali and the practice of ishvara pranidhana commitment or surrender to God David Gordon White points out in his The Yoga Sutra of Patanjali A Biography 14 Edwin Bryant who in his recent splendid commentary on the Yoga Sutra notes that Vijnanabhiksu considered ishvara pranidhana to refer to the practice of devotion to Krishna the Lord of the Bhagavat Gita Bryant clearly aligns himself with this interpretation of the term reading ishvara pranidhana as submission to a personal god and asserting that most yogis over the past two millennia have been associated with devotional sects Similar view is expressed by a commentator of Yoga Sutras of Patanjali 1999 Baba Hari Dass Ishvara pranidhana surrender to God is a method of the devotional path Bhakti Yoga 15 16 See also EditJ P Mallory Jim G ShafferReferences Edit Bryant Edwin 2007 Inside the Yoga Tradition Inside the Yoga Tradition edwinbryant org Retrieved 15 May 2016 a b CURRICULUM VITAE PDF Rutgers University 22 April 2010 p 1 Archived from the original PDF on 6 June 2011 Retrieved 22 April 2010 Bryant Edwin May 2016 Edwin Bryant Ph D Workshop Schedule About Edwin rci rutgers edu Retrieved 15 May 2016 Bryant Edwin 2016 Introduction to Hindu Philosophy Workshops rci rutgers edu Retrieved 15 May 2016 The Ahimsa Debate Yoga Journal 130 May 2006 Edwin Bryant Yoga Journal 68 November 2001 a b Edwin Francis Bryant 2007 Krishna a sourcebook Oxford University Press US pp x ISBN 978 0 19 514892 3 Oxford University Press The Quest for the Origins of Vedic Culture The Indo Aryan Migration Debate Bryant Edwin Patton Laurie 2005 The Indo Aryan Controversy Evidence and Inference in Indian History Ney York Routledge ISBN 978 0700714636 Jamison Stephanie W 2006 The Indo Aryan controversy Evidence and inference in Indian history Book review PDF Journal of Indo European Studies 34 255 261 Guha Sudheshna 2007 The Indo Aryan controversy Evidence and inference in Indian history Book review Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society Third Series 17 3 340 343 doi 10 1017 S135618630700733X JSTOR 25188742 S2CID 163092658 Bryant Edwin Nov 2001 History Repeats Itself Yoga Journal Retrieved 15 May 2016 Bryant Edwin 2007 Inside the Yoga Tradition Integral Yoga Magazine Integral Yoga Magazine Retrieved 15 May 2016 White David Gordon 2014 The Yoga Sutra of Patanjali Princeton New Jersey Princeton University Press pp 179 80 ISBN 978 0 691 14377 4 Dass Baba Hari 1999 Yoga Sutras of Patanjali Vol A Study Guide for Book I Samadhi Pada Santa Cruz CA Sri Rama Publishing p 61 ISBN 0 918100 20 8 Note The devotional path is considered dualistic in that there is a devotee and that to which the yogi is devoted Ishvara When the yogi merges completely in the object of devotion duality is transcended and the non dual state is achieved Baba Hari Dass 1999 p 61 Further reading EditKent Eliza 2004 Book Review The Quest for the Origins of Vedic Culture The Indo Aryan Migration Debate Journal of Hindu Christian Studies 17 doi 10 7825 2164 6279 1326 Glucklich Ariel 2006 The Indo Aryan Controversy Evidence and inference in Indian history Book review International Journal of Hindu Studies 10 3 333 334 JSTOR 20106980 USA Today Magazine July 1 2005 Hare Krishna comes of age the movement has matured into a mainstream religion after years of tumult and scandal but escaping the past never is easy USA Today PTI April 2 2007 US university to offer six courses on Hinduism The Press Trust of India Rausch Taylor September 14 2007 Yoga Where old meets new columbiamissourian com Archived from the original on January 19 2013 Mohammedy Farseem M January 19 2008 Retracing the old proto historic migrations The Daily Star External links EditEdwin Bryant at Rutgers University Edwin Bryant website The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali video lecture Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Edwin Bryant Indologist amp oldid 1152861677, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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