The Jaina Appropriation and Adaptation of Śaiva Ritual, SOAS, University of London

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The 15th Annual Jaina Lecture by Professor Alexis Sanderson (All Souls, Oxford University) titled "The Jaina Appropriation and Adaptation of Śaiva Ritual: The Case of Pādliptasūri’s Nirvāṇakalikā" was given at SOAS, University of London on 19 March 2015.
I shall show that the Nirvāṇakalikā, a published manual for the rituals of image installation (Pratiṣṭhāpaddhati) attributed to Pāllittasūri, covering also daily ritual and the ceremony of initiation, is an adaptation of the Siddhāntasārapaddhati, an unpublished but influential eleventh-century Saiddhāntika Śaiva Paddhati covering the same topics. In addition to demonstrating that there is direct textual dependence here I shall attempt to explain and illustrate how the Jaina author went about adapting his Śaiva source-text through deletions, substitutions, and additions to produce an acceptably Jaina work.
Biography
Alexis G. J. S. Sanderson (b.1948) is a renowned expert on the history of Śaivism and on tantric traditions. After taking undergraduate degrees in Classics and Sanskrit at Balliol College, Oxford, he spent six years in Kashmir studying with the celebrated scholar and Śaiva guru Swami Lakshman Joo. From 1977 to 1992 he was Lecturer in Sanskrit in the University of Oxford, and Fellow of Wolfson College. Since 1992 he has held the Spalding Chair of Eastern Religions and Ethics in the University of Oxford, and is a Fellow of All Souls College.

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