Research: Prospects of intertextual relations between Asvaghosa’s Buddhacarita and Saundarananda rhetorical-stylistic forms and epic sources
Diletta Falqui, Curriculum Indian Subcontinent, XXXV ciclo
RESEARCH PROJECT'S ABSTRACT:
Asvagho?a (1st-2nd century CE) is the earliest known author of Indian poetry (kavya) and a major contributor to the Brahmanical and Buddhist cultural and literary heritage. Nevertheless, we still do not have a clear picture of the sources that may have primarily influenced the composition of his works - namely the two court epic poems (Mahakavya) Saundarananda 'Handsome Nanda' and Buddhacarita 'Acts of the Buddha' - and even less certain are the ways in which Asvagho?a may have interacted with the epics, viz. e. the Mahabharata 'The Great Bharata' and the Ramaya?a 'Rama's Path'. Although the contribution of epic sources to his works has often been debated in the field of cultural-historical reconstruction studies, it has never been approached from a strictly philological-textual perspective. The present study provides a comparison of one hundred stanzas of Asvagho?a's poems and the epic sources to demonstrate that an intertextual philological relationship between them is indisputable. The chosen methodological approach focuses on cross-referencing the main rhetorical and stylistic forms in the epic sources, the so-called ala?karas 'ornaments' used in the Mahakavyas - i.e. the simile (upama) and the metaphor (rupaka). It analyses the logical structure of the ornaments that make the poems and epics similar, namely the relationship between the subject of comparison (upameya), the object of comparison (upamana) and the common property (sadhara?adharma). This could help to determine the role that the two epics played in influencing the compositional process of Asvagho?a, both quantitatively and qualitatively. Furthermore, the analysis of cross-references can lead to the identification of the sections from which Asvagho?a may have borrowed. By presenting the most striking case of intertextuality, centred on the ornaments mentioned above, the proposed approach examines the ways in which Asvagho?a seems to rework, adapt and manipulate the epic model from a diachronic perspective. The underlying aim is to shed light on the general framework of the dynamics surrounding the genesis of the Mahakavya genre itself, which is so intertwined with the epic (Itihasa).
[october 2019] – today: PhD candidate at the Italian Institute of Oriental Studies (ISO), Sapienza University of Rome (Italy)
Research project's title: Prospects of intertextual relations between Asvaghosa’s Buddhacarita and Saundarananda rhetorical-stylistic forms and epic sources
Supervisors: Raffaele Torella (Sapienza - Università di Roma), Tiziana Pontillo (Università degli Studi di Cagliari); co-supervisor: Sylvain Brocquet (Aix-Marseille Université)
10/2016 - 11/2018: Master Degree in Classical and Modern Philology and Literature (LM-15 Philology, Literature and Ancient History), at the University of Cagliari (CA), Italy.
10/2012 - 03/2016: Bachelor Degree in Classical Literature (L-10), at the University of Cagliari (CA), Italy.