Description: The first reader on language in--and the language of--classical Indian philosophy, A Śabda Reader offers a comprehensive and pedagogically valuable treatment of this topic. It brings together newly translated passages by authors from a variety of traditions--Brahmin, Buddhist, Jaina--representing a number of schools of thought.
Brief description: Johannes Bronkhorst (PhD, Sanskrit and Pali, University of Pune) is Professor Emeritus of Sanskrit and Indian Studies at the University of Lausanne. He is the author of a number of books, including Karma (Hawaii, 2011), Buddhist Teaching in India (Wisdom, 2009), Tradition and Argument in Classical Indian Linguistics (Springer, 2013), Language and Reality (Brill, 2011), and How the Brahmins Won (Brill, 2016).
Review Quotes: A Śabda Reader provides a comprehensive survey of what arguably was the world's richest speculation on language and its nature. It was a direct exposure to this tradition in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries that prompted the emergence of modern linguistics. Part I presents an overview of a wide spectrum of topics, whereas Part II lets the Indian mind speak for itself: it offers a comprehensive selection of passages translated from their originals. The lucid nature of the exposition makes the contents easily accessible to nonspecialists and highly informative to specialists trained in South Asian languages.--Piotr Balcerowicz, author of Early Asceticism in India: Ājīvikism and Jainism