Dharma Patanjala, a Saiva Scripture from Ancient Java, Studied in the Light of Related Old Javanese and Sanskrit Texts.

• Author: Hunter, Tom
• Position: Book review

Dharma Patanjala, a Saiva Scripture from Ancient Java. Studied in the Light of Related Old Javanese and Sanskrit Texts. Gonda Indological Studies, vol. 16. By ANDREA ACRI. Pp. xviii + 706. Groningen: EGBERT FORSTEN, 2012. [euro]170.

Since the time of his tesi de laurea (2005) and first published article on "the textual basis of Saivism in ancient Indonesia" (2006), Andrea Acri has worked to build the basis of a solid understanding of the relationship between the Tutur and Tattva literature of Java and Bali and the texts of the Siddhantatantra, Saivagama, Pasupata, Yoga, and Sankhya traditions of South Asia. With the publication of his text, translation, and commentary of the Dharma Patanjala (DhPat), which he describes as "a Saiva Scripture from ancient Java," we have before us a comparative study that more than lives up to the promise of his earlier work. For anyone with an interest in either the history of Saivism in India or its efflorescence in the ancient Malay-Indonesian archipelago, this publication provides an invaluable resource that provides much insight into the ontology, epistemology, and cosmology of Saiva doctrine in comparative perspective.

Acri's work is focused on a work from the little-known Saiva tradition of Sunda (west Java) that exists in a single manuscript. This work provides us with access to a new and very welcome body of textual evidence for the doctrines and practices of the Saiva stream in ancient Indonesian religion. We have but to glance at the fifteen pages of Acri's "Index of Text Passages" (pp. 689-706) to get a sense of the usefulness of this volume for the study of the extensive network of connections with Indian doctrinal sources that enabled the Javano-Balinese school of Saivism and provided a touchstone for their every textual endeavor.

While I will note below some quibbles with Acri's translation of the DhPat (pp. 101-342), this should not be taken to outweigh my positive assessment of the merits of this publication. Acri begins his work with an excellent introduction to the Tutur and Tattva textual steams and how the DhPat is positioned among them. In his very informative introduction he shows us how the DhPat "interprets heterogeneous Sanskrit materials belonging to different ... religious and philosophical traditions and blends them to form a coherent Saiva theological system" (p. 11). This section is followed by a complete facsimile of the original manuscript, along with both a diplomatic and a...