• Final Term Paper Due, by 2pm,
• Come to class prepared to deliver a max 10 minute long presentation of your paper.
• Details: This final paper, worth 30% of the course grade, is to deal with a pre-approved specific philosophical issue across multiple texts studied in this class this term, but with a special focus on the Bhagavad Gītā & Mahābhārata sections covered in class. Ground your writing in these source materials, drawing on secondary literature (such as the papers assigned for reading) as need be. Any comparative analysis should be between the various texts studied in this class only.
  
  The paper is due by the beginning of Finals week, Week 11, Mon June 4, 2:00pm via Dropbox.
  Paper length: 12-13 pages (not including Bibliography).
  
  You will also give a short presentation of your paper to your classmates (just under 10 mins including Q&A), in class during the time for the Final Exam, 2:30-4:20pm, in SAV 136. This presentation is worth 10% of the grade for the Final Paper (and is not optional). You will be expected to stay for all the presentations.
  
  Late assignments will continue to be accepted till 9pm but will incur a 10% grade deduction.
  

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• Memorial Day - NO CLASS
  

• Read, in Wynne, Alexander. 2009 Mahābhārata Book Twelve (volume 3): Peace: The Book Of Liberation. NYU Press:
• The Dialogue between Manu and Brihaspati, pp. 249-92.
• The Dialogue between a Master and Pupil, pp. 325-82.
• OPTIONAL: The Teachings of Pancha-shikha, pp. 383-409. 
• Provide your responses to the readings WebQ,  by Wed, 10:30am.

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• Left over: Review the Hiltebeitel & Belvalkar papers read for last Wed, for a discussion in class. 
• Read, in Wynne, Alexander. 2009 Mahābhārata Book Twelve (volume 3): Peace: The Book Of Liberation. NYU Press:
• Introduction, pp. xvii-xlviii.
• A Discourse on the Supreme Self, pp. 171-186.
• A Discourse on the Discipline of Meditation, pp. 187-194.
• Provide your responses to the readings WebQ, by Mon, 10:30am. 
• Be thinking about the topic for your Final Term Paper, 12-13 pages + Bibliography, dealing with a specific philosophical issue across multiple texts studied in this class this term, but with a special focus on the Bhagavad Gītā & Mahābhārata sections covered in class, due at the beginning of Finals week, Week 11, Mon June 4, 2pm. Topic to be emailed to Prem for approval no later than Thursday, May 24, 5pm.

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• Read Brockington, John. 2003. "Yoga in the Mahābhārata." In Yoga: the Indian tradition, edited by Ian Whicher and David Carpenter, 13-24. London; New York: RoutledgeCurzon.
• Read, in Wynne, Alexander. 2009 Mahābhārata Book Twelve (volume 3): Peace: The Book Of Liberation. NYU Press:
• A Discourse on the Practice of Quiet Recitation, pp. 195-248.
• In Praise of Restraint, pp. 411-16.
• The Dialogue between Indra and Prahrada, pp. 425-36.
• The Dialogue between Jaigishavya and Asita, pp. 523-30.
• Provide your responses to the readings WebQ, by Wed, 11:30am. 
• Be thinking about the topic for your Final Term Paper, 12-13 pages + Bibliography, dealing with a specific philosophical issue across multiple texts studied in this class this term, but with a special focus on the Bhagavad Gītā & Mahābhārata sections covered in class, due at the beginning of Finals week, Week 11, Mon June 4, 2pm. Topic to be emailed to Prem for approval no later than Thursday, May 24, 5pm.

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• Read the Bhagavad Gītā, Seventh through Twelfth Teachings. Stoler-Miller, pp. 73-112.
• Read Vireswarananda, Swami. 1962. "The Bhagavad-gītā: Its synthetic character." In The cultural heritage of India, ed. Haridas Bhattacharyya, 180-194. Calcutta: Ramakrishna Mission, Institute of Culture.
• Read Perrett, Roy W. 1998. "Facts, Values and the Bhagavadgītā." In Hindu ethics: a philosophical study, 6-26. University of Hawai`i Press.
• Optional: If you are curious about how Perrett handles the objection raised at the end of the above reading, you may wish to read his following chapter: Perrett, Roy W. 1998. "Saints and the Supramoral." In Hindu ethics: a philosophical study, 27-45. University of Hawai`i Press.
• Read Matilal, Bimal Krishna. 2002. "Caste, Karmā and the Gītā." In Ethics and epics : the collected essays of Bimal Krishna Matilal, edited by Jonardon Ganeri, 136-144. New Delhi; New York: Oxford University Press.
• Provide your responses to the readings WebQ, by Mon, 10:30am.
  

   For Wed, May 16

• Read the Bhagavad Gītā, Thirteenth through Eighteenth Teachings. Stoler-Miller, pp. 113-147.
• Read Hiltebeitel, Alf. 2010. "Dharma in the Bhagavad Gītā." In Dharma, 109-123. Honolulu: University of Hawai`i Press.
• Read Belvalkar, Shripad Krishna. 1962. "The Bhagavad-gītā: A general review of its history and character." In The cultural heritage of India, ed. Haridas Bhattacharyya, 135-157. Calcutta: Ramakrishna Mission, Institute of Culture.
  
• Provide your responses to the readings WebQ, by Wed, 10:30am. 

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• Response Paper Topic Due: An exploration of any significant aspect of the Yoga Sūtra, 5-6 pages. Topic to be emailed to Prem for approval before start of class Wed, paper due on Monday, May 7 by 1pm, Dropbox 
• No readings. In Class: Intro to Mahābhārata and Bhagavad Gītā
  

   For Wed, May 9

• Read the Bhagavad Gītā, Introduction, Translator's Note, First through Sixth Teachings. Stoler-Miller, pp. 1-72.
• Read Dalmiya, Vrinda. 2010. "On the Battlefield of Dharma: The Moral Philosophy of the Bhagavad Gītā." In Asian texts, Asian contexts: encounters with Asian philosophies and religions, edited by David Edward Jones and Ellen R. Klein, 51-63. Albany: State University of New York Press.
• Read Brockington, J. L. 1998. "The Bhagavadgītā." In The Sanskrit epics, 267-77. Leiden; Boston: Brill.
• Read highlighted entries in Fitzgerald, James L. 2004. "Appendix 4: Certain Difficult Sanskrit Words and Their Usual Translations; Glossary of Sanskrit Words." In The Mahabharata. Vol. 7, Book 11, The book of women. Book 12, The book of peace, part one, 641-4, 781-90. Chicago, Ill.: University of Chicago Press.
  
• Provide your responses to the readings WebQ, by Wed, 10:30am.
  

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• Read the Yoga Sūtra, Ch 2.28-55 (Sādhana-pāda), Ch 3.1-15 (Vibhūti-pāda), Feuerstein, pp. 153-156, 78-104.
• Read Whicher, Ian. 2003. "The integration of spirit (puruṣa) and matter (prakṛti) in theYoga Sūtra." In Yoga : the Indian tradition, edited by Ian Whicher and David Carpenter, 51-69. London; New York: RoutledgeCurzon.
  
• Read Pflueger, Lloyd W. 2003. "Dueling with dualism revisioning the paradox of puruṣa and prakṛti." In Yoga : the Indian tradition, edited by Ian Whicher and David Carpenter, 70-82. London; New York: RoutledgeCurzon.
  
• Provide your responses to the readings via WebQ, by Mon, 10:30am.
  

   For Wed, May 2

• Read the Yoga Sūtra, Ch 3.16-55 (Vibhūti-pāda), Ch 4 (Kaivalya-pāda) Feuerstein, pp. 156-160, 104-145.
• Read Joseph, Simon J. 2012. "Jesus in India? Transgressing Social and Religious Boundaries." Journal of the American Academy of Religion no. 80 (1):161-199. Primarily of interest to our purposes are pp. 173-177 pertaining to Yoga Sūtra siddhis correlated to Jesus' miracles
  
• Provide your responses to the readings WebQ, by Wed, 10:30am. 
• Response Paper Topic Due: An exploration of any significant aspect of the Yoga Sūtra, 5-6 pages. Topic to be emailed to Prem for approval before start of class Wed, paper due on Monday, May 7 by 1pm, Dropbox 

• Read the Prefaces and Introduction to Yoga Sūtra, Feuerstein, pp. vii-xiii, 1-17.
• Turn in your mid-term response papers, by Mon, 1:30pm to the Dropbox. Late submissions will continue to be accepted (with 10% reduction in grade) through 9pm, after which the Dropbox will close.
  

   For Wed, Apr 25

• Read the Yoga Sūtra, Ch 1 (Samādhī-pāda), Ch 2.1-27 (Sādhana-pāda), Feuerstein, pp. 150-153, 25-78.
• Read Kesarcodi-Watson, Ian. 1982. "Samādhi in Patañjali's Yoga Sūtras." Philosophy East and West no. 32 (1):77-90.
  
• Read Carpenter, David. 2003. "Practice makes perfect: The role of practice (abhyāsa) in Pātañjala yoga." In Yoga : the Indian tradition, edited by Ian Whicher and David Carpenter, 25-50. London; New York: RoutledgeCurzon.
  
• Provide your responses to the readings WebQ, by Wed, 10:30am. 

• Read the Kaṭha Upaniṣad, Chapters 4-6, Olivelle, pp. 240-247.
• Read Singh, R. Raj. 1994. "Death-contemplation and contemplative living: Socrates and the Katha Upanishad." Asian Philosophy 4:9-16.
  
• Read the Muṇḍaka Upaniṣad, Olivelle, pp. 266-277.
• (More of interest to students of Sanskrit, rest can skim) Mehendale, M. A. 1961. "Satyam Eva Jayate Nānṛtam." Journal of the American Oriental Society 81:405-408.
  
• Provide your responses to the readings via WebQ (link to be emailed), by Mon, 10:30am.
  

   For Wed, Apr 18

• Read the Māṇḍūkya Upaniṣad, Olivelle, pp. 288-290.
• Read Williams, Kyle Lee. 2008. "Understanding Oṃ (Aum), Turīya, and the Three States of Consciousness in the Maṇḍūkya Upaniṣad." Psychological Perspectives 51:287-315.
  
• Read the Īśā Upaniṣad, Olivelle, pp. 248-251.
• Read Jones, Richard H. 1981. "Vidyā and Avidyā in the Īśa Upaniṣad." Philosophy East and West no. 31 (1):79-87.
  
• Provide your responses to the readings WebQ (link to be emailed), by Wed, 10:30am. 
• Response Paper Due: Topic TBA

• Read the Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad, Chapters 3 & 4, Olivelle, pp. 34-72.
• Read Lindquist, Steven E. 2010.  "Literary Lives and a Literal Death: Yājñavalkya, Śākalya, and an Upaniṣadic Death Sentence." JAAR 79:33-57.
  
• Provide your responses to the readings via WebQ, by Mon, 10:30am.
  

   For Wed, Apr 11

• Read the Chāndogya Upaniṣad, Chapter 6, Olivelle, pp. 148-156.
• Read the Kaṭha Upaniṣad, Chapters 1-3, Olivelle, pp. 231-240.
• Read Helfer, James S. 1968. "The Initiatory Structure of the "Kaṭhopaniṣad"." History of Religions 7:348-367.
  
• Provide your responses to the readings WebQ (link to be emailed), by Wed, 10:30am.
  

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• Skim Halbfass's essay,  "Darśana, Ānvīkṣikī, Philosophy." You may find this a bit too technical, what I want to you to get out of your reading is a sense for the historical European perspective on Indian Philosophy, as well as what might be the Indian perspective on the same.  Optionally, for additional background, you may also look at his essay,  "On the Exclusion of India from the History of Philosophy."
• Read Edgerton's "Selections from the Atharva Veda," up to (and including) hymn 11.8, p. 110.
• Provide your responses to the readings via WebQ, by 10:30am.
  

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   For Wed, Apr 4

• Complete the remainder of Edgerton's "Selections from the Atharva Veda,"p. 111-132.
• Read the Introduction to Olivelle's Upaniṣads, pp. xxiii-lx.
• Introduce yourself to your classmates on GoPost
  
• Provide your responses to the readings via GoPost, by 1pm Wed.

• Read the J.D. Salinger short story Teddy. What themes of Indian Philosophy do you notice in the story? You will answer this question in four to six sentences via WebQ (link to be emailed to you). The answers must be submitted by 1pm, when the questionnaire will close.
  
• Read Edgerton's Selections from the Rig Veda. Answer the questions on the selections in the WebQ.

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