Robert P Geldmer Epic and Argument in Sanskrit Literary History Essays in Honor of Robert P. Goldman SHELDON POLLOCKSE ue purvegera. ran gh Veron aed Tl Wash Out Your Mouth With My Boot: A Guide to Philological Argument in Mughal-era Banaras (CHRISTOPHER MINKOWSKI ini dina i aan prepa tata opp abate iar ‘pms sartoptnal (conduson Djenamahspalodad rhe wise ave declare ht there are two geod way to reipand to the vileand obnoxious fs wold complet ndiference provided they ep cles; but when thay gat on closes smack in Os uth wth ones shoe ‘ho would have guessed that intellectual dicord could be fn? Clearly the Sse di. Sst, afer al have aways been plologits, Tht 10se abroad definton, they have ben tle whose chi . ctu whose cit actity bestenta tates serouty adn werkt maine ef hem: Now thislogiss ever have enjoyed the rotation of xing contrtone tventeligzet, over tat ow pth of rod: ccaseay he pet cust has ven been usted In hs Str. There ca be eg tmtesa ae Tele mtg checompesn hrs mes ben so flere bees he tales were gh The ist has en no exception inthis Although, according tothe Diatmadstras. earned Srhmin wae not tobe vole bat rahe il, a source of refinement and improvement for others nevertheless, wien Iecume to arguing about ther tex especialy an important en ster erer manners could come tothe fore, mesons And yet judging fom the erature tha survives there mst lays fave Ben Limits what sl ap coud ot bo sad tn Sarto a pronent inthe stag os debate orn polemical writing scholar farefanes auld be tlaned ith ied ume or poet. les there must one ave been ins As the enerles dis ary. moder ward overtook the Sst, however these unexpressed lines sppea in some notorious ses tohave bee obliterate Ths sems oe the plas to brng up oe of thor otvious cases 8c Goliiman as never sled from conor nis wor he has ee willing fo read Sent texts sgrnt the pra, oder to uncon nterious meaningspsyebeogl, sacl and political And he hat intrested In hw Sats end tents with agate rss. he case that is brought up hee concen a lorg-unnng ono very over the cancizal tats of the VaivaBhgets Pere ch became a hugely powefl et the world Sant course verte course ofthe sac illerum ct wh oeonse he dca Hat the Veyova hagas genertel a I appeasamay fo hve Sone, ta pertclr moment in Banararin he teeth and ear} seventh Sewn nt yt th sr hon uted wl piso. tal argament inorder oct more aan pilose In considering this fraca Dead stake in it are not concealed from view. hedeits an “ 1 willlook at four texts, three of wich were composed Ia Banarss ‘hie period one someat Banaras duting Se TO PAKOLOAAL ARGUMENT w “The Controversial Bhigavata The three short texts from the period have rude tes, which indicate that each one knew and responded to the preceding one(). They are, inthe order in which they were composed, the "smack onthe Mouth of the Wicked” (Durjne-makha-capetia), ten in reply the "Big Smack he Mouth of the Wicked” (Dupre makhemahacaper), ad thee hoe inthe Lotus Mouth ofthe Wieked” (Durjanasmubhepaiine i), at once more insulting and yet somewhat more decorocs, for Irereference tothe ponents etus-mouth,"The fourth work, perhaps from the mid-ighteenth century, ha by comparison ately, though Alsappointingty, Bland title, the (Ghigavatabhigaa), Paro heater story tobe told sone of Bhiga ‘ecoling fom the vehentence tht dominated the three works, though rot recoiling to fa, we shal see, the first thee tens, which are not composed in terribly danse academic Saket, were noticed even inthe carlst stages of European esearch into the history of the Vairava Shagovata as part of purinic ture, They attracted the attention of Thomas Clebrooke and Ht Wilson ie was Eugene Burnou who included complete translations of al thre, along with extensive annotations, In the rface tothe fist ‘olume of his edtion and translation of the Vlsnava Bhagat, 840; Turnouf gave carefil consideration to these works because the raty history ofall ofthe Puss, cluding the ValggavaBhagavaa, yaad unc then proved difclt to establish, Burnout recognied that the three texts inchided information relevant to tat literary bison. Furthermore, and moze dretly pertinent to our interest ere, they wore representative fo his mind “de cueux exemples dela méthode proper la pomigue orhodoxe" affording away to “constater Tat etvel dea mithode et de Targumertation brahmanique “The three polemical texts wore, as Burouf knew, pat of a bra incl controversy of much longerstandingabeut whether the Valava agate shouldbe considered belong inthe same category with the ther Puranas; to be more specif, whether it should be considered to teva it claimed, work composed by Vyasa, ‘Agreat deal mores known abou the history ofthe Purinas now than was known in Barnoul's day, and et the exact history of the Vaignava Bhagovtas sill unclear? Wes clear that th txts singly difere from he other Furies in formal terms language, tye, and metrical structures are nach more poised and elaborate than those of the ober Purges enumerated inthe canonical ss, ItInludes conscious archa-