orientation to readings
& unit 2 reading guide
(print & annotate for extra credit)

BRING PRINTED COPY of WORKSHEET FOR
Unit 1 **Source Analysis**
(PDF | MS Word)
OR **Observation Report**
(PDF/MS Word)
@ beginning of class
on **Tuesday**

SUBMIT FINAL PRODUCT
(in Assignments tab of SacCT)
by **SUNDAY 3/4, midnight**)

LOCATE details re: assigned TERMS & EXCERPTS in primary sources:

• "The Offerings to Rudra" (RDR, 65-72)
• "The Mountain Man" from the Mahabharata (RDR, 73-79)
• "Purana" (introductions), "Daksha's Insult" and
  "The Destruction of Daksha's Sacrifice" from the Puranas (RDR, 80-81, 85-93)
• poems of Basavanna, Mahadevyakka & others (RDR, 94-126)
• selected students' Observations Reports: Shivaratri
  (download from the Learning Modules tab in SacCT)

LOCATE additional details re: assigned TERMS in EGHT:

• "Dimensions & Layers" & "Detecting Clues about Community"
  (on the "Essential Elements of Religious Life" page of this syllabus)
• EGHT, 1, 7-9, 12-16, 30-31, 37-40, 43-46, 48-50, 65-68

VIEW/BROWSE images related to terms & sources:

Temple Linga Puja (according to Agamas - YouTube)
Home Linga Puja (Lingayat/Virashaiva tradition - YouTube)

PREPARE & BRING 100-150 word RESPONSE:

“Which period of Hindu history (see EGHT, 67) is most essential for understanding the celebration of Shivaratri as it survives today (see EGHT, 30-31 & ask students who went), & WHY?”

A. Harappan, Early & Late Vedic Periods (p.37-40)

B. early Shaivite ascetics (p.45-46)

C. composition of the Agamas & Shaivite Puranas (p.12, 48-49)

D. period of Muslim conquests & bhakti movements (p.50)

IMPORTANT: Include at least one sentences comparing your choice to each of the others (three sentences total).

TRA #2

discussion of mini
application exercise 2

BRING PRINTED COPY of
Unit 1 *Source Analysis* OR
*Observation Report*
@ beginning of class

application exercise 2a

optional worksheet:
(PDF | MS Word)

first day of Holi

REVIEW IN DEPTH:

• "The Offerings to Rudra" (RDR, 65-72)
• "The Mountain Man" from the Mahabharata (RDR, 73-79)
• "Purana" (introductions), "Daksha's Insult" and
  "The Destruction of Daksha's Sacrifice" from the Puranas (RDR, 80-81, 85-93)
  

PREPARE NOTES addressing the following focus:

As suggested in the study guide, the three selections assigned for this exercise provide evidence of the way two kinds of changes in medieval Shaivite practice influenced the way storytellers described Shiva's presence manifesting to human beings:

• the change from praising Shiva during communal fire offering (RDR, 65, 72) to petitioning Shiva through ascetic self-mortification (RDR, 76), the influence of which shows up in the difference between description of Shiva's manifestation in the Offerings to Rudra (RDR, 65-72) vs. Mahabharata (RDR, 76-79); AND
• the change from praising Shiva during communal fire offering (RDR, 65-72) to worshiping Shiva through inward concentration & in the form of the linga & statue (EGHT, 8, 20, 23), the influence of which shows up in the difference between description of Shiva's manifestation in the Offerings to Rudra (RDR, 65-72) vs. Purana accounts of Daksha's sacrifice (RDR, 89-93).

For each of the TWO sources with in EACH of these TWO options, identify a set of related objects, actions, & recited words, characters, time(s) &/or particular locale(s) which, viewed together, show one change in description of Shiva's manifestion that seems to have been influenced by the corresponding change in practice.

application exercise 2b

optional worksheet:
(PDF | MS Word)

REVIEW IN DEPTH:

• poems of Basavanna, Mahadevyakka & others (RDR, 94-126)

PREPARE NOTES addressing the following focus:

As hinted in the study guide, the Lingayat vacanas assigned for this exercise provide evidence of the way three kinds of Virashaiva practice shaped how Lingayat saints thought about & experienced Shiva's presence:

• worship of Shiva in the individually accessible form of the linga worn on the body (RDR, p.1/fn1, 32/fn7, 81/fn23) shaped Basavanna's vacanas in RDR, 115-17;
• egalitarian assemblies meeting in the "Hall of Experience" where mendicant ascetics and householders alike dialogued and were honored (RDR, 114-18) shaped Mahadeviyakka's vacanas in RDR, 119-26; AND
• the free verse Kannada poetic form used by those gathered at such assemblies shaped the vacanas that translator Ramanujan analyzes on p.37-52.

For EACH of these THREE options, identify a set of related images, questions &/or situations in one or more vacanas that seems to be shaped by the corresponding Virashaiva practice identified above.

application exercise 2c

optional worksheet:
(PDF | MS Word)

SUBMIT WORKSHEET
(in Assignments tab of SacCT)
for Unit 2 **Source Analysis**
(PDF | MS Word)
OR **Observation Report**
(PDF/MS Word)
by **SUNDAY 3/25, midnight**

REVIEW IN DEPTH:

• Shakshi Observation Report & Christine's "Letter to Shiva:"
  Shivaratri @ Siddhi Vinayaka Temple
  (download/ *PRINT* from the Learning Modules tab in SacCT)

PREPARE NOTES addressing the following focus:

This exercise asks you to consider two student accounts of worship at a syncretic Hindu temple in contemporary Sacramento, providing live, eyewitness evidence of the way the celebration of Shivaratri shapes participants' thoughts & feelings about Shiva.

• Christine describes the evening rituals that begin the all-night celebration, relating both her own experience and that of a man she interviewed; and
• Shakshi describes the culminating puja which closes the celebration the following morning, relating her own experience, insights from several friends, and a grandmother introducing a little girl to the mysteries of Shivaratri.

Considering EACH of the above named participants in the event, including both observers, identify a related set of objects, actions, recited words & details of the space that seems to have shaped the thoughts & feelings of that participant, as described in their own words.