Throughout its history, the renowned Kaṭha Upaniṣad has often been described as being both incoherent and contradictory. The aim of this paper is to show to what purpose the text was created. To this end, it discusses the connection of the three paths to salvation depicted in the text, viz. the Agnicayana (a powerful Vedic fire-ritual), the Upa…[Read more]

Der berühmten Kaṭha-Upaniṣad wurde oft Inkohärenz und Widersprüchlichkeit unterstellt: Das vedische Feuerritual, das in ihr erwähnt wird, ließ sich in den Augen der meisten Interpreten nicht mit der Erkenntnislehre und den Yoga-Praktiken, die den Großteil des Textes ausmachen, vereinbaren. Die Master-Arbeit versucht zu ergründen, wie ein derart…[Read more]

The short mantra known as Gāyatrī or Sāvitrī (Ṛgveda III 62.10) is one of the most frequently recited texts of mankind. Over the course of time it has not only been personified as the “Mother of the Vedas,” but has even come to be venerated as a goddess. The present study reveals for the first time how the mantra gained prominence as a religious…[Read more]

Slides accompanying a talk presented at a joint research meeting of the Sushruta Project and the Classical Āyurveda Text Study Group in Vienna, July 2022.