{"id":2096,"date":"2026-07-13T12:35:38","date_gmt":"2026-07-13T12:35:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dicsep.org\/?page_id=2096"},"modified":"2026-07-13T12:40:02","modified_gmt":"2026-07-13T12:40:02","slug":"2096-2","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/dicsep.org\/?page_id=2096","title":{"rendered":"RENATE S\u00d6HNEN-THIEME"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t<div data-elementor-type=\"wp-page\" data-elementor-id=\"2096\" class=\"elementor elementor-2096\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<section class=\"elementor-section elementor-top-section elementor-element elementor-element-1fcfb0ad elementor-section-boxed elementor-section-height-default elementor-section-height-default\" data-id=\"1fcfb0ad\" data-element_type=\"section\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-container elementor-column-gap-default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-column elementor-col-100 elementor-top-column elementor-element elementor-element-2044207f\" data-id=\"2044207f\" data-element_type=\"column\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-wrap elementor-element-populated\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-65e4357a elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"65e4357a\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t<style>\/*! elementor - v3.7.4 - 31-08-2022 *\/\n.elementor-widget-text-editor.elementor-drop-cap-view-stacked .elementor-drop-cap{background-color:#818a91;color:#fff}.elementor-widget-text-editor.elementor-drop-cap-view-framed .elementor-drop-cap{color:#818a91;border:3px solid;background-color:transparent}.elementor-widget-text-editor:not(.elementor-drop-cap-view-default) .elementor-drop-cap{margin-top:8px}.elementor-widget-text-editor:not(.elementor-drop-cap-view-default) .elementor-drop-cap-letter{width:1em;height:1em}.elementor-widget-text-editor .elementor-drop-cap{float:left;text-align:center;line-height:1;font-size:50px}.elementor-widget-text-editor .elementor-drop-cap-letter{display:inline-block}<\/style>\t\t\t\t<p><!-- wp:paragraph --><\/p>\n<p>CIRCUMAMBULATION OF THE EARTH IN THE <em>MAH\u0100BH\u0100RATA<\/em>\u2014CONQUEST OF THE DIRECTIONS OR GUIDED TOUR OF T\u012aRTHAS?<\/p>\n<p><!-- \/wp:paragraph --><\/p>\n<p><!-- wp:paragraph --><\/p>\n<p>RENATE S\u00d6HNEN-THIEME<\/p>\n<p><!-- \/wp:paragraph --><\/p>\n<p><!-- wp:paragraph --><\/p>\n<p>SOAS, London&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; rs2@soas.ac.uk<\/p>\n<p><!-- \/wp:paragraph --><\/p>\n<p><!-- wp:paragraph --><\/p>\n<p><!-- \/wp:paragraph --><\/p>\n<p><!-- wp:paragraph --><\/p>\n<p>It is obvious that a tour around India (alias a \u201ccircumambulation\u201d of the known earth = the Indian subcontinent) can be taken up for various purposes; it is especially known for being combined with a visit of all possible holy places (identified as \u201ct\u012brthas\u201d) on the way. But an older form of it is presumably the <em>digvijaya<\/em>, the \u201cconquest of the directions (of the earth = India)\u201d, originally required of a prospective <em>cakravartin<\/em> \u2018emperor\u2019 before performing an <em>a\u015bvamedha<\/em>, which is probably the most renowned sacrifice from the Br\u0101hma\u1e47a-period (AiBr) onward. It is also believed to destroy all sins, even <em>brahmahaty\u0101<\/em> \u2018murder of a brahmin\u2019 (e.g., in the TaiBr, where it is recommended to Indra because he had become guilty of this sin by killing V\u1e5btra, who had meanwhile achieved the status of a brahmin). Because of this \u201csin-destroying\u201d quality\/function it is taken up also towards the end of the MBh, to relieve Yudhi\u1e63\u1e6dhira from the worry that under his leadership so many heroes had been killed during the battle. There is in this case no <em>digvijaya<\/em> necessary (since he was the victor at the end of the battle), but Arjuna, on guarding the horse roaming freely around the sub-continent, takes up another tour around India (after his <em>vanav\u0101sa<\/em> in the <em>\u0100diparvan<\/em>) in the <em>\u0100\u015bvamedhika<\/em>&#8211;<em>parvan<\/em>. Apart from this, the merit of pious or otherwise recommendable deeds is also measured by the \u201ccurrency\u201d of the merit of \u2018horse sacrifices\u2019 (as will be mentioned in discussions about the <em>t\u012brthay\u0101tr\u0101 <\/em>before the P\u0101\u1e47\u1e0davas set out for it in the <em>\u0100ra\u1e47yaka<\/em>&#8211;<em>parvan<\/em>).<\/p>\n<p><!-- \/wp:paragraph --><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>CIRCUMAMBULATION OF THE EARTH IN THE MAH\u0100BH\u0100RATA\u2014CONQUEST OF THE DIRECTIONS OR GUIDED TOUR OF T\u012aRTHAS? RENATE S\u00d6HNEN-THIEME SOAS, London&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-2096","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dicsep.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2096","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dicsep.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dicsep.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dicsep.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dicsep.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2096"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/dicsep.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2096\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2100,"href":"https:\/\/dicsep.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2096\/revisions\/2100"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dicsep.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2096"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}