The King Never Dies: Royal Renunciation and the Fiction of Jain Sovereignty
To theorize Jain sovereignty, this essay takes up Ernst Kantorowicz’s underlying query of what happens when a king dies. In turning to medieval Jain authors such as Jinasena, we see how sovereignty and renunciation were mutually constituted such that the king’s renunciation completely subverts the p...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2021-11-01
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| Series: | Religions |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2077-1444/12/11/986 |
| _version_ | 1797508627147259904 |
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| author | Sarah Pierce Taylor |
| author_facet | Sarah Pierce Taylor |
| author_sort | Sarah Pierce Taylor |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | To theorize Jain sovereignty, this essay takes up Ernst Kantorowicz’s underlying query of what happens when a king dies. In turning to medieval Jain authors such as Jinasena, we see how sovereignty and renunciation were mutually constituted such that the king’s renunciation completely subverts the problem of the king’s death. If the fiction of Jain kingship properly practiced culminates in renunciation, then such a movement yields up a new figure of the ascetic self-sovereign. Renunciation does not sever sovereignty but extends it into a higher spiritual domain. Worldly and spiritual sovereignty share a metaphorical language and set of techniques that render them as adjacent but hierarchical spheres of authority. In so doing, Jain authors provide a religious answer to a political problem and make the political inbuilt into the religious, thereby revealing their interpenetrating and bounded nature. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-10T05:06:35Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-fb73dabc83cd4f169f9c57ae29abf9fd |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2077-1444 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-10T05:06:35Z |
| publishDate | 2021-11-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Religions |
| spelling | doaj.art-fb73dabc83cd4f169f9c57ae29abf9fd2023-11-23T01:17:11ZengMDPI AGReligions2077-14442021-11-01121198610.3390/rel12110986The King Never Dies: Royal Renunciation and the Fiction of Jain SovereigntySarah Pierce Taylor0Divinity School, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60637, USATo theorize Jain sovereignty, this essay takes up Ernst Kantorowicz’s underlying query of what happens when a king dies. In turning to medieval Jain authors such as Jinasena, we see how sovereignty and renunciation were mutually constituted such that the king’s renunciation completely subverts the problem of the king’s death. If the fiction of Jain kingship properly practiced culminates in renunciation, then such a movement yields up a new figure of the ascetic self-sovereign. Renunciation does not sever sovereignty but extends it into a higher spiritual domain. Worldly and spiritual sovereignty share a metaphorical language and set of techniques that render them as adjacent but hierarchical spheres of authority. In so doing, Jain authors provide a religious answer to a political problem and make the political inbuilt into the religious, thereby revealing their interpenetrating and bounded nature.https://www.mdpi.com/2077-1444/12/11/986sovereigntykingshiprenunciationasceticismJainismDigambara |
| spellingShingle | Sarah Pierce Taylor The King Never Dies: Royal Renunciation and the Fiction of Jain Sovereignty Religions sovereignty kingship renunciation asceticism Jainism Digambara |
| title | The King Never Dies: Royal Renunciation and the Fiction of Jain Sovereignty |
| title_full | The King Never Dies: Royal Renunciation and the Fiction of Jain Sovereignty |
| title_fullStr | The King Never Dies: Royal Renunciation and the Fiction of Jain Sovereignty |
| title_full_unstemmed | The King Never Dies: Royal Renunciation and the Fiction of Jain Sovereignty |
| title_short | The King Never Dies: Royal Renunciation and the Fiction of Jain Sovereignty |
| title_sort | king never dies royal renunciation and the fiction of jain sovereignty |
| topic | sovereignty kingship renunciation asceticism Jainism Digambara |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2077-1444/12/11/986 |
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