Pravacana

'''Pravacana''' ({{Langx|sa|प्रवचन}}) is a term for any exposition of a doctrine or treatise, or to the recitation of a scripture or text in Jainism and Hinduism traditions.<ref name="mmwpravacana">Monier Monier Williams, [http://www.ibiblio.org/sripedia/ebooks/mw/0700/mw__0723.html Sanskrit English Dictionary with Etymology], Oxford University Press, page 690</ref> It particularly refers to the tradition of ''Pravacanakara'' (monks, scholars or saints) presenting their teachings or explanations of spiritual ideas before a gathering of householders or general public in the Indian traditions. ''Pravacana'' is an ancient tradition, whose earliest mentions are found in the Vedic texts but one that is also found in post-Vedic Shastra and Sutra texts of Hindus and Jains.<ref name="mmwpravacana" /><ref name="Gonda1977p514">{{cite book|author=Jan Gonda| authorlink=Jan Gonda| title=A History of Indian Literature: Veda and Upanishads. The Ritual Sutras|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=FItIfhT5macC|year=1977|publisher=Harrassowitz|isbn=978-3-447-01823-4|pages=514–515 with footnotes}}</ref>

== Buddhism == ''Pravacana'' refers to ninefold dhamma in Buddhist texts, and its recitation.<ref name=mmwpravacana/> It was adopted from the Vedic tradition, and sometimes referred to as Pavachan.<ref>{{cite book|author=Nagraj |title=Agama Aura Tripitaka: Eka Anusilana |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dXVOXRrYQiQC&pg=PA133|year=1986|publisher=Concept Publishing |isbn=978-81-7022-731-1|page=133}}</ref>

== Hinduism == thumb|left|A Hindu ''pravacana'' in progress. ''Pravacana'' (Sanskrit: प्रवचन) refers to "exposition, expounding, reciting, orally explaining, speaking or talking" about a spiritual idea or doctrine or treatise in Hinduism, particularly eloquently or excellent expression.<ref name=mmwpravacana/> The term is found with this sense of meaning in the ''Rigveda'' verses 10.35.8 and 4.36.1, in the sense of recitation of Vedic texts in the ''Yajurveda'', in various Brahmanas, Gryhasutras, the ''Ramayana'' and the ''Mahabharata'', various sutras, as well as the Puranic literature such as the ''Bhagavata Purana''.<ref name=mmwpravacana/><ref name="Gonda1977p514"/> The term typically refers to discourse, verbal discussion or a recital, but also refers to a textual genre of Indian literature that study a doctrine across texts, propound or synthesize ideas.<ref name="Gonda1977p514"/><ref>{{cite book|author=Moriz Winternitz|authorlink=Moriz Winternitz|title=A History of Indian Literature|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JRfuJFRV_O8C&pg=PA259|year=1996|publisher=Motilal Banarsidass |isbn=978-81-208-0264-3|pages=259 footnote 3}}</ref> A speaker is called ''Pravacanakara''.<ref name=mmwpravacana/><ref name="Gonda1977p514"/>

According to Rangaswami, while ''pravacana'' is teaching or recital of scriptures, it can also refer to self-recital of a text.<ref>{{cite book|author=Sudhakshina Rangaswami|title=The Roots of Vedānta: Selections from Śaṅkara's Writings|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2snhxaaWDAYC&pg=PA337|year=2012|publisher=Penguin Books|isbn=978-0-14-306445-9|pages=337–338}}</ref> The tradition has remained popular in contemporary times, but regionally spelled differently. For example, in Kerala, a ''pravacana'' is spelled ''pathakam'', and generally refers to spiritual and moral-filled folklore recital such as Purana-pravacana, according to Raghavan.<ref>{{cite journal | last=Raghavan | first=V. | title=Methods of Popular Religious Instruction in South India | journal=The Journal of American Folklore | publisher=American Folklore Society | volume=71 | issue=281 | year=1958 | doi=10.2307/538566 | pages=336–344| jstor=538566 }}</ref>

== Jainism == [[File:Gyansagarji Pravachan.jpg|thumb|Pravachan by a Digambara monk]] The word ''pravachan'' is widely used by Jains. In Jainism, the word ''śrāvaka'' is used for the householders. The word has its roots in the word ''śrāvana'', i.e. the one who listens (the discourses of the saints).<ref name=Udayana>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=d4VeYJdww2YC&pg=PA423|title=Udayana|isbn=9788179751688|last1=Singh|first1=Abhay Kumar|last2=Arora|first2=Udai Prakash|date=2007-01-01|page=423|publisher=Anamika Publishers & Distributors }}</ref>

The ''pravachan'' by Jain saints could be on Jain principles or Jain scriptures (''Shastra Pravachan'').<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dm0AAAAAMAAJ|title=Progressive Jains of India|last1=Jain|first1=Satish Kumar|year=1975|page=120}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4Cy_-FXW9BQC|title=Gujarat|isbn=9788179911044|year=2003|page=650|last1=Lal|first1=R. B.|publisher=Popular Prakashan }}</ref>

During the four-month rainy-season period, when the mendicants must stay in one place, the chief ''sadhu'' of every group gives a daily sermon (''pravacana'', ''vyakhyana''), attended mostly by women and older, retired men, but on special days by most of the lay congregation. During their eight months of travel, the ''sadhus'' give sermons whenever requested, most often when they come to a new village or town in their travels.{{sfn|Cort|2001|p=104}}

Some Jain texts use the term ''Pravacana'' in their title, such as the ''Pravacana-sara'' by Kunda-kunda.<ref>H. W. Bailey (1937), [https://www.jstor.org/stable/608194 Review: The Pravacana-sāra of Kunda-kunda Ācārya. Vol. I. by Barend Faddegon], Bulletin of the School of Oriental Studies, Cambridge University Press, Vol. 9, No. 1 (1937), p. 228</ref>

==Sources== * {{citation |last=Cort |first=John E. |authorlink=John E. Cort |title=Jains in the World : Religious Values and Ideology in India |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PZk-4HOMzsoC |publisher=Oxford University Press |date=2001 |isbn=0-19-513234-3 }}

==References== {{reflist}}

Category:Hindu texts Category:Hindu traditions Category:Jain traditions Category:Sanskrit words and phrases