Dialogue in Early South Asian Religions. Hindu, Buddhist, and Jain Traditions constitutes the fourth volume in the series “Dialogues in South Asian Traditions: Religion, Philosophy, Literature and History” which will seek to examine “the use of the dialogical genre in South Asian religious and cultural traditions” (preface). Based on the premise that “face-to-face conversation and dialogue are defining features of South Asian traditional texts, ritual and practice”, the series aims at establishing a “dynamic historical and literary mode of analysis” (preface) suited to the South Asian pluri-religious context. The contributions gathered in this volume are a welcome addition to the series.

The 11 articles are all stimulating and equivalent in quality. They are preceded by a model introduction by Brian Black and Laurie Patton (pp. 1–21) which exposes the book's inception and intent. Although dialogue is a compositional device central to and shared by Hindu, Buddhist and Jain textual traditions, previous scholarship has largely neglected this literary genre. This book is a first endeavour to compensate for this lack, proposing a systematic survey of the forms of the dialogical genre, its uses, purposes, and effects across religious traditions in order to highlight common patterns or distinct features.

To this end, the contributions explore a wide range of Vedic, Hindu, Buddhist and Jain texts and are divided into three sections which each focus on a distinct aspect of dialogue. Part I “Dialogues inside and outside the texts” looks at religious conversations within the Ṛg Veda (Laurie Patton, pp. 25–36), the Mahābhārata and the Rāmāyaṇa (Alf Hiltebeitel, pp. 37–77), the Śvetāmbara Canon (Anna Aurelia Esposito, pp. 79–98) and the Pali Jātakas (Naomi Appleton, pp. 99–112). It reveals how a dialogue can function as a commentary on its own oral transmission and as an efficient didactic device to dispense the complex theological content of the text. Dialogue also acts as a window into the audiences outside the text which it targets. Issues of intertextuality are the focus of Part II, “Texts in dialogue”. Douglas Osto (pp. 115–36), Elizabeth M. Rohlman (pp. 137–50), and Andrew J. Nicholson (pp. 151–69) respectively examine how Prajñāpāramitā Sūtras, the Sarasvatī Purāṇa and philosophical dialogues found in Gītā, polemic and doxography draw upon earlier sources to legitimate the new teachings which they deliver. By recasting authoritative characters or reproducing the dialogical settings of well-known scriptures, these texts cloak the innovative nature of their content under deceitful conservatism while establishing a lineage in the transmission of a now refashioned theology. Part III, “Moving between traditions”, turns attention to the relationship, both real and imagined, between Hindus, Buddhists and Jains as reflected in dialogues. While Jonathan Geen's (pp. 191–205) and Lisa Wessman Crothers's (pp. 207–41) discussions on the rhetorical effectiveness and the non-verbal conditions of dialogue outline patterns common to Hindu, Buddhist and Jain literary traditions, the essays by Michael Nichols (pp. 173–90) and Brian Black (pp. 243–57) highlight how the topics and modalities of conversation are “calibrated” according to the interlocutors' gender, caste and religious affiliation. Ultimately, the four essays demonstrate how the dialogical genre offers an insight into the negotiation of religious boundaries in Ancient India.

The reader will appreciate how each author draws upon other contributions within the volume to support and nuance his or her argument. The characterization of the literary genre is thus refined through the active scholarly dialogue between the various authors. The contributions respectively and collectively shed light on religious communication in South Asia, thus sharpening the understanding of the dialogical genre and its many shades. Reciprocally, the dialogical proves to be a compelling heuristic approach to unravel threads underlying the formation of literary traditions, their purport and their scope. One example from each section can be cited as an illustration. In her essay Laurie Patton convincingly argues that the reflection about dialogue provides scholars with a valuable perspective to understand the performance of dialogue in Vedic ritual. By underlining how Gītās, polemic and doxography are modelled on the structure of dialogue in narrative texts, Andrew J. Nicholson invites scholars to rethink the definition of Indian philosophical texts. Finally, the strategies of accommodating the religious other that Brian Black identifies in ancient Hindu and Buddhist texts offer inspiring examples against which to consider modern debates about religious diversity and plurality.

If one desideratum had to be expressed for the future of the series, it would be the inclusion of media other than the literary one in the exploration of dialogue within and between religious traditions. The concentration on the written and oral media is fully justified in this volume which primarily seeks to study the literary genre of dialogue. Yet one may wonder whether this restriction to the literary might not distort the enquiry into the plurality of South Asian religious identity which the series proposes to undertake. If one assumes, as the editors of the series do, that dialogues shaped not only texts but also rituals and practices, “the dynamic historical and literary mode of analysis” which this book has started to establish is certainly a powerful tool but also potentially one-sided. Visual imageries for instance are often, particularly in ancient India, worthy additional sources to infer testimonies of the encounters between religious groups, their circumstances, their modes, and their consequences.

Yet one should not expect one volume in a newly established series (2012) to answer from the start questions which have far-reaching implications. Dialogue in Early South Asian Religions. Hindu, Buddhist, and Jain Traditions fulfils the promises eloquently articulated in the introduction. It engages with an extensive range of literary sources, gives a lucid and rigorous insight into the dialogical genre, and offers an innovative and inspiring theoretical framework within which to consider the multiplicity of South Asian religions and their literary productions.