Theses by Kristoffer af Edholm
Ascetic poetry in ancient India: The ideal renouncer and the path to liberation, according to ind... more Ascetic poetry in ancient India: The ideal renouncer and the path to liberation, according to independent verses in early Brahmanic, Buddhist, and Jaina literature.
Doctoral thesis in History of Religions, Stockholm University 2024.
With corrigenda list, updated February 2026.
The dissertation identifies the ideal renouncer and the path to liberation on the basis of nearly 3500 “independent verses/stanzas” (gāthās, ślokas), in early Brahmanic, Buddhist, and Jaina literature, including Mahābhārata, Suttanipāta, Dhammapada, Saṃyuttanikāya, Uttarajjhayaṇa, Sūyagaḍa, Isibhāsiyāiṃ, and other texts. It is argued that this genre of poetry is important for our knowledge about the ascetic milieu in Northern India around the 5th century BCE.
Verses from the three traditions are compared with one another, the verse- material is compared with selected texts belonging to other genres, and the literature is placed in its historical context. Attention is given to vocabulary, formulas, similes, and recurrent themes. Hypotheses about the early history of the renouncer-traditions are tested against the verse-material.
Part 1 discusses aim, theory, method, terminology, previous studies, earliness and authenticity of the verses, origins and characteristics of the genre, and relevant texts. Part 2 treats the debated origins of emancipatory askesis, brāhmaṇa and śramaṇa, authority and founder-figures, and female ascetics. Part 3 proceeds along an ideal path to liberation: from reasons for giving up mundane pursuits, to going forth into homelessness, practise of austerity, itinerancy, solitude, seclusion, mendicancy, purification, non-harm, restraint, heroic overcoming of obstacles, and meditation, to attainment of gnosis and awakening, and finally liberation from saṃsāra. Part 4 is the conclusion. The Appendices contain the entire verse-material, as well as defining sentences in final pādas, shared whole verses, and key-terms.
It is concluded that in the three verse-corpora one can identify a shared outlook, which is world-rejecting, autocentric, and telos-oriented, and a shared renouncer-ideal, which is male, heroic, and austere. The same outlook and ideal are found in narrative accounts about Śākyamuni, Mahāvīra, and others who attain the highest goal. Differences between the three traditions concern mainly the use of certain terms, formulas, and similes, less so doctrine, but the differences are not reducible to a divide between Brahmanic and Buddhist/Jaina.
Generally speaking, each tradition has composed its own verses that promote a renouncer-ideal and a path to liberation, rather than having borrowed verses from another tradition or from a common source. The many similarities between the three traditions are primarily due to their common origin in the ascetic milieu, in which the gāthā was an established literary medium for making authoritative statements.
It is argued that the shared outlook and ideal were established before the introduction of two-step ordination, nuns’ order, fourfold community, devotion to an exalted founder-figure, and the building of monasteries. The verse-content points to a rural environment and a stratified society rooted in late Vedic culture. The renunciant movement of the 5th century BCE can be seen as the culmination of a centuries-old ascetic tradition in ancient India.
Master's Thesis in History of Religions, Stockholm University 2014.
(With a comment by the autho... more Master's Thesis in History of Religions, Stockholm University 2014.
(With a comment by the author 2025.)
This thesis analyses the late-Vedic goddess Śrī and her non-personified precedent śrī 'splendour, excellence'. Śrī has not before been studied in the light of the Avestan royal splendour, xᵛarənah, and is often interpreted one-sidedly as having her roots in a pre-Aryan goddess of prosperity. In contrast, this thesis locates the genealogy of Śrī's characteristics in the Vedic goddess of dawn. The meaning of light in Vedic poetic and sacrificial terminology is highlighted, especially in the relation between royal patron and priest-poet. Śrī's relation to terms like varcas and tejas, the "shining fame" of the hero, and epic descriptions of blazing warriors, are discussed. The nimbus in early Indian iconography is compared to descriptions of royal splendour in the texts. A subsistent theme in epics, myths and Vedic rituals is identified: the splendour won, lost and recovered by the king. This paradigm is showed to be dependent on the truthfulness, sacrificial status and asceticism of the king. A new understanding of central events in the royal consecration ritual, in the Rāmāyaṇa and the Mahābhārata are thereby offered. It is argued that a continuous and richly varied concept of royal splendour can be identified, from the Ṛgveda to the great epics, and that it is of considerable importance in the ancient Indian rulership ideology.
Order of the gods: Cosmic creation and renewal in Old Norse religion".
Thesis (second semester)... more Order of the gods: Cosmic creation and renewal in Old Norse religion".
Thesis (second semester) in History of Religions, Stockholm University 2010.
The thesis treats the role of gods (aesir) and men - especially kings - as creators of order (cosmos) out of disorder (chaos), the latter represented by ettins (jǫtnar), according to Old Norse religion. The gods do not create ex nihilo; rather they make use of resources and powers that already exist but in a state of potentiality and passivity. Cosmos has to be created, defended, and periodically renewed, often by means of violence. The ordering of the world is a goal-oriented activity that is typical of male gods, in contrast to goddesses and ettins. The ideal of cosmic ordering and rulership is approximated by Óðinn among the gods and by the king among men.
Papers by Kristoffer af Edholm
Jaina Studies: Newsletter of the Centre of Jaina Studies (SOAS), 2025
This brief communication presents some of my findings on ascetic poetry in the earliest texts in ... 
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Theses by Kristoffer af Edholm
Doctoral thesis in History of Religions, Stockholm University 2024.
With corrigenda list, updated February 2026.
The dissertation identifies the ideal renouncer and the path to liberation on the basis of nearly 3500 “independent verses/stanzas” (gāthās, ślokas), in early Brahmanic, Buddhist, and Jaina literature, including Mahābhārata, Suttanipāta, Dhammapada, Saṃyuttanikāya, Uttarajjhayaṇa, Sūyagaḍa, Isibhāsiyāiṃ, and other texts. It is argued that this genre of poetry is important for our knowledge about the ascetic milieu in Northern India around the 5th century BCE.
Verses from the three traditions are compared with one another, the verse- material is compared with selected texts belonging to other genres, and the literature is placed in its historical context. Attention is given to vocabulary, formulas, similes, and recurrent themes. Hypotheses about the early history of the renouncer-traditions are tested against the verse-material.
Part 1 discusses aim, theory, method, terminology, previous studies, earliness and authenticity of the verses, origins and characteristics of the genre, and relevant texts. Part 2 treats the debated origins of emancipatory askesis, brāhmaṇa and śramaṇa, authority and founder-figures, and female ascetics. Part 3 proceeds along an ideal path to liberation: from reasons for giving up mundane pursuits, to going forth into homelessness, practise of austerity, itinerancy, solitude, seclusion, mendicancy, purification, non-harm, restraint, heroic overcoming of obstacles, and meditation, to attainment of gnosis and awakening, and finally liberation from saṃsāra. Part 4 is the conclusion. The Appendices contain the entire verse-material, as well as defining sentences in final pādas, shared whole verses, and key-terms.
It is concluded that in the three verse-corpora one can identify a shared outlook, which is world-rejecting, autocentric, and telos-oriented, and a shared renouncer-ideal, which is male, heroic, and austere. The same outlook and ideal are found in narrative accounts about Śākyamuni, Mahāvīra, and others who attain the highest goal. Differences between the three traditions concern mainly the use of certain terms, formulas, and similes, less so doctrine, but the differences are not reducible to a divide between Brahmanic and Buddhist/Jaina.
Generally speaking, each tradition has composed its own verses that promote a renouncer-ideal and a path to liberation, rather than having borrowed verses from another tradition or from a common source. The many similarities between the three traditions are primarily due to their common origin in the ascetic milieu, in which the gāthā was an established literary medium for making authoritative statements.
It is argued that the shared outlook and ideal were established before the introduction of two-step ordination, nuns’ order, fourfold community, devotion to an exalted founder-figure, and the building of monasteries. The verse-content points to a rural environment and a stratified society rooted in late Vedic culture. The renunciant movement of the 5th century BCE can be seen as the culmination of a centuries-old ascetic tradition in ancient India.
(With a comment by the author 2025.)
This thesis analyses the late-Vedic goddess Śrī and her non-personified precedent śrī 'splendour, excellence'. Śrī has not before been studied in the light of the Avestan royal splendour, xᵛarənah, and is often interpreted one-sidedly as having her roots in a pre-Aryan goddess of prosperity. In contrast, this thesis locates the genealogy of Śrī's characteristics in the Vedic goddess of dawn. The meaning of light in Vedic poetic and sacrificial terminology is highlighted, especially in the relation between royal patron and priest-poet. Śrī's relation to terms like varcas and tejas, the "shining fame" of the hero, and epic descriptions of blazing warriors, are discussed. The nimbus in early Indian iconography is compared to descriptions of royal splendour in the texts. A subsistent theme in epics, myths and Vedic rituals is identified: the splendour won, lost and recovered by the king. This paradigm is showed to be dependent on the truthfulness, sacrificial status and asceticism of the king. A new understanding of central events in the royal consecration ritual, in the Rāmāyaṇa and the Mahābhārata are thereby offered. It is argued that a continuous and richly varied concept of royal splendour can be identified, from the Ṛgveda to the great epics, and that it is of considerable importance in the ancient Indian rulership ideology.
Thesis (second semester) in History of Religions, Stockholm University 2010.
The thesis treats the role of gods (aesir) and men - especially kings - as creators of order (cosmos) out of disorder (chaos), the latter represented by ettins (jǫtnar), according to Old Norse religion. The gods do not create ex nihilo; rather they make use of resources and powers that already exist but in a state of potentiality and passivity. Cosmos has to be created, defended, and periodically renewed, often by means of violence. The ordering of the world is a goal-oriented activity that is typical of male gods, in contrast to goddesses and ettins. The ideal of cosmic ordering and rulership is approximated by Óðinn among the gods and by the king among men.
Papers by Kristoffer af Edholm