David Brick

Current research interests

I work broadly on Sanskrit literature and pre-modern India. My research has, for the most part, focused on various aspects of the vast classical Hindu legal tradition known as Dharmaśāstra. Specific topics on which I have written include: the pre-modern custom of sati or widow-burning; the origin and evolution of the institution of widow-asceticism; inheritance law; the practice of judicial ordeals; systems of sin and ritual expiation; theories and rituals of gifting; the early sociolinguistics of Sanskrit; debates concerning kinship and marriageability; and historical processes of canonization. My first book, Brahmanical Theories of the Gift: A Critical Edition and Annotated Translation of the Dānakāṇḍa of the Kṛtyakalpataru, was published in 2015 as part of the Harvard Oriental Series. It constitutes the first critical edition and complete translation into any modern language of a dānanibandha, a genre of medieval Sanskrit text dedicated to the culturally and religiously important topic of gift-giving. The book also includes a lengthy introduction to the Dānakāṇḍa, part of the encyclopedic Kṛtyakalpataru and the earliest surviving dānanibandha (c. 1110–50 CE).  There I discuss Brahmanical Hindu ideas of the gift both in their own right and in light of other major scholarship on the topic, such as that of the early French sociologist Marcel Mauss.

In my work, I mainly aspire to shed light on specific facets of the social history of ancient and medieval India by drawing upon evidence from Sanskrit and to a lesser extent Prakrit literature. For this, the massive literary output of the classical Hindu legal tradition (Dharmaśāstra) is an invaluable resource, although far from the only one. I have also often found significant insights into the texts I study in the work of anthropologists, particularly those working on traditional anthropological topics.

Current projects

I am presently working on two major research projects. The first of these is a complete English translation of the Anuśāsana Parvan, the thirteenth book of the Mahābhārata, the longer of Sanskrit literature’s two great epics. This translation will eventually be published as part of the University of Chicago Press’s authoritative Mahābhārata Translation Series.

My second major project is an exhaustive study of widows under classical Hindu law, including detailed textual and historical analysis of such topics as widow remarriage, widows’ rights of inheritance, the custom of sati, and widow-asceticism. My hope is that insights drawn from this project will provide important context for understanding latter colonial debates concerning Hindu widows and also influence how scholars view the character and evolution of dominant male views of women in premodern South Asia.

Teaching interests

My teaching is divided more or less evenly between language courses in Sanskrit and non-language courses with a focus on India, particularly classical India. I teach a yearlong introductory Sanskrit sequence every other year for all interested students. By the end of the year, students can expect to be reading ancient Sanskrit texts in the original language. The following yearlong intermediate Sanskrit sequence will be entirely devoted to reading Sanskrit texts and introduce students to an array of fascinating and influential works written in Sanskrit.  For non-language courses, I regularly teach a survey lecture course on ancient Indian history, as well as other courses on Hinduism and early Indian literature and religion.