Updated June 16, 2017
SEEKERS OF THE NAKED TRUTH:
COLLECTED WRITINGS ON THE GYMNOSOPHISTS AND RELATED SHRAMANA RELIGIONS
BOOK I:
BASIC SOURCES
ON THE GYMNOSOPHISTS
PART I—TEACHINGS OF SAÑJAYA
1.
Paramahamsa-parivrajaka Upanishad 3
2.
Samaññaphala Sutra 4
3.
Brahmajala Sutra 6
4.
Sutrakritanga 8
PART II—GREEKS MEET THE GYMNOSOPHISTS
5.
Strabo 11
6.
Arrian 15
7.
Plutarch 17
8.
Apuleius 18
9.
Athenaeus Mechanicus 19
PART III—SKEPTIC PHILOSOPHERS
10.
Diogenes Laertius 22
11.
Eusebius 24
12.
Sextus Empiricus 25
PART IV—VEGETARIANISM
13.
Theophrastus 30
14.
Pliny the Elder 30
15.
Porphyry 31
16.
Tertullian 32
17.
Jerome 32
PART V—DEATH BY FIRE
18.
Aelian 35
19.
Cicero 35
20.
Nicolaüs Damascenus 37
21. St.
Paul 38
22.
Lucian 38
PART VI—ENCRATITE CHRISTIANS
23.
Hippolytus 42
24.
Clement of Alexandria 43
25.
Pseudo-Thomas 45
PART VII—WESTERN FICTIONS
A—QUIZZES
26.
Plutarch 48
27.
Pseudo-Callisthenes 49
28. The
Babylonian Talmud 51
B—WISE PROTO-CHRISTIANS
29.
Hippolytus 55
30.
Pseudo-Palladius 56
31.
Pierre Abelard 69
32.
Vincent of Beauvais 70
C—LETTERS
33.
Philo Judaeus 73
34.
Collatio cum Dindimo. 74
35.
Daniel Foote 81
D—NATURAL LIVING IN A
NATURAL PARADISE
36. Dion
Chrysostom 87
37. St.
Augustine 88
38.
Philippe de Mezieres 89
39. Sir
John Mandeville 91
40. Sir
Thomas More 93
41.
Henry Neville 94
PART VIII—EASTERN FICTIONS
A—ANCIENT TALES OF EXOTIC
TRAVEL
42.
Philostratus 96
43.
Heliodorus 100
44.
History of the Rechabites 103
45. The
Jerusalem Talmud 106
B—VARIATIONS ON WESTERN
FICTIONS
46.
Ethiopian variant on Pseudo-Callisthenes. 108
47. The
Quran 110
48.
al-Mubashshir ibn Fatik 111
49.
Jewish Reinterpretation of the Collatio 112
50.
Immanuel ben Jacob Bonfils 113
C—GENEALOGY OF IDEAS
51.
Clearchus of Soli 117
52.
Ammianus Marcellinus 118
53.
Pseudo-Ammonius 118
54. Book
of the Mystery of Creation 120
55.
Averroes 121
D—LATER STORYTELLING
56.
Sefer Alexandrus Mokdon 125
57.
Yaqubi 126
58.
al-Masudi 126
59.
Firdausi 130
60. The
Iskandarnamah. 133
61.
al-Ghazali 134
62.
Nizami 135
PART IX—ADAMITES
A—DISTORTIONS OF HISTORICAL
FACT
63.
Epiphanius 139
64.
Lawrence of Brezova 141
65.
Aeneas Sylvius [Pope Pius II] 143
66.
Pierre Bayle 144
67.
Isaac de Beausobre 145
B—FICTIONS: LONDON 1641
68. A
Nest of Serpents Discovered 149
69. The
Adamites Sermon 152
70.
Bloudy Newse from the North 155
PART X—FREEMASONRY AND THEOSOPHY
71.
Albert Gallatin Mackey 158
72.
Albert Pike 158
73.
Helena P. Blavatsky 159
PART XI—MODERN FICTIONS
A—VOICES OF REASON
74.
Voltaire 162
75.
Robert Dodsley 164
76.
Christoph Martin Wieland 165
77.
Gustave Flaubert 166
78.
Vikram Chandra 168
79.
Umberto Eco 173
B—NEVER-ENDING VERSIONS OF
THE ALEXANDER STORY
80.
Klaus Mann 177
81. Mary
Renault 180
82.
Valerio Massimo Manfredi 188
83.
Steven Pressfield 197
PART XII—NATURISM
84.
Maurice Parmelee 200
85. Carl
W. Werner 203
86.
Enrico S. Molnar 206
PART XIII—TOWARD A NEW NAKED PHILOSOPHY
87. Ram
Jethmalani 211
88.
Shubham Basu 212
89.
Devdutt Pattanaik 213
90.
Jayarathina Madharasan 216
91. Paul
LeValley 217
BOOK II:
COLLECTED ESSAYS
ON SHRAMANA RELIGIONS
PART XIV—GYMNOSOPHISTS
What Happened
at Taxila? 223
What Did the
Gymnosophists Believe? 243
Jewish and
Islamic Tales of the Gymnosophists 262
Gymnosophy,
Past, Present, and Future 271
PART XV—EARLY SHRAMANAS IN GENERAL
Common Ground:
Greek Athletics Among Indian Ascetics 280
Greek
Influence on Indian Sculptures as Early as Alexander's
Campaign 302
PART XVI—BUDDHISTS
Gandharan
Art—A Reconciliation 326
Buddhist Sand
Mandala Explained 339
Physical and
Spiritual Love 344
PART XVII—JAINS
The Jains:
Keeping Your Mind Clear by Keeping Your Body Free 352
Sravana
Belgola 362
Jain Revival
of the Greek Sculptural Style 364
Possible Jain
Influence on a Medieval English Alexander Manuscript; or The Fig Leaves
Aren't in the Right Places 387
PART XVIII—SUMMARY
Naked
Ascetics: Some Observations on the Shramana Religious
Spectrum 404
APPENDICES
A. Asia
and Western Arts 417
B. A
Note on the Illustrations 422
C.
Bibliography on Nudity in India 429
BIBLIOGRAPHY 433
INDEX 455
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