'Qualified Tolerance': Conditions for Constructive Conflict in Medieval Kashmir

About this event

In the 9th century, the Kashmiri Nyāya philosopher Jayanta Bhaṭṭa wrote a satirical play, the Āgamaḍambara ("Much Ado Abou t Religion"), whose hero sets out to humiliate the enemies of the Veda, but actually ends up adjudicating the terms on which rival traditions may continue to argue. The settlement he helps reach - a "qualified tolerance" - rests on criteria of transmission and conduct rather than doctrine, and thus holds among parties who remain wholeheartedly committed to the ultimate truth of their own teachings. This unsettles a familiar assumption: that a pluralistic society must be forged either by holding diverse religious commitments 'ironically' or by attaining unanimous consensus on a single universal truth. Turning to the Śaiva and Buddhist philosophers of the same valley, who built their rival systems through sustained argument with each other, I investigate what a thriving pluralism actually requires - not shared theoretical foundations, b ut shared practical conditions for disagreeing well.own teachings.

This unsettles a familiar assumption: that a

pluralistic society must be forged either by holding

diverse religious commitments 'ironically' or by

attaining unanimous consensus on a single universal

truth. Turning to the Śaiva and Buddhist

philosophers of the same valley, who built their rival

systems through sustained argument with each

other, I investigate what a thriving pluralism actually

requires - not shared theoretical foundations, but

shared practical conditions for disagreeing well.