The implausible combination of incredible scholarly productivity, high-quality research, administrative efficiency, personal accessibility for students, colleagues, and virtually everyone, friendliness, generosity, and humor makes Patrick Olivelle rather suspicious as a person. Astonished observers have denoted this combination of qualities as super-human, concluding that Olivelle must be an avatāra that has manifested himself in our world to restore the dharma of scholarship on India. One characteristic feature of his work that makes such a conclusion rather unlikely is his own critical, historical approach toward Indian (and other) traditional theology and ideology. In his work, he constantly reminds us of the fact that the sources (not only) from ancient India, which we use for our historical inquiries, were created in particular historical, cultural, and socio-political contexts, within particular, mostly élite, circles that had their own internal disputes. Given that this tiny window into history poses an enormous obstacle for historical research, Olivelle's work demonstrates how we are nevertheless able to get a glimpse of social reality, by reading between the lines, by trying to understand the perspectives and motives of the authors, and by critically analyzing their truth-claims about religion and society.

The following is but a humble exercise in reading ancient Indian texts in what I would call an “Olivelle spirit.” Whether or not he will agree to this I do not know, and the reader may decide whether the exercise is valuable at all.