Rethinking the Mahabharata: A Reader's Guide to the Education of the Dharma KingThe ancient Indian Sanskrit tradition produced no text more intriguing, or more persistently misunderstood or underappreciated, than the Mahabharata. Its intricacies have waylaid generations of scholars and ignited dozens of unresolved debates. In Rethinking the Mahabharata, Alf Hiltebeitel offers a unique model for understanding the great epic. Employing a wide range of literary and narrative theory, Hiltebeitel draws on historical and comparative research in an attempt to discern the spirit and techniques behind the epic's composition. He focuses on the education of Yudhisthira, also known as the Dharma King, and shows how the relationship of this figure to others-especially his author-grandfather Vyasa and his wife Draupadi-provides a thread through the bewildering array of frames and stories embedded within stories. Hiltebeitel also offers a revisionist theory regarding the dating and production of the original text and its relation to the Veda. No ordinary reader's guide, this volume will illuminate many mysteries of this enigmatic masterpiece. This work is the fourth volume in Hiltebeitel's study of the Draupadi cult. Other volumes include Mythologies: From Gingee to Kuruksetra (Volume One), On Hindu Ritual and the Goddess (Volume Two), and Rethinking India's Oral and Classical Epics (Volume Three). |
Contents
A Empire and Invasion 5 B Epics and Ages | 10 |
Gleaners and Huns | 17 |
The Author in the Works | 51 |
Conventions of the Naimisa Forest | 92 |
Moving along with the Naimişeya Rṣis | 122 |
Dont Be Cruel | 177 |
Listening to Nala and Damayantī | 215 |
Other editions - View all
Rethinking the Mahabharata: A Reader's Guide to the Education of the Dharma King Alf Hiltebeitel No preview available - 2001 |
Common terms and phrases
Agni ahimsā anṛśamsya Arjuna asks Aśoka Aśvamedha Baka Balarama bard bhakti Bharata Bhargava Bhīṣma Biardeau Brahmans Buddhist Buitenen celestial chap chariot Critical Edition Dālbhya Damayanti dharma Dhṛtarastra dice match disciples divine eye Draupadi Draupadi's question Drona Drupada Duryodhana earth epic poets epic's Falk father Fitzgerald Ganguli gods Goldman hear heaven Heesterman hermitage highest dharma Hiltebeitel 1976 Himavat incarnate Indian Indra interpolation Janamejaya Kali Kaurava kill king Kṛṣṇa Kṣatriya Kurukṣetra literary Mahābhārata Mangels Mehta mentioned Meru mokṣa mountain Muni Naimisa Forest Naimiṣeya Nala Nala's Nārada narration narrative noncruelty Oberlies oral Pańcālas Pandavas Parvan passage pilgrimage Plakṣa Purāṇa Rājasūya Rāma Rāmāyaṇa recitation rite ritual Rṣis sages Samjaya Sanskrit Sanskrit epics Sarasvati sattra sattrins Śaunaka says seems Shulman Sītā Śiva snake sacrifice story Śuka Suka's Sukthankar tapas tīrtha translation Ugrasravas Vaidya Vaiśampāyana Vālmīki Vārṣṇeya Veda Vedic verse Vidura Vratya Vyasa Witzel Yama yātsattra yoga Yudhisthira yuga