About The Book The idea of politics hardly finds an expression elsewhere as clearly as in Mahābhārata. This work thus investigates the political thought explicit in Śānti-Parva and emphasizes that Mahābhārata is a text in the study of politics, apart from the perception of it being a great epic and a text of high literary value. Whatever be the notion of politics we contemplate upon, it finds an articulation in Mahābhārata. As the Greek tradition of thinking is the base of Western politics, Śānti-Parva of Mahābhārata represents the Indian notion of political thinking, though there remain many similarities and dissimilarities between the two systems. This volume navigates one to how to read Mahābhārata as a political text; the idea of political thoughts, the constituting principles of politics and the political institutions in Śānti-Parva; and the relevance of these political thoughts in modern time. Topics such as daṇḍanīti, origin of state, the seven elements of state, functions of state, types of state, kinship, judiciary and administration are discussed in detail, among many other issues of political importance. The book collects, analyses and examines the internal evidences from Śānti-Parva and also from other parvans of Mahābhārata to reach a decisive conclusion, making the work a composite result of textual analysis, related literature and subjective contemplation. It clearly shows that the idea of politics is not separated from the idea of ethics. Rather they are intertwined. About the Author Dr Priyanka Pandey is an upcoming Sanskrit scholar with a penchant for serious researches on Indian classics. She got her PhD for the thesis, “Perspectives of Rājadharma in Mahābhārata: A Critical Analysis” from Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. This book Rājadharma in Mahābhārata with Special Reference to Śānti-Parva is an offshoot of her research project. Dr Pandey has presented articles in many national and international seminars and has ten articles published in journals/books of repute to her credit.

“Narayan makes this treasury of Indian folklore and mythology readily accessible to the general reader . . . he captures the spirit of the narrative.”—Library Journal The Mahabharata tells a story of such violence and tragedy that many people in India refuse to keep the full text in their homes, fearing that doing so would invite a disastrous fate upon their house. Covering everything from creation to destruction, this ancient poem remains an indelible part of Hindu culture and a landmark in ancient literature. Centuries of listeners and readers have been drawn to The Mahabharata, which began as disparate oral ballads and grew into a sprawling epic. The modern version is famously long, and at more than 1.8 million words—seven times the combined lengths of the Iliad and Odyssey—it can be incredibly daunting. But contemporary readers have a much more accessible entry point to this important work, thanks to R. K. Narayan’s masterful, elegant translation and abridgement of the poem. Now with a new foreword by Wendy Doniger, as well as a concise character and place guide and a family tree, The Mahabharata is ready for a new generation of readers. Narayan ably distills a tale that is both traditional and constantly changing. He draws from both scholarly analysis and creative interpretation and vividly fuses the spiritual with the secular. Through this balance he has produced a translation that is not only clear, but graceful, one that stands as its own story as much as an adaptation of a larger work.

Millennia have passed since the dharma yudhha of the cousins shook the land of Bharata. But this history of our ancestors continues to fascinate us. Even today, we have passionate discussions about the people and their actions in the epic, fervidly defending our favourites and denouncing others. The number of works on the Mahabharata-adaptations, retellings and fiction-that still get written is a testimony to its enduring relevance. While the general storyline is largely known, a lot of questions and myths prevail, such as-What was the geographical extent of the war? Did Drona actually refuse to take on Karna as his disciple? What were Draupadi's responsibilities as the queen of Indraprastha? Did she ever mock Duryodhana? Were the women in the time of the Mahabharata meek and submissive? What were the names of the war formations during the time? What role did the sons of the Pandavas play? Does the south of India feature at all in the Mahabharata? What happened after the war? These and many other intriguing questions continue to mystify the contemporary reader. Author Ami Ganatra debunks myths, quashes popular notions and offers insights into such aspects not commonly known or erroneously known, based solely on facts as narrated in Vyasa's Mahabharata from generally accepted authentic sources. For a history of such prominence and influence as the Mahabharata, it is important to get the story right. So pick this book up, sit back and unveil the lesser-known facts and truths about the great epic.

The Sanskrit Mahabharata is one of the most important texts to emerge from the Indian cultural tradition. At almost 75,000 verses it is the longest poem in the world, and throughout Indian history it has been hugely influential in shaping gender and social norms. In the context of ancient India, it is the definitive cultural narrative in the construction of masculine, feminine and alternative gender roles. This book brings together many of the most respected scholars in the field of Mahabharata studies, as well as some of its most promising young scholars. By focusing specifically on gender constructions, some of the most innovative aspects of the Mahabharata are highlighted. Whilst taking account of feminist scholarship, the contributors see the Mahabharata as providing an opportunity to frame discussion of gender in literature not just in terms of the socio-historical roles of men and women. Instead they analyze the text in terms of the wider poetic and philosophical possibilities thrown up by the semiotics of gendering. Consequently, the book bridges a gap in text-critical methodology between the traditional philological approach and more recent trends in gender and literary theory. Gender and Narrative in the Mahabharata will be appreciated by readers interested in South Asian studies, Hinduism, religious studies and gender studies.

This book analyzes how French dramatists reproduced certain images of India such as the burning widow, the lowly pariah or untouchable, and the exotic 'bayadere' or dancing girl in four plays and one ballet written from the eighteenth century through the twentieth centuries. Addressing questions of Orientalism, the book also argues that it was because the French lost their Indian colonies to the Briish in the eighteenth centuries that India became a part of the French literary imagination.

The Mahabharata preserves powerful journeys of women recognized as the feminine divine and the feminine heroic in the larger culture of India. Each journey upholds the unique aspects of women's life. This book analytically examines the narratives of eleven women from the Mahabharata in the historical context as well as in association with religious and cultural practices. Lavanya Vemsani brings together history, myth, religion, and practice to arrive at a comprehensive understanding of the history of Hindu women, as well as their significance within religious Indian culture. Additionally, Vemsani provides important perspective for understanding the enduring legacy of these women in popular culture and modern society.

Local renderings of the two Indian epics Ramayana and Mahabharata in Malay and Javanese literature have existed since around the ninth and tenth centuries. In the following centuries new versions were created alongside the old ones, and these opened up interesting new directions. They questioned the views of previous versions and laid different accents, in a continuous process of modernization and adaptation, successfully satisfying the curiosity of their audiences for more than a thousand years. Much of this history is still unclear. For a long time, scholarly research made little progress, due to its preoccupation with problems of origin. The present volume, going beyond identifying sources, analyses the socio-literary contexts and ideological foundations of seemingly similar contents and concepts in different periods; it examines the literary functions of borrowing and intertextual referencing, and calls upon the visual arts to illustrate the independent character of the epic tradition in Southeast Asia.