Exploring Agency in the Mahabharata : Ethical and Political Dimensions of Dharma / edited by Sibesh Chandra Bhattacharya, Vrinda Dalmiya and Gangeya Mukherji.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Bhattacharya, Sibesh Chandra, editor.

Dalmiya, Vrinda, editor.

Mukherji, Gangeya, editor.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Mahābhārata--Criticism, interpretation, etc.

Mahābhārata.

Dharma.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (268 pages)

Edition:

First edition.

Place of Publication:

London : Routledge, 2018.

Summary:

"The Mahabharata, one of the major epics of India, is a sourcebook complete by itself as well as an open text constantly under construction. This volume looks at transactions between its modern discourses and ancient vocabulary. Located amid conversations between these two conceptual worlds, the volume grapples with the epic's problematisation of dharma or righteousness, and consequently, of the ideal person and the good life through a cluster of issues surrounding the concept of agency and action. Drawing on several interdisciplinary approaches, the essays reflect on a range of issues in the Mahabharata, including those of duty, motivation, freedom, selfhood, choice, autonomy, and justice, both in the context of philosophical debates and their ethical and political ramifications for contemporary times. This book will be of interest to scholars and researchers engaged with philosophy, literature, religion, history, politics, culture, gender, South Asian studies, and Indology. It will also appeal to the general reader interested in South Asian epics and the Mahabharata. "--Provided by publisher.

Contents:

chapter Introduction

To Do / Vrinda Dalmiya

part I Action

chapter 1 Mah?bh?rata. Itih?sa. Agency / Sibesh Chandra Bhattacharya

chapter 2 In Search of Genuine Agency

A Review of Action, Freedom and Karma in the Mah?bh?rata / Amita Chatterjee

chapter 3 The Theory of Karma in the Mah?bh?rata / Christopher G. Framarin

chapter 4 Karmayoga and the Vexed Moral Agent / Arti Dhand

part II Actor

chapter 5 Complexities in the Agency for Violence

A Look at the Mah?bh?rata / Gangeya Mukherji

chapter 6 Irresolution and Agency

The Case of Yudhi??hira / Shirshendu Chakrabarti

chapter 7 Can the Subhuman Speak or Act?

Agency of Sagacious Serpents, Benevolent Birds, Rational Rodents, and a Mocking Mongoose in the Mah?bh?rata / Arindam Chakrabarti

chapter 8 Textual–Sexual Transitions

The Reification of Women in the Mah?bh?rata / Uma Chakravarti

chapter 9 Ekalavya and the Possibility of Learning / Sundar Sarukkai

part III Epic Agency and Retellings

chapter 10 Tagore’s Readings of the Mah?bh?rata / Sudipta Kaviraj

chapter 11 Answerability Between Lived Life and Living Text

Chronotopicity in Finding Agency in the Mah?bh?rata / Lakshmi Bandlamudi

chapter 12 Dro?a in the Ekalavya Episode in S?ral? Mah?bh?rata / B. N. Patnaik.

Notes:

Includes index.

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (EBC, viewed April 10, 2018).

ISBN:

1-351-06140-2

1-351-06142-9

1-351-06141-0

9781351061421

OCLC:

1022753194