Reading the fifth Veda : studies on the Mahabharata : essays. / Volume 1 / / by Alf Hiltebeitel ; edited by Vishwa Adluri and Joydeep Bagchee.

• Superior document: Numen book series ; v. 131
• Author: Hiltebeitel, Alf.
• TeilnehmendeR: Adluri, Vishwa.; Bagchee, Joydeep.
• Year of Publication: 2011
• Language: English
• Series: Studies in the history of religions ; v. 131.
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (694 p.)
• Notes: Description based upon print version of record.
• Other title: Preliminary Material /; Chapter One. Weighting Orality And Writing In The Sanskrit Epics /; Chapter Two. The Primary Process Of The Hindu Epics /; Chapter Three. More Rethinking The Mahābhārata: Toward A Politics Of Bhakti /; Chapter Four. Why Itihāsa? New Possibilities And Limits In Considering The Mahābhārata As History /; Chapter Five. The Archetypal Design Of The Two Sanskrit Epics /; Chapter Six. Not Without Subtales:Telling Laws And Truths In The Sanskrit Epics /; Chapter Seven. The NārāyaṇĪya And Early Reading Communities Of The Mahābhārata /; Chapter Eight. Among Friends: Marriage, Women, And Some Little Birds /; Chapter Nine. Epic Aśvamedhas /; Chapter Ten. Authorial Paths Through The Two Sanskrit Epics: Via The Rāmopākhyāna /; Chapter Eleven. Mapping Bhakti In The Sanskrit Epics: Friendship, Hospitality, And Separation /; Chapter Twelve. On Reading Fitzgerald’s Vyāsa /; Chapter Thirteen. Bhīṣma’s Sources /; Chapter Fourteen. Nahuṣa In The Skies: A Human King of Heaven /; Chapter Fifteen. Kṛṣṇ̣a In The Mahābhārata: The Death Of Karṇa /; Chapter Sixteen. Brothers, Friends, And Charioteers: Parallel Episodes In The Irish And Indian Epics /; Chapter Seventeen. The Two Kṛṣṇ̣as On One Chariot: Upaniṣadic Imagery And Epic Mythology /; Chapter Eighteen. Buddhism And The Mahābhārata: Boundary Dynamics In Textual Practice /; Chapter Nineteen. Kṛṣṇ̣a At Mathurā /; Chapter Twenty. Empire, Invasion, And India’s National Epics /; Chapter Twenty-One. Role, Role Model, And Function: The Sanskrit Epic Warrior In Comparison And Theory /; Bibliography /; Index /
• Bibliography: Includes bibliographical references and index.
• ISBN: 1283160781; 9786613160782; 9004216200
• Hierarchical level: Monograph
• Statement of Responsibility: by Alf Hiltebeitel ; edited by Vishwa Adluri and Joydeep Bagchee.

Often spoken of as the 'Fifth Veda', id est, as a text in continuity with the four Vedas and outweighing them all in size and import, the Mahābhārata presents a complex mythological and narrative landscape, incorporating fundamental ethical, social, philosophic, and pedagogic issues. In a series of position pieces and essays written over a span of 30 years, Alf Hiltebeitel, Columbian Professor of Religion, History, and Human Sciences at The George Washington University, articulates a compelling new approach to the epic: as a literary work of fundamental theological and philosophical significance rich in metaphor and meaning. In this three-part volume, the editors gather some of Hiltebeitel’s seminal writings on the epic along with new pieces written especially for the volume. This two volume edition collects nearly three decades of Alf Hiltebeitel’s researches into the Indian epic and religious tradition. The two volumes document Hiltebeitel’s longstanding fascination with the Sanskrit epics: volume 1 presents a series of appreciative readings of the Mahābhārata (and to a lesser extent, the Rāmāyaṇa), while volume 2 focuses on what Hiltebeitel has called “the underground Mahābhārata,” id est, the Mahābhārata as it is still alive in folk and vernacular traditions. Recently re-edited and with a new set of articles completing a trajectory Hiltebeitel established over 30 years ago, this work constitutes a definitive statement from this major scholar. Comprehensive indices, cross-referencing, and an exhaustive bibliography make it an essential reference work. For more information on the second volume please click here .