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.

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 .

Table of Contents

Preliminary Material / V. Adluri and J. Bagchee -- Chapter One. Weighting Orality And Writing In The Sanskrit Epics / V. Adluri and J. Bagchee -- Chapter Two. The Primary Process Of The Hindu Epics / V. Adluri and J. Bagchee -- Chapter Three. More Rethinking The Mahābhārata: Toward A Politics Of Bhakti / V. Adluri and J. Bagchee -- Chapter Four. Why Itihāsa? New Possibilities And Limits In Considering The Mahābhārata As History / V. Adluri and J. Bagchee -- Chapter Five. The Archetypal Design Of The Two Sanskrit Epics / V. Adluri and J. Bagchee -- Chapter Six. Not Without Subtales:Telling Laws And Truths In The Sanskrit Epics / V. Adluri and J. Bagchee -- Chapter Seven. The NārāyaṇĪya And Early Reading Communities Of The Mahābhārata / V. Adluri and J. Bagchee -- Chapter Eight. Among Friends: Marriage, Women, And Some Little Birds / V. Adluri and J. Bagchee -- Chapter Nine. Epic Aśvamedhas / V. Adluri and J. Bagchee -- Chapter Ten. Authorial Paths Through The Two Sanskrit Epics: Via The Rāmopākhyāna / V. Adluri and J. Bagchee -- Chapter Eleven. Mapping Bhakti In The Sanskrit Epics: Friendship, Hospitality, And Separation / V. Adluri and J. Bagchee -- Chapter Twelve. On Reading Fitzgerald’s Vyāsa / V. Adluri and J. Bagchee -- Chapter Thirteen. Bhīṣma’s Sources / V. Adluri and J. Bagchee -- Chapter Fourteen. Nahuṣa In The Skies: A Human King of Heaven / V. Adluri and J. Bagchee -- Chapter Fifteen. Kṛṣṇ̣a In The Mahābhārata: The Death Of Karṇa / V. Adluri and J. Bagchee -- Chapter Sixteen. Brothers, Friends, And Charioteers: Parallel Episodes In The Irish And Indian Epics / V. Adluri and J. Bagchee -- Chapter Seventeen. The Two Kṛṣṇ̣as On One Chariot: Upaniṣadic Imagery And Epic Mythology / V. Adluri and J. Bagchee -- Chapter Eighteen. Buddhism And The Mahābhārata: Boundary Dynamics In Textual Practice / V. Adluri and J. Bagchee -- Chapter Nineteen. Kṛṣṇ̣a At Mathurā / V. Adluri and J. Bagchee -- Chapter Twenty. Empire, Invasion, And India’s National Epics / V. Adluri and J. Bagchee -- Chapter Twenty-One. Role, Role Model, And Function: The Sanskrit Epic Warrior In Comparison And Theory / V. Adluri and J. Bagchee -- Bibliography / V. Adluri and J. Bagchee -- Index / V. Adluri and J. Bagchee.