Notwithstanding its renowned comprehensive narrative encapsulation of the Indic culture, the Mahabharata keeps on posing a challenge to its contemporary readers: how do we relate to something over two-millennia old in today?s context without freezing it in time? This volume looks at the problem from diverse periods and standpoints and shows us that this challenge is, in fact, a legacy of the Mahabharata and the responses to this challenge are what makes the text ever-contemporary to different readers of different times and positions.

It traces the evolution of the Mahabharata from its inception in the fifth century BCE to twenty-first century, spanning classical Sanskrit tradition, Persian and Bengali adaptations, the Mahabharata as a serialized TV show to more recent graphic narratives. By attempting to analyse this diversity, this volume further delves into how the issues in the Mahabharata resonate across time, from the world of ancient sages to contemporary struggles of women. The essays in this book adopt a dual perspective to appreciate both the Mahabharata?s historical context, its exploration of war, heroes and heroines, gender, psychology, philosophy, and its implications for the future.

This book will be of interest to scholars and researchers of Indian literature, ancient literature and philosophy, English literature, cultural studies, visual studies, gender studies, and translation studies.

Table of Contents:

Contributors ix Foreword xii Sibaji Bandyopadhyay Preface and Acknowledgement xxiii Introduction 1 Anirban Bhattacharjee and Dhrubajyoti Sarkar PART I 1 Asvamedhaparva: Jaimini and Vyasa 17 Sekhar Kumar Sen 2 Nilakantha?s Mahabharata and Presentist Objections to His Work 37 Christopher Minkowski 3 Dramatic War, Fabulous Stories, and Legendary Kings: Persian Adaptation of Mahabharata as Razmnama 48 Kashshaf Ghani 4 On Adaptation and Appropriation: Some Observations on the Sources of the Mushalaparva in Kashiramadasa?s Bengali Mahabharata 66 Soham Pain 5 Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay?s Lonely Middle Course: A Reading of the Mahabharata in Krishnacharitra 83 Dhrubajyoti Sarkar 6 Relocating Mahabharatian Dystopia in Post-independent India: Reading Rangabharata as a Political Caricature of the Nehruvian Times 99 Pinak Sankar Bhattacharya 7 ?Doomsday Epic?? P. Lal?s The Mahabharata of Vyasa and the Influence of European Modernism 110 Prayag Ray 8 Irreverent Readers, Worshipful Viewers: Post-emergency Epics and Diverging Indian Nationalisms 121 Sucheta Kanjilal 9 Orality of ?Then? and ?Now?: Narrating the Mahabharata on Television 138 Sneha Roy Choudhury 10 Psychobiography and Authorial Subjectivity in the (Re) presentation of Draupadi: Towards a Feminist Mythopoeia in Select Retellings of the Mahabharata 153 Komal Agarwal 11 A World of Images: The Visual Identity of the Mahabharata 170 Sankha Banerjee PART II 12 The ?Avengers? in an Itihasa: Reading Revenge in the Mahabharata 183 Kanad Sinha 13 Otherwise than Being: The Mahabharata, the Animal, and the Eruption of the Ethical 202 Anirban Bhattacharjee 14 The Mahabharata War and Ambedkar?s Critique of Violence and Nationalism 212 Kalyan Kumar Das Afterthoughts: In Search of the Antecedents to the Mahabharata Concept and Ideal of Anrisamsya: Random Reflections 224 Ranabir Chakravarti Index 241

Philosophy in general

Religious sciences in general

Regional studies

Literature in general, reference works

Hinduism

Fantasy

Social geography

Philosophy in general (charity campaign)

Religious sciences in general (charity campaign)

Regional studies (charity campaign)

Literature in general, reference works (charity campaign)

Hinduism (charity campaign)

Fantasy (charity campaign)

Social geography (charity campaign)

Contemporaneity of the Mahabharata Narrative

This volume looks at the problem from diverse periods and standpoints and shows us that this challenge is, in fact, a legacy of the Mahabharata and the responses to this challenge is what makes the text ever-contemporary to different readers of different times and positions.