Nonviolence in the Mahabharata

Siva's Summa on Rishidharma and the Gleaners of Kurukshetra
1. Auflage 2018
ISBN: 978-0-367-00081-3
Verlag: Routledge

Buch, Englisch, 188 Seiten, Format (B × H): 156 mm x 234 mm, Gewicht: 295 g

Reihe: Routledge Hindu Studies Series

In Indian mythological texts like the Mahabharata and Ramayana, there are recurrent tales about gleaners. The practice of "gleaning" in India had more to do with the house-less forest life than with residential village or urban life or with gathering residual post-harvest grains from cultivated fields. Gleaning can be seen a metaphor for the Mahabharata poets’ art: an art that could have included their manner of gleaning what they made the leftovers (what they found useful) from many preexistent texts into Vyasa’s “entire thought”—including oral texts and possibly written ones, such as philosophical debates and stories.

This book explores the notion of non-violence in the epic Mahabharata. In examining gleaning as an ecological and spiritual philosophy nurtured as much by hospitality codes as by eating practices, the author analyses the merits and limitations of the 9th century Kashmiri aesthetician Anandavardhana that the dominant aesthetic sentiment or rasa of the Mahabharata is shanta (peace). Mahatma Gandhi's non-violent reading of the Mahabharata via the Bhagavad Gita are also studied.

This book by one of the leaders in Mahabharata studies is of interest to scholars of South Asian Literary Studies, Religious Studies as well as Peace Studies, South Asian Anthropology and History.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Hiltebeitel, Alf

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Geschichtliche Themen Mentalitäts- und Sozialgeschichte
• Sozialwissenschaften Ethnologie | Volkskunde Volkskunde
• Geisteswissenschaften Religionswissenschaft Hinduismus

Inhaltsverzeichnis

1. Introduction: Gleaners Were and Are for Real 2. Peace and Non-violence in the Mahabharata 3. Siva’s Summa on Gleaners 4. Gleaners and Beggars, Buddhist, Jain, and Brahmanical 5. Dandaka Forest 6. Approaching Balarama’s Tirthayatra and Kuruksetra with Three Hypotheses 7. More Homespun Tales of Kuruksetra: Further towards a Mahabharata Ethnography 8. Naimiseya Kuñja: The Mahabharata’s Chief Holdout for Gleaners 9. The Gleaning Seam along Balarama’s Route 10. King Kuru and the Kurus 11. King Kuru at Kuruksetra 12. Gleaners of the Text 13. Conclusion: Non-violence and Santarasa en–route to Kuruksetra

Über Autor(innen)

Alf Hiltebeitel is Columbian Professor of Religion, History, and Human Sciences in the Department of Religion at The George Washington University, USA.