In Dialogue with the Mahabharata

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This project will be the first thoroughgoing examination of dialogue in the Mahabharata. The Mahabharata, composed in Sanskrit - likely between 400 BCE and 400 CE - is a long, narrative poem that chronicles the history of the Indian people within the context of a divine struggle between good and evil. Throughout India's history, the Mahabharata has continued to be of central cultural and religious significance.In addition to shedding new light on the Mahabharata itself, the project will demonstrate the contemporary relevance of the text in relation to a number of current debates in philosophy, politics, ethics, and religion. We will analyze all the frame dialogues, all the main discussions and debates among the central characters, and the major dialogues embedded within the main story, while at the same time examining the relationship between different dialogues with each other. Examining structural features, intertextual relationships amongst dialogues in the text, and potential avenues for a meaningful engagement with interlocutors beyond the text, this project will be both a comprehensive and programmatic study of dialogue in the Mahabharata. We will conduct our analysis by focusing on four distinct, yet interconnected, types of dialogue in the Mahabharata: (1) dilemmas and debates: we will analyze dialogues that address a conflict or dilemma. We will relate these dialogues to the work of Mikhail Bakhtin, Hans-Georg Gadamer, and Dmitri Nikulin, with the following questions in mind: To what extent do dialogues in the Mahabharata offer a meaningful exploration of the nature of dialogue itself? What does the dialogical presentation of knowledge say about the nature of knowledge? (2) dialogues with kings: we will analyze dialogues that feature a king. We will relate these dialogues to the work of Ashis Nandy, Amartya Sen, Rajeev Bhargava,and Charles Taylor, with these particular questions in mind: To what degree does the Mahabharata offer a precedent for Indian secularism? To what extent are the ethics of the king, as offered by the Mahabharata, compatible with more secular models of governance? (3) dialogues with 'others': we will look at how dialogues construct social identities and negotiate the differences between such identities, whether those differences are defined along the lines of caste, race, religious tradition, or gender. We will relate these dialogues to the work of Martin Buber, Emmanuel Levinas, and Jacques Derrida with the following questions in mind: To what degree is an encounter with the other a starting point for ethical enquiry? To what degree does dialogue offer the possibility for growth or change through an encounter? To what degree do these dialogues provide an ethical framework for dealing with diversity and difference? (4) dialogues with God: we will look at dialogues that feature a divine interlocutor, with a particular focus on Krishna. We will relate these dialogues to the work of John Hick, Rowan Williams, and Bhikku Parekh as we consider the following questions: To what extent does dialogue in the Mahabharata convey a religious pluralism? What are the theological justifications for including multiple religious views?Throughout the project we will approach the Mahabharata as a work that has retained its cognitive value and that can therefore make important contributions, interventions, and shifts in perspective to debates going on today. Similar to the way that scholars today still fruitfully draw upon the works of classical Greek and Roman thinkers when discussing contemporary issues related to philosophy, politics, ethics, and religion, we will engage with the Mahabharata as a living and relevant work with valuable insights into the human condition.