In Dialogue with the Mahabharata

这个项目将是第一次彻底检查《摩诃婆罗多》中的对话。《摩诃婆罗多》是用梵语写成的，可能是在公元前400年到公元前400年之间，是一首长篇叙事诗，记录了印度人民在善与恶之间神圣斗争的背景下的历史。纵观印度历史，《摩诃婆罗多》一直具有核心的文化和宗教意义。除了对《摩诃婆罗多》本身有新的了解外，该项目还将展示该文本与当前哲学、政治、伦理学和宗教方面的一些辩论的当代相关性。我们将分析所有的框架对话，中心人物之间的所有主要讨论和辩论，以及嵌入主要故事的主要对话，同时考察不同对话之间的关系。该项目探讨了文本中对话的结构特征、相互关系以及与文本之外的对话者进行有意义接触的潜在途径，该项目将是对《摩诃婆罗多》对话的全面和有计划的研究。我们将通过重点分析《摩诃婆罗多》中四种截然不同但相互关联的对话类型来进行分析：(1)困境和辩论：我们将分析解决冲突或困境的对话。我们将把这些对话与米哈伊尔·巴赫金、汉斯-格奥尔格·伽达默尔和德米特里·尼库林的工作联系起来，并考虑到以下问题：《摩诃婆罗多》中的对话在多大程度上提供了对对话本身性质的有意义的探索？关于知识的本质，知识的对话表达了什么？(2)与国王的对话：我们将分析以国王为特色的对话。我们将把这些对话与阿希斯·南迪、阿玛蒂亚·森、拉吉夫·巴尔加瓦和查尔斯·泰勒的作品联系起来，考虑到这些特别的问题：《大婆罗多》在多大程度上为印度世俗主义提供了先例？《摩诃婆罗多》所提供的国王的伦理在多大程度上与更世俗的治理模式相适应？(3)与其他人的对话：我们将研究对话如何构建社会身份，并就这些身份之间的差异进行谈判，无论这些差异是根据种姓、种族、宗教传统或性别来定义的。我们将把这些对话与马丁·布伯、伊曼纽尔·莱维纳斯和雅克·德里达的作品联系起来，并考虑以下问题：在多大程度上，与他人的相遇是伦理探究的起点？对话在多大程度上提供了通过一次相遇实现增长或改变的可能性？这些对话在多大程度上提供了处理多样性和差异的伦理框架？(4)与上帝的对话：我们将查看以神圣对话者为特色的对话，特别关注奎师那。当我们考虑以下问题时，我们将把这些对话与约翰·希克、罗文·威廉姆斯和比库·帕雷克的作品联系起来：《摩诃婆罗多》中的对话在多大程度上传达了宗教多元化？包含多种宗教观点的神学理由是什么？在整个项目中，我们将把《摩诃婆罗多》作为一部保留其认知价值的作品，因此可以对当今正在进行的辩论做出重要贡献、干预和视角转变。类似于今天的学者在讨论与哲学、政治、伦理和宗教有关的当代问题时仍然卓有成效地借鉴古希腊和罗马思想家的作品的方式，我们将把《摩诃婆罗多》作为一部活的和相关的作品，对人类状况进行有价值的洞察。

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.