Research Projects
Epic Constructions: Gender Myth & Society in the Mahabharata
Start date: April 2004
Completion Date: March 2007
Contact: Dr Simon Brodbeck (sb4@soas.ac.uk)
Epic Constructions is an exciting three-year research project at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London. The project is funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Board, begins in April 2004, and is headed by Julia Leslie, Simon Brodbeck and Brian Black.
The project will explore selected themes within the Mahabharata in order to theorise the complex relationship between gender, myth and society. Placing the Mahabharata firmly in its socio-historical context, the project focuses on the ways in which myth and narrative are used to construct normative social and gender roles. It develops an interdisciplinary approach, integrating critical theory and gender studies into Mahabharata research, and investigates the process by which the epic both reflected and facilitated society’s movement from one historical paradigm to another.
Key Questions
- What is the relationship between the myths of the Mahabharata and historical social reality?
- What kinds of social practices and institutions are represented in the Mahabharata, to whom are they assigned, and whose interests are at stake in those representations and assignments?
- How are problems of lineage reflected in the text? Do certain tensions in the narrative represent different traditions of marital practice and kinship relations?
- How does the Mahabharata employ myths and symbols from prior Indian textual traditions? How does it modify previous paradigms of authority and identity, and to what ends?
Key Themes
- Tensions between matriliny and patriliny. The project explores the ways in which the Mahabharata bears witness to historical interactions between matrilineal and patrilineal organisations, and the extent to which patriliny is associated in the text with blood sacrifice and other institutions of intergenerational male bonding.
- Brahmin and ksatriya as social models. The project investigates how and why the text attempts to fix and define these previously rather fluid social categories, and the extent to which the relations between the upper varˆas can be understood in terms of competing yet complementary masculinities.
- The gendering of philosophical ideas. The project explores the ways in which gender interacts with the text’s philosophical and soteriological ideas. Particular attention is paid to narrative dramatisations of the relationship between the material principle (prakrti) and the soul.
- The representation of female speakers. The Mahabharata portrays a number of strong female characters who lack the discursive authority of brahmin and ksatriya men. Mindful of the text’s probably all-male authorship, the project investigates the text’s presentation of women as indirect authorities to whom certain specific speaking practices are allotted.
- The representation of ambiguous sexualities. The Mahabharata contains several characters, most notably Arjuna and Amba/ikhaˆsin, whose gender or sexuality is ambiguous. The project investigates the text’s construction of a ‘third sex’, and describes how this construction mediates and sharpens the text’s other gender constructions.
The project will feature an international conference at which these themes will be discussed, and will result in a series of publications, including a volume of selected and revised research papers from the conference.
The Epic Constructions project is essentially a collaborative venture. The three project leaders will work closely together, and their research will be enriched by association with the thriving Centre for Gender and Religions Research (GRR) at the School of Oriental and African Studies. The interest, support and involvement of any scholars around the world whose research interests overlap the themes of the project, is both solicited and welcomed.
About us
Dr Simon Brodbeck
was a research student at the School of Oriental and African Studies. His doctoral thesis analysed the idea of non-attached action in the Bhagavadgita within the socio-historical context of the Mahabharata. He is currently a lecturer at the University at Edinburgh. His familiarity with the text will be of great benefit to the project, as will his speciality of exploring philosophical notions against a background of socio-political developments. He will investigate the Mahabharata’s establishment of a patrilineal paradigm, and the correlations between its narrative tropes and ancient Indian soteriologies.
Dr Brian Black
is a doctoral student at the School of Oriental and African Studies. His thesis, soon to be defended, explores social and gender roles in the Upanisads through character analysis. He has taught courses on ancient Indian texts for several years, and has recently spent two years reading Sanskrit in Pune. His knowledge of Vedic literature will make a significant contribution to the project, as will his background in philosophy and critical theory. He will investigate the question of female authority in matters of dharma, and the textual function of ambiguities of sexuality or gender.
If you are interested in participating contact Dr Simon Brodbeck (sb4@soas.ac.uk)
