CORE COURSE ONE “Book of Assembly”

Mahabharata
PRESCRIBED EDITION OF BOOK:…
TRANSLATED IN ENGLISH AND EDITED THE UNIVERSITY OF
J.A.B. Van Buitenen BURDWAN

  CBCS BA HONS IN
ENGLISH

COURSE PLAN
COURSE FACILITATOR:
PROF. nb- email id
  the profundity of the greatest story ever told;
 the generic structure of the epic form,
 the cultural specificity of the mahakavyas in South Asia
 Difference and similarity with European epics
 The virtuosity of narratival structure of mahakavyas in
South Asia
 the centrality and relevance of its myths, conceptual
clusters; philosophic thrust to South Asian lives in
Course Rationale/Objectives: to transmit to particular and human lives in general.
students  
 COURSE OUTLINE:
SIX WEEK, 20  When was Mahabharata composed,
 Difference between primary and secondary epic
LECTURE PLAN.  what is incrementality, and accretion in an oral
• DELIVERED AT composition.
THESE TIMES ON  Modern Mahabharatas in 19th century India and BengaL
 the role of Kaliprasanna Singha and Pratapchandra Ray
THESE DAYS and Mahatabchandra Bahadur in contemporizing
• WEEK ONE (3 Mahabharata in Bengal.
 CULTURAL
CLASSES) CONTEXT, The centrality of Bardhaman in making the epic known
IMPORTANCE
once again in colonial India and nationalist imaginary.
 
 WEEK TWO (3 CLASSES)
GENRE, GENERIC SPECIFICITIES:

 What is a mahakavya? Form and structure, debates about difference in

the 19th and 20th centuries.
 Is it similar to an epic? Orientalists think so but Bankimchandra
Chattopadhay in Krishnacharitra, disagrees and calls Mahabharata an
itihasa and not a kavya because it is profound, philosophic content and
its historicity not in terms of European realism but in terms of containing
building blocks of Bharata’s national character. Navaneeta Dev Sen
WEEK TWO (3 CLASSES) agrees with Bankimchaindra calling the South Asian mahakavya as
GENRE, GENERIC SPECIFICITIES: distinct from the European epic.
  
 What is a mahakavya? Similarity with epics. Thematic constants.
 Orality, digression, the presence of the histor
 Architectonics of narrative architectonics of structure.
 Philosophic contemplation about the condition of human life
 Cultural centrality in any community formation or Nation formation
perspective
 • The burning of Khandava forests by Arjuna and Krishna at the behest of
Agnideva because Agni wanted to consume flesh in order to cure his
indigestion from having too much ghee.
• Maya praying for sharana (refuge) and being so granted by Krishnarjuna
wanting to repay by building for the Pandavas a wondrous sabha griha
WEEK THREE (5 CLASSES) • The building as metonymic of the very structure of Mahabharata,
Context of narrative: complex, textured, intricate, and only available to those with adhikara.
• The defeating of neighbouring kings and conduct of Rajsuya yagna to
consummate victory in Mayas palace.
• The Sabhagriha metonymic of Pandava power and glory
• The deliberate attempt to show off and arouse envy of enemies as the
dharma of the Khatriya king, the concept of abhimana
WEEK FOUR (TWO CLASSES)
• The importance of the Sabha griha in the context of the action, plot
• Duryodhana’s humiliation, underscoring of adhikara bheda, the hall is
not accessible to enemies, outsiders.
• Draupadi’s taunts, Duryodhana’s hurt pride and arousal of Kshatriya
abhimana, the seeds of the war of Kurukshetra.
WEEK 5 (FOUR CLASSES)

• Thematic clusters and rasas

• Is dharma a constant?
• Dharma of the Kshatriya :Abhimana, mana, pratihinsa, lobha,
ahankar.
• Illusion and illusory nature of life
• Its irresistible attraction
• What is shanta rasa, is it similar to calm of mind, all passions spent?
WEEK SIX (THREE CLASSES)

• The conceptual importance of Maya’s Assembly Hall,

• its illusory nature,
• the vanity of human wishes
• the Pandavas moment of glory is also the beginning of their exile.
• They never come back to the Maya sabha griha
• The duality of Mahabharata’s philosophic thrust, the lust for life in
awareness of its illusory nature
TOTAL 20 LECTURES PLUS 4 FOR REVISION/ TUTORIAL
 

• Course Outcome: The course purports to transmit

• Skills of story understanding
• Skills of genre outline understanding
• skills of narrative structure understanding
• skills of thematic cluster understanding
• skills of cultural and national thematic understanding
• skills of cultural translation understanding
• skills of philosophic concept understanding