Authorship, History, and Race in Three Contemporary Retellings of the Mahabharata: The Palace of Illusions, The Great Indian Novel, and The Mahabharata (Television Mini Series)

Bibliographic Details
Main Author:	Kalugampitiya, Nandaka M.
Language:	English
Published:	Ohio University / OhioLINK 2016
Subjects:	Asian Literature Asian Studies Comparative Literature Fine Arts Literature South Asian Studies Bakhtin dialogism intertextuality The Palace of Illusions The Great Indian Novel Peter Brook Mahabharata Sanskrit epic
Online Access:	http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ohiou1462188638

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spelling	ndltd-OhioLink-oai-etd.ohiolink.edu-ohiou14621886382021-08-03T06:36:25Z Authorship, History, and Race in Three Contemporary Retellings of the Mahabharata: The Palace of Illusions, The Great Indian Novel, and The Mahabharata (Television Mini Series) Kalugampitiya, Nandaka M., Asian Literature Asian Studies Comparative Literature Fine Arts Literature South Asian Studies Bakhtin dialogism intertextuality The Palace of Illusions The Great Indian Novel Peter Brook Mahabharata Sanskrit epic In this study, I explore the manner in which contemporary artistic reimaginings of the Sanskrit epic the Mahabharata with a characteristically Western bent intervene in the dominant discourse on the epic. Through an analysis of Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni’s The Palace of Illusions (2008), Shashi Tharoor’s The Great Indian Novel (1989), and Peter Brook’s theatrical production The Mahabharata (1989 television mini-series), I argue that these reimaginings represent a tendency to challenge the cultural authority of the Sanskrit epic in certain important ways. The study is premised on the recognition that the three works of art in question respond, some more consciously than others, to three established assumptions regarding the Mahabharata respectively: (1) the Sanskrit epic as a product of divine authorship; (2) the Sanskrit epic as history; and (3) the Sanskrit epic as the story of a particular race. In their engagement with the epic, these works foreground the concepts of the author, history, and race respectively in such a manner that the apparent stability and unity of those concepts disappear and that those concepts become sites of theoretical reflection. In this sense, the three works could ultimately be seen as theoretical statements or discourses on those concepts. Given that the concepts in question are inextricably linked to the Sanskrit epic and the dominant discourse on the epic, the success and importance of each of the contemporary works as an approach that challenges the cultural authority of the Mahabharata depends upon the extent to which it complicates the concept that it engages with and foregrounds that concept as a site of theoretical reflection. 2016-09-19 English text Ohio University / OhioLINK http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ohiou1462188638 http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ohiou1462188638 unrestricted This thesis or dissertation is protected by copyright: all rights reserved. It may not be copied or redistributed beyond the terms of applicable copyright laws.
collection	NDLTD
language	English
sources	NDLTD
topic	Asian Literature Asian Studies Comparative Literature Fine Arts Literature South Asian Studies Bakhtin dialogism intertextuality The Palace of Illusions The Great Indian Novel Peter Brook Mahabharata Sanskrit epic
spellingShingle	Asian Literature Asian Studies Comparative Literature Fine Arts Literature South Asian Studies Bakhtin dialogism intertextuality The Palace of Illusions The Great Indian Novel Peter Brook Mahabharata Sanskrit epic Kalugampitiya, Nandaka M., Authorship, History, and Race in Three Contemporary Retellings of the Mahabharata: The Palace of Illusions, The Great Indian Novel, and The Mahabharata (Television Mini Series)
author	Kalugampitiya, Nandaka M.,
author_facet	Kalugampitiya, Nandaka M.,
author_sort	Kalugampitiya, Nandaka M.,
title	Authorship, History, and Race in Three Contemporary Retellings of the Mahabharata: The Palace of Illusions, The Great Indian Novel, and The Mahabharata (Television Mini Series)
title_short	Authorship, History, and Race in Three Contemporary Retellings of the Mahabharata: The Palace of Illusions, The Great Indian Novel, and The Mahabharata (Television Mini Series)
title_full	Authorship, History, and Race in Three Contemporary Retellings of the Mahabharata: The Palace of Illusions, The Great Indian Novel, and The Mahabharata (Television Mini Series)
title_fullStr	Authorship, History, and Race in Three Contemporary Retellings of the Mahabharata: The Palace of Illusions, The Great Indian Novel, and The Mahabharata (Television Mini Series)
title_full_unstemmed	Authorship, History, and Race in Three Contemporary Retellings of the Mahabharata: The Palace of Illusions, The Great Indian Novel, and The Mahabharata (Television Mini Series)
title_sort	authorship, history, and race in three contemporary retellings of the mahabharata: the palace of illusions, the great indian novel, and the mahabharata (television mini series)
publisher	Ohio University / OhioLINK
publishDate	2016
url	http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ohiou1462188638
work_keys_str_mv	AT kalugampitiyanandakam authorshiphistoryandraceinthreecontemporaryretellingsofthemahabharatathepalaceofillusionsthegreatindiannovelandthemahabharatatelevisionminiseries
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Authorship, History, and Race in Three Contemporary Retellings of the Mahabharata: The Palace of Illusions, The Great Indian Novel, and The Mahabharata (Television Mini Series)

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