1st Edition
Indian Classical Literature Critical Essays
This book critically analyses classical Indian literature and explores the philosophical, literary, and cultural landscapes which have emerged in response to ancient Indian texts. It highlights the relevance of these texts and studies and how they have come to influence modern Indian literature in various ways. The authors look at classical literature both as a theoretical premise that primarily seeks to develop new knowledge and as a sphere of serious modern/postmodern critical attention. The volume features essays on key texts including Abhijnanasakuntalam, The Cilappatikaram: A Tale of An Anklet, Mrichchakatika, Panchatantra, and Mahabharata.
A useful guide to ancient Indian texts, the book will be indispensable for students and researchers of mythology and classical literature, literary and critical theory, Indian literature, Sanskrit studies, and South Asian studies.
List of Contributors vii
Foreword by Kevin McGrath x
Preface by Albrecht Classen xi
Acknowledgements xx
Introduction 1
TANMOY KUNDU AND UJJWAL KR.PANDA
PART I
Natyasastra 15
1 The ‘Feminine’ Construction in Indian Classical Drama: A Study Based on Bharatmuni’s Natyasastra 17
GUTIMALI GOSWAMI
PART II
Abhijnanasakuntalam 27
2 ‘Paradise Lost, Paradise Regained’: Rethinking the Genealogy of Environmentalism and Mythology in Kalidasa’s The Recognition of Sakuntala 29
INDRAJIT MUKHERJEE
3 A Saga of Erotic Love and Juxtaposition of Contraries: A Study of Kâlidâsa’s Abhijñānaśākuntalam 43
SOUMYADEEP CHAKRABORTY
4 Shakuntala in Kalidasa: Reiterating the Known Tales 51
SARANYA MUKHERJEE
5 ‘Creatures of the Woods’: Abhijnanasakuntalam and Kalidasa’s Nature Principle 59
SANJUKTA CHATTERJEE
PART III
The Mahabharata 71
6 Alliance of Krishna and Arjuna in the Mahabharata 73
SUBHAM AMIN
7 Understanding the Epic in a Postmodern Context: Mahabharata and ‘Dharma’, Narrated and Questioned from the Fringes 81
RAJA BASU
8 ‘Khandava’, the Massacre of Non-Human Ontology: A Re-Reading of the Mahabharata 92
SAIKAT CHAKRABORTY
9 Serving Raison d’etre: Righteousness and Resistance in The Temptation of Karna 100
TUHIN MAJUMDAR
10 Neither Man Nor Woman Or Both: Exploring the Fluidity of Gender in the Mahabharata 108
SHAISTA IRSHAD
PART IV
Mṛcchakatika 117
11 Mṛcchakatika as a Mirror of Vedic State and Mass Insurgence 119
SUBHAJEET SINGHA
12 Mrichchakatika: The Triumph of Love and a ‘New World Order’ 126
ANKUR KONAR
PART V
The Cilappatikaram: A Tale of an Anklet 135
13 Sacral and Profane: Kingship, Society, and Tamil Nationalism in Ilanko Atikal’s the Cilappatikaram: A Tale of an Anklet 137
ANIMESH BAG
PART VI
Panchatantra 149
14 The Animal Question in the Panchatantra 151
SEBONTI ROY CHOWDHURY
PART VII
Gitagovindam 161
15 Aesthetics of Emotion: Sringara Rasa in Jayadeva’s Gitagovindam 163
SHRUTI DAS
Index 175
Biography
Tanmoy Kundu is an Assistant Professor of the Department of English, Midnapore College (Autonomous), Midnapore, West Bengal, India.
Ujjwal Kr. Panda is an Assistant Professor of the Department of English, Hooghly Mohsin College, West Bengal, India.
