Library Catalogue

Amazon cover image
Image from Amazon.com
Image from Google Jackets

Raja Yudhisthira : Kingship in Epic Mahabharata / Kevin McGrath.

By: Contributor(s): Material type: TextTextSeries: Myth and poetics II | Book collections on Project MUSEPublisher: Ithaca : Cornell University Press, 2017Manufacturer: Baltimore, Md. : Project MUSE, 2017Copyright date: ©2017Description: 1 online resource (272 pages)Content type:
  • text
Media type:
  • computer
Carrier type:
  • online resource
ISBN:
  • 9781501708220
Subject(s): Genre/Form: Online resources:
Contents:
Machine generated contents note: 1.The Beginnings -- i.Early Kingship -- ii.The Associates -- iii.Duality -- iv.Magadha -- v.The Dharmaraja -- vi.The Text -- vii.Terms -- 2.Kingship -- i.Early Kings -- ii.The Associates -- iii.Duality -- iv.Magadha -- v.The Dharmaraja -- 1.The Rajasuya Sequence -- 2.War as Royal Rite -- 3.The Asvamedha -- 3.Ideals of Kingship -- i.Archaic Ideals -- ii.Installation -- iii.Classical Ideals -- 4.The End.
Summary: In Raja Yudhisthira, Kevin McGrath brings his comprehensive literary, ethnographic, and analytical knowledge of the epic Mahabharata to bear on the representation of kingship in the poem. He shows how the preliterate Great Bharata song depicts both archaic and classical models of kingly and premonetary polity and how the king becomes a ruler who is viewed as ritually divine. Based on his precise and empirical close reading of the text, McGrath then addresses the idea of heroic religion in both antiquity and today; for bronze-age heroes still receive great devotional worship in modern India and communities continue to clash at the sites that have beenfor millenniaassociated with these epic figures; in fact, the word hero is in fact more of a religious than a martial term. One of the most important contributions of Raja Yudhisthira, and a subtext in McGrath's analysis of Yudhisthira s kingship, is the revelation that neither of the contesting moieties of the royal Hastinapura clan triumphs in the end, for it is the Yadava band of Krsna who achieve real victory. That is, it is the matriline and not the patriline that secures ultimate success: it is the kinship group of Krsnathe heroic figure who was to become the dominant Vaisnava icon of classical Indiawho benefits most from the terrible Bharata war. -- Amazon.com.
Tags from this library: No tags from this library for this title. Log in to add tags.
No physical items for this record

Machine generated contents note: 1.The Beginnings -- i.Early Kingship -- ii.The Associates -- iii.Duality -- iv.Magadha -- v.The Dharmaraja -- vi.The Text -- vii.Terms -- 2.Kingship -- i.Early Kings -- ii.The Associates -- iii.Duality -- iv.Magadha -- v.The Dharmaraja -- 1.The Rajasuya Sequence -- 2.War as Royal Rite -- 3.The Asvamedha -- 3.Ideals of Kingship -- i.Archaic Ideals -- ii.Installation -- iii.Classical Ideals -- 4.The End.

Open Access Unrestricted online access star

In Raja Yudhisthira, Kevin McGrath brings his comprehensive literary, ethnographic, and analytical knowledge of the epic Mahabharata to bear on the representation of kingship in the poem. He shows how the preliterate Great Bharata song depicts both archaic and classical models of kingly and premonetary polity and how the king becomes a ruler who is viewed as ritually divine. Based on his precise and empirical close reading of the text, McGrath then addresses the idea of heroic religion in both antiquity and today; for bronze-age heroes still receive great devotional worship in modern India and communities continue to clash at the sites that have beenfor millenniaassociated with these epic figures; in fact, the word hero is in fact more of a religious than a martial term. One of the most important contributions of Raja Yudhisthira, and a subtext in McGrath's analysis of Yudhisthira s kingship, is the revelation that neither of the contesting moieties of the royal Hastinapura clan triumphs in the end, for it is the Yadava band of Krsna who achieve real victory. That is, it is the matriline and not the patriline that secures ultimate success: it is the kinship group of Krsnathe heroic figure who was to become the dominant Vaisnava icon of classical Indiawho benefits most from the terrible Bharata war. -- Amazon.com.

Description based on print version record.

There are no comments on this title.

to post a comment.

© 2024, Kenya Medical Training College | All Rights Reserved