new work on Mahabharata

[Guest guest]

Some new information about important books relating to the Mahabharata for

Indologists:-

1. Finally the 1st English translation, sloka-by-sloka, of Jaimini's unique

Ashvamedha Parva of the Mahabharata, by Shekhar Sen is out from Writers

Workshop, Kolkata edited by me.

It runs to 500 pages with a detailed Introduction of 70 pages, a glossary

covering weapons, plants, musical instruments, names. Available from

profsky and shuktara.lal

2. Proceedings of the national seminar 5-7 Feb 2007 held in New Delhi by the

National Mission for Manuscripts. K.K.Chakravarty (ed): Text and variations of

the Mbh: contextual, regional and performative traditions (IGNCA-Munshiram

Manoharlal, New Delhi, 2009), 335 pages, clothbound, Rs.500. 11 pages

Introduction by the editor. 4 sections as follows:-

I. TEXTUAL (Chaired by Dr. Dhadphale, Hony Secy. BORI)

M.A. Mehendale on the constitution, achievements and limitations of the critical

edn.

Lokesh Chandra on Mbh in Asian literature and arts

Saroja Bhate on Mbh as the global epic

Manjushree Gupta on Mbh in Indonesian literature

Anita Khanna on Mbh in Japanese literature

Pradip Bhattacharya on whether Draupadi was ever sought to be disrobed

Ramanujan on computational database of Mbh for research

Vasant Bhatt (Hindi): challenges in researching Mbh

II. REGIONAL TRADITIONS

Vijaya Ramaswamy on Tamil women and a Mbh myth (the Alli tale), A. Purushothaman

and A. Harindranath on Nilalkkuttu and other Mbh episodes from Kerala, Shail

Mayaram on the Mewati Mbh, Satya Chaitanya on the Bheel Bharathâ when the Mbh

incarnates down under

III. PERFORMANCE (Chaired by Pradip Bhattacharya)

Leela Omcherry on ideals in music seen through Mbh

Hanne M de Bruin on background and interpretation of Mbh characters in

contemporary Kataikuttu performances

Pradip Bhattacharya on Mbh on screen (covering Peter Brook and B.R. Chopra)

K.G. Paulose on Mbh as represented in the classical contemporary theatre of

Kerala

IV. PURUSHARTHA

D.Prahladachar on Purusharthas values of life

Satkari Mukhopadhyay (in Sanskrit) on Dharma purushartha in Mbh

Nrisinha Prasad Bhaduri on Artha Purushartha

Shalini Shah on Kama Purushartha

 

2. Sahitya Akademi held a seminar on “The Mbh: texts, contexts,

readings†as part of its golden jubilee celebrations, 27-29 March 2004. The

book includes 6 papers from “Mbh Revisitedâ€, an earlier publication.

Edited by TRS Sharma, 389 pages, paperback, Rs.150.  

37 pages Introduction by the editor. The contents include:-

Reprinted from Mbh Revisited (1980):-

R.N. Dandekar: The Human Universal in the Mbh

GC Pande: Socio cultural mileau of the Mbh: an age of change

K.Kunjunni Raja: Architetectonics of Mbh and the place of legends in its

structure

JL Mehta: Dvaipayana, poet of being and becoming

Mukund Lath: The concept of anrshamsya in the Mbh

SG Kantawala: Genetic episode of the Pandavas

Seminar Papers

Janaki Sreedharan: Imaging vengeance: Amba and Draupadi

Ashok Chousalkar: The concept of apaddharma and the moral dilemma of politics in

Mbh

Prafulla K Mohanty: Mbh: a reading in political structuring

D Venkat Rao: Learning in thelabyrinth: irony, contingency and the question of

responsibility in Mbh

Paula Richman: Why did Bhima wed Hidimba? A comparative perspective on marriage

to the Other.

Vrinda Nabar: Whose Mbh?

Alok Bhalla: Defending the sacred in the age of atrocities: on translating

Dharamvir Bharati’s Andha Yug

Harishchandra Thorat: Mbh and the Marathi novel: textual strategies

Amiya Dev: Buddhadev Bose’s reading of the Mbh

Malinee Goswami: Draupadi as interpreted in Assamese literature

GK Das: Sarala Dasa's Mbh: a supermyth

PP Raveendran: Fiction and reception: reconstructions of the Mbh in Malayalam

Sreedevi K Nair: One story, many texts: conceptualizing a seed text in epics

retold

Krishnamurthy Hanur: Kumaravyasa Bharata: a folk perspective

CN Ramachandran: Oral versions of Mbh

Rocky V Miranda: The old Konkani Bharata

Arjun Mahey: Epic mediations: text, book and authority in the organization of

Mbh

 

3. Kevin McGrath: Stri: women in epic Mbh (Harvard Univ. Press, 2009, 232 pages,

paperback) has chapters on Kinship and Marriage, Women Heroes, Kunti, Gandhari,

Damayanti, Savitri, Amba, Shakuntala. Detailed study of Draupadi and themes of

“Speaking the truthâ€, landscape and rivers, sexuality, women heroes

today. 

4. Chaturvedi Badrinath: The Women of the Mbh--the question of truth (Orient

Longmans, 2009, 276 pages) covers: Shakuntala--innocence, love and denial of

truth; Anamika (unnamed housewife of Vana Parva)--the humbling of the arrogance

of knowledge; Urvashi, Devayanai, Uttara Disha--the truth of desire; Savitri,

Damayanti--the power of the truth of love; Suvarchala, Sulabha--language,

meaning and truth; Madhavi--turning the face upon the selfish world of men;

Kapota & Kapoti--one's sacrifice, another's transformation; Draupadi--the

undeniable truth of hurt & humiliation, the undeniable necessity of transcending

them.

 

Pradip Bhattacharya PhD

Indian Administrative Service (Retd)

ex-Additional Chief Secretary, Govt. of West Bengal

International HRD Fellow (Manchester)

AD-64, Salt Lake, Kolkata-700064, India

ph: 91-33-23373511

" I lift up my hands and I shout

But no one listens.

From dharma come wealth and pleasure

Why is dharma not practised? " --Vyasa, Mahabharata

http://www.boloji.com/writers/pradipbhattacharya.htm