Raja Yudhisthira

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 premonet...

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Autor principal: McGrath, Kevin
Format: Online
Idioma:anglès
Publicat: Cornell University Press 2025
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Accés en línia:https://library.oapen.org/handle/20.500.12657/96874
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author McGrath, Kevin
author_browse McGrath, Kevin
author_facet McGrath, Kevin
author_sort McGrath, Kevin
collection Directory of Open Access Books
description 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 been—for millennia—associated 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 Krsna—the heroic figure who was to become the dominant Vaisnava icon of classical India—who benefits most from the terrible Bharata war.
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spelling doab-20.500.12854ir-1506932025-01-29T14:46:58Z Raja Yudhisthira McGrath, Kevin Mahabharata king ruler representation of kingship Great Bharata song kingship in the Mahabharata poem poetry heroic religion Indo-European myth thema EDItEUR::D Biography, Literature and Literary studies::DS Literature: history and criticism thema EDItEUR::D Biography, Literature and Literary studies::DS Literature: history and criticism::DSB Literary studies: general::DSBB Literary studies: ancient, classical and medieval thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JB Society and culture: general::JBG Popular beliefs and controversial knowledge::JBGB Folklore studies / Study of myth (mythology) 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 been—for millennia—associated 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 Krsna—the heroic figure who was to become the dominant Vaisnava icon of classical India—who benefits most from the terrible Bharata war. 2025-01-29T14:46:56Z 2025-01-29T14:46:56Z 2024-12-27T07:57:09Z 2017 book https://library.oapen.org/handle/20.500.12657/96874 9781501704987 9781501708213 https://directory.doabooks.org/handle/20.500.12854/150693 eng Myth and Poetics II open access image/jpeg Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International https://library.oapen.org/bitstream/20.500.12657/96874/1/9781501708220.pdf Cornell University Press 05937e7b-c222-4680-9580-c09c5ce7a11e 9781501704987 9781501708213 262 Ithaca open access
spellingShingle Mahabharata
king
ruler
representation of kingship
Great Bharata song
kingship in the Mahabharata
poem
poetry
heroic religion
Indo-European myth
thema EDItEUR::D Biography, Literature and Literary studies::DS Literature: history and criticism
thema EDItEUR::D Biography, Literature and Literary studies::DS Literature: history and criticism::DSB Literary studies: general::DSBB Literary studies: ancient, classical and medieval
thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JB Society and culture: general::JBG Popular beliefs and controversial knowledge::JBGB Folklore studies / Study of myth (mythology)
McGrath, Kevin
Raja Yudhisthira
title Raja Yudhisthira
title_full Raja Yudhisthira
title_fullStr Raja Yudhisthira
title_full_unstemmed Raja Yudhisthira
title_short Raja Yudhisthira
title_sort raja yudhisthira
topic Mahabharata
king
ruler
representation of kingship
Great Bharata song
kingship in the Mahabharata
poem
poetry
heroic religion
Indo-European myth
thema EDItEUR::D Biography, Literature and Literary studies::DS Literature: history and criticism
thema EDItEUR::D Biography, Literature and Literary studies::DS Literature: history and criticism::DSB Literary studies: general::DSBB Literary studies: ancient, classical and medieval
thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JB Society and culture: general::JBG Popular beliefs and controversial knowledge::JBGB Folklore studies / Study of myth (mythology)
topic_facet Mahabharata
king
ruler
representation of kingship
Great Bharata song
kingship in the Mahabharata
poem
poetry
heroic religion
Indo-European myth
thema EDItEUR::D Biography, Literature and Literary studies::DS Literature: history and criticism
thema EDItEUR::D Biography, Literature and Literary studies::DS Literature: history and criticism::DSB Literary studies: general::DSBB Literary studies: ancient, classical and medieval
thema EDItEUR::J Society and Social Sciences::JB Society and culture: general::JBG Popular beliefs and controversial knowledge::JBGB Folklore studies / Study of myth (mythology)
url https://library.oapen.org/handle/20.500.12657/96874
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