Battle, Bards and Brahmins: Papers of the 13th World Sanskrit Conference Volume

Battle, Bards and Brahmins: Papers of the 13th World Sanskrit Conference Volume II

This volume, the second in the Proceedings of the 13th World Sanskrit Conference (Edinburgh, July 2006), reflects the continued increase in interest in the Sanskrit epics seen in recent years, containing no less than 19 articles (a  number than in the corresponding volume from the 12th WSC at Helsinki) by a number of distinguished scholars in the section devoted to the Sanskrit pics. The great majority of the articles focus on the Mahabharata but some also focus on the Ramayana, as well as one on the Harivamua. The variety of approaches adopted by their authors underlines the vitality of this area of research and collectively these articles make a major contribution to our understanding of the history of these massive works, their relationship to each other, and their place in the total field of Sanskrit literature and indeed of Indian literature and culture as a whole.

The articles are grouped according to the text that they are mainly focussing on (in the order Mahabharata, Harivamsa, Ramayana) and within that in an order which seeks to bring related topics together, beginning with the genealogical issues that underpin all of the narratives in each of the texts and ending with the study of a retelling of one of them, the Ananda Ramayana. The editor has ensured a degree of uniformity of appearance and bibliographic reference but had no wish to rein in the diversity of expression and approach to be found in the feast of articles here assembled.

About the Author :

John Brociungton is an emeritus Professor of Sanskrit at the University of Edinburgh, U.K., Secretary General (2000-2012) and now a Vice President of the International Association of Sanskrit Studies, and the author or editor of several books and numerous articles, mainly on the Sanskrit epics and the history of Hinduism. His published books include Righteous Rama: the evolution of an Epic (1985), The Sanskrit Epics (1998) and Epic Threads: John Brockington on the Sanskrit Epics (2000); he is the translator with Mary Brockington of Rama the Steadfast: An Early Form of the Rãmäyana (2006) and a major contributor to Epic and Puranic Bibliography (up to 1985) (1992 and now online).