Str (Paperback)

Kevin McGrath

ISBN 10: 0674031989 / ISBN 13: 9780674031982

Published by Harvard University, Center for Hellenic Studies, 2009

About this Item

Paperback. This book is a study of heroic femininity as it appears in the epic Mahabharata, and focuses particularly on the roles of wife, daughter-in-law, and mother, on how these women speak and on the kinship groups and varying marital systems that surround them. It portrays those qualities that cohere about women in the poem, which are particular to them and which distinguish them as women, and describes how women heroes function as crucial speakers in the generation and maintenance of cultural value and worth. This includes men who have been transformed into women and women who have been reincarnated as men. The overall method accomplishes an ethnography of text, describing a special aspect of the bronze age preliterate and premonetary world as it is represented by the actions and metaphors of Mahabharata. References to contemporary Indian cinema and popular culture support the narrative of the book, bringing modern valence to the arguments. This book is a study of heroic femininity as it appears in the epic Mahabharata, and focuses particularly on the roles of wife, daughter-in-law, and mother, on how these women speak, and on the kinship groups and varying marital systems that surround them. Shipping may be from multiple locations in the US or from the UK, depending on stock availability.

Seller Inventory # 9780674031982

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Str (Paperback)
• Publisher: Harvard University, Center for Hellenic Studies
• Publication Date: 2009
• ISBN 10: 0674031989
• ISBN 13: 9780674031982
• Binding: Paperback
• Condition: new

About this title

Synopsis

This book is a study of heroic femininity as it appears in the epic Mahābhārata, and focuses particularly on the roles of wife, daughter-in-law, and mother, on how these women speak and on the kinship groups and varying marital systems that surround them. It portrays those qualities that cohere about women in the poem, which are particular to them and which distinguish them as women, and describes how women heroes function as crucial speakers in the generation and maintenance of cultural value and worth. This includes men who have been transformed into women and women who have been reincarnated as men. The overall method accomplishes an ethnography of text, describing a special aspect of the bronze age preliterate and premonetary world as it is represented by the actions and metaphors of Mahābhārata. References to contemporary Indian cinema and popular culture support the narrative of the book, bringing modern valence to the arguments.

About the Author

Kevin McGrath is an Associate of the Department of Sanskrit and Indian Studies at Harvard University.