[Aar-mbh] Shankar Ramaswami, O. P. Jindal Global University, “Towards a Non-Anthropocentric Vision of Dharma: Violence, Nonviolence, and the Non-Human World in Arun Kolatkar’s Sarpa Satra (Snake Sacrifice)”

• Previous message: [Aar-mbh] Tejas S. Aralere, University of New Hampshire, “The Pāñcālan Role in Fostering Peace”
• Next message: [Aar-mbh] Frederick M. Smith, University of Iowa, “Translation and Retranslation: Thoughts on Methodology, with Respect to the Mahābhārata”
• Messages sorted by: [ date ] [ thread ] [ subject ] [ author ]

What is Arun Kolatkar’s reading of Janamejaya’s snake sacrifice and the burning of the Khandava forest, as depicted in the poem, Sarpa Satra (2004)?  If the poem describes the snake sacrifice as “cynical,” a “mockery”, and a “grotesque parody” of a yajna, what would constitute a true, proper yajna?  Why does Jaratkaru advise Astika to stop the sacrifice, not for the sake of the Nagas, but to save “the last vestige of humanity”?  In addressing these questions, I will argue that although Sarpa Satra seems to present an anthropocentric understanding of dharma (in which human beings should live and let other species live), there are materials in the poem that suggest the contours of a non-anthropocentric vision of dharma (as that which sustains and promotes all life and the earth), an ideal that is more fully developed in the critical edition of the Mahabharata.

Prof. Brian Collins
(He/Him/His)
Drs. Ram and Sushila Gawande Chair in Indian Religion and Philosophy
Department of Classics and Religious Studies
234 Ellis Hall
Ohio University
Athens, Ohio
740-597-2103 (office)


-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: < http://listserv.ohio.edu/pipermail/aar-mbh/attachments/20241114/ef77fa51/attachment-0001.html 
>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: 4 Shankar Ramaswami, Toward a Non-Anthropocentric Vision of Dharma.pdf
Type: application/pdf
Size: 253021 bytes
Desc: 4 Shankar Ramaswami, Toward a Non-Anthropocentric Vision of Dharma.pdf
URL: < http://listserv.ohio.edu/pipermail/aar-mbh/attachments/20241114/ef77fa51/attachment-0001.pdf 
>

• Previous message: [Aar-mbh] Tejas S. Aralere, University of New Hampshire, “The Pāñcālan Role in Fostering Peace”
• Next message: [Aar-mbh] Frederick M. Smith, University of Iowa, “Translation and Retranslation: Thoughts on Methodology, with Respect to the Mahābhārata”
• Messages sorted by: [ date ] [ thread ] [ subject ] [ author ]