ABOUT THE BOOK:The author, guided by her interest in astronomy and astrology brings to light correspondences, at once surprising and significant, between the heavenly bodies and the main characters in Mahabharata. The celebrated battle emerges as the

Papers presented at the National Seminar on Textuality and Intertextuality in the Mahabharata : Myth, Meaning and Metamorphosis held at Ajmer.

The ancient Indian Sanskrit tradition produced no text more intriguing, or more persistently misunderstood or underappreciated, than the Mahabharata. Its intricacies have waylaid generations of scholars and ignited dozens of unresolved debates. In Rethinking the Mahabharata, Alf Hiltebeitel offers a unique model for understanding the great epic. Employing a wide range of literary and narrative theory, Hiltebeitel draws on historical and comparative research in an attempt to discern the spirit and techniques behind the epic's composition. He focuses on the education of Yudhisthira, also known as the Dharma King, and shows how the relationship of this figure to others-especially his author-grandfather Vyasa and his wife Draupadi-provides a thread through the bewildering array of frames and stories embedded within stories. Hiltebeitel also offers a revisionist theory regarding the dating and production of the original text and its relation to the Veda. No ordinary reader's guide, this volume will illuminate many mysteries of this enigmatic masterpiece. This work is the fourth volume in Hiltebeitel's study of the Draupadi cult. Other volumes include Mythologies: From Gingee to Kuruksetra (Volume One), On Hindu Ritual and the Goddess (Volume Two), and Rethinking India's Oral and Classical Epics (Volume Three).

Lord Krishna is hailed as a God. In fact, he was deified during his own life time. His deeds are an integral part of Indian folklore. His crowning glory is the Bhagavad Gita. It is considered as an eternal source of wisdom and spiritual guidance. Yet, his story is riddled with controversies and logical inconsistencies. As a result, there is a progressive decline in the faith accorded to Lord Krishna and his deeds. Today, Lord Krishna is more of a myth and his teachings are believed to be beyond the ken of ordinary mortals. The author opines that this is the result of projecting Lord Krishna as a reincarnate of the supreme being. We tend to obey his diktats rather than try and emulate him. This work is a scientific examination of the life of Lord Krishna as an evolution from a gifted child to what confirms to the attributes of the supreme being. It examines the societal framework under which this evolution was made both possible and imperative. Such an approach shifts the focus from the end-result to the process of arriving at the result. Lord Krishna is the end-result of an intellectually challenging societal process that was fuelled by a galaxy of eminent individuals. A rigorous practice of Raja Yoga and Manthra Yoga could have been the catalyst. The collective failures of intellect and the corrective measures resorted to eventually shaped the mind of an individual called Lord Krishna. The author hopes that a study of this kind would lead to the restructuring of societal frameworks leading to the production of better minds.