Deconstructing Indian Mythology
Deepti Nijhawan, Kamesh Aiyer
Thu Jan 6, Tue Jan 11, Thu Jan 13, Tue Jan 18, 02-04:00pm, 8-119
No limit but advance sign up required (see contact below)
Signup by: 01-Jan-2011
Participants requested to attend all sessions (non-series)
The Mahabharata is a 100,000 verse epic poem that is a source of Indian mythology. On the surface, it is a story of a great war triggered by disagreement over inheritance of a kingdom that engulfed the South Asian sub-continent.
It can be viewed as a soap opera, a religious text, a textbook of kingship, and a treatise on how to live.
There is something in it for everyone and it has been a wellspring of inspiration in India for the last two thousand years.
The intent of this course is to both introduce the Mahabharata and to take the discussion down paths not generally travelled. We will watch and read a number of interpretations of the story, mostly orthodox, following the traditional story line. The path not traveled is one proposed by the lecturer and will provide fodder for debate. Without doing violence to Vyaasa’s poem, the Mahabharata can be viewed as the story of conflict over alternative social policies to be followed in the face of a multi-generational ecological crisis. This view is based in relatively recent discoveries as well as a literary deconstruction of key stories in the epic.
Contact: Deepti Nijhawan, deeptin@mit.edu
Cosponsor: Center for International Studies
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Love and Romance in Ancient India
Deepti Nijhawan, Shekhar Shastri
Thu Jan 6, Tue Jan 11, Thu Jan 13, 07-09:00pm, 8-119
Tue Jan 18, 07-09:00pm, 8-119, POSTPONED until Jan. 20
No limit but advance sign up required (see contact below)
Signup by: 01-Jan-2011
Participants requested to attend all sessions (non-series)
Romantic poetry was considered the supreme form of aesthetics in ancient Indian literature. Strikingly uninhibited in their content and intensity, the works of poets such as Bhartrhari, Kalidasa, and Jayadeva are unparalleled in their sublime expression of love which provide deep insight into ancient Indian society, culture, and relationships in general. In addition, a brief background in Indian aesthetics will be provided to help in understanding literary works and sensibilities of the era under study; paintings inspired from the above-mentioned love poetry will be shown and discussed.
Web: http://web.mit.edu/misti/mit-india
Contact: Deepti Nijhawan, deeptin@mit.edu
Cosponsor: Center for International Studies
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