Yudhishtar And Draupadi

IN THE FOREST, IN THE STILLNESS OF HTE MORNING, YUDHISHTAR, CUSTODIAN OF MORALITY, OBLIVIOUS TO SCALE OR BALANCE, UNTHINKING, MADE LOVE TO THIS WOMAN, HIS WIFE DRAUPADI. A long poem in rhymed sonnets, Yudhishtar and Draupadi is and imaginative retelling of the encounter between the Pandavas and the Yaksha of the pool, which finds Yudhishtar, the eldest Pandava, answering fundamental philosophical questions about existence and the lives of his brothers hang in the balance. Unknown to him, also at stake is his relationship with Draupadi, who is still furious with him for having wagered her at the game of dice with Kauravas (‘he hadn’t won her; she wasn’t his to lose’). This marvellous poetic interpretation of a key episode from the Mahabharata has now been translated by renowned poet-lyricist Gulzar, and is re-published in a bilingual edition.

Yudhishtar and Draupadi is a long poem in rhymed sonnets based on one of the most important episodes in the Mahabharata. In it, Pavan Varma gives us a new and challenging interpretation of the encounter between the Pandavas and the Yaksha of the Poisoned Pool. During their years of exile, the Pandavas happen upon a pool in the Dvaitvana forest. They thirst for the water, but its guardian will not allow them to drink until they have answered his questions. Four of the brothers die at the hands of the Yaksha after failing to solve the riddles, and then it is Yudhishtarýs turn. The narrative of Yudhishtar and Draupadi begins with the eldest Pandava facing the Yaksha. Determined to bring his brothers back to life, and protect the beautiful Draupadi, the eldest Pandava draws upon his fabled diplomacy and wisdom to answer every one of the Yakshaýs questions faultlessly. As he does so, the reader is given rare and beautifully couched insights into some of the most fundamental questions of life, love, death and benediction. Pavan Varma also uses the episode to look into the uneasy relationship between Yushishtar, and the alluring Draupadi. His austerity and straightforwardness come in the way of his passion for Draupadi, who loves Arjun above everyone else. The complex interplay between the two gives the poet the opportunity to meditate on key apsects of men and women in love.

Though the Kuru family survived on Vyasadeva’s seeds, he never belonged to the house. Moreover, being an ascetic, he was even exempted from obligations of the complicated dynamics of human relationships. This armed him with a ruthless dispassion and he could go on telling his stories with stoical detachment, free from any bias and uncontaminated by quintessential human dilemmas. But had any of his characters given his own account of the story, would not that have lent a different dimension to the events seducing ordinary mortals like us to identify, if not compare, our private crises with those of our much celebrated heroes? The Unfallen Pandava is an imaginary autobiography of Yudhishthira, attempting to follow the well-known story of the Mahabharata through his eyes. In the process of narrating the story, he examines his extremely complicated marriage and relationship with brothers turned co-husbands, tries to understand the mysterious personality of his mother in a slightly mother-fixated way, conducts manic and depressive evaluation of his own self and reveals his secret darkness and philosophical confusions with an innate urge to submit to a supreme soul. His own story lacks the material of an epic, rather it becomes like confession of a partisan who, prevailing over other more swashbuckling characters, finally discovers his latent greatness and establishes himself as the symbolic protagonist.

The essays collected in Literary Location and Dislocation of Myth in the Colonial and Post/Colonial Anglophone World examine how narratives have conveyed the diverse experiences of territorial belonging and alienation in postcolonial communities by rewriting traditional myths or creating new ones.

Throughout India and Southeast Asia, ancient classical epics—the Mahabharata and the Ramayana—continue to exert considerable cultural influence. Rethinking India's Oral and Classical Epics offers an unprecedented exploration into South Asia's regional epic traditions. Using his own fieldwork as a starting point, Alf Hiltebeitel analyzes how the oral tradition of the south Indian cult of the goddess Draupadi and five regional martial oral epics compare with one another and tie in with the Sanskrit epics. Drawing on literary theory and cultural studies, he reveals the shared subtexts of the Draupadi cult Mahabharata and the five oral epics, and shows how the traditional plots are twisted and classical characters reshaped to reflect local history and religion. In doing so, Hiltebeitel sheds new light on the intertwining oral traditions of medieval Rajput military culture, Dalits ("former Untouchables"), and Muslims. Breathtaking in scope, this work is indispensable for those seeking a deeper understanding of South Asia's Hindu and Muslim traditions. This work is the third 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 the Mahabharata (Volume Four).

A dazzling and eloquent reworking of the Mahabharata, one of South Asia's best-loved epics, through nineteen peripheral voices. With daring poetic forms, Karthika Naïr breathes new life into this ancient epic. Karthika Naïr refracts the epic Mahabharata through the voices of nameless soldiers, outcast warriors and handmaidens as well as abducted princesses, tribal queens, and a gender-shifting god. As peripheral figures and silent catalysts take center stage, we get a glimpse of lives and stories buried beneath the dramas of god and nation, heroics and victory - of the lives obscured by myth and history, all too often interchangeable. Until the Lions is a kaleidoscopic, poetic tour de force. It reveals the most intimate threads of desire, greed, and sacrifice in this foundational epic.

‘On the branches of these wild plants Some words occasionally sprout But never a full poem . . .’ One of the country’s best-loved poets and lyricists, Gulzar is renowned for his inimitable way of seeing things, his witty expressions, his quirky turns of phrase. All these creative talents come into play in delightful, unexpected ways in his new bilingual collection Green Poems, which celebrates his innate connection with nature. Gulzar writes about rivers, forests, mountains; snow, rain, clouds; the sky, the earth and space; a familiar tree, a disused well; Kullu, Manali, Chamba, Thimpu. Like glimpses of nature, the poems are often short, an image captured in a few words. And sometimes the image gives rise to a striking thought: ‘When I pass through the forest I feel my ancestors are around me . . .’ For those new to Gulzar’s work as well as his many fans, Green Poems will prove to be a true joy.