Dr. Sarika Sasi is known to me for several years as a student and research scholar of my Department. Now she is working as Assistant Professor, Department of Sanskrit, Government Sanskrit College, Tripunithura, Kerala. This book, the Subaltern Characters in the Mahabharata, is the updated form of her research thesis completed with my guidance.
The Mahabharata, the great epic of India is generally accepted to be composed by Vyasa. The period of its earliest form is generally said to be 400 B.C. Several studies have already been conducted in respect of the various subjects like war, characters, essence and dharma in the Mahabharata. Along with such studies, attempts have been made to explore further aspects in the Mahabharata. But specific subject approaches with a subaltern view are rare. This book aims at such a study.
The Mahabharata is a literary work which consists of more than 2000 characters. Out of them, only those characters who suffer from subalternity alone are included in this study. Along with the characters in the main story the sub characters who face intimidating, sidelining and torturing experiences are also included. Thus altogether twelve characters are subjected to the analysis here and out of them five are male characters and seven are females.
The 'subalterns' means those who are weak politically, economically, culturally, socially, religiously, and considered inferior on the basis of caste creed and gender.
In addition to that, those individuals who do not receive any sort of consideration in the general public can also be included in the category of the subaltern. It also includes those who do not have any sort of capital with them. This term also represents suppression and denial.
This book consists of three chapters excluding the Conclusion.
The first chapter is the 'Subaltern and Modern Literary Theories'. It speaks about the origin of subalternity and also defines the key word subaltern. Subaltern denotes the entire people who are subordinated in terms of class, caste, age, gender, sexuality and in any other similar ways. Prominent spokesmen of Indian Subaltern studies including of Ranajith Guha, who conducted studies in this area and its related hegemonic ideologies, are considered in this chapter briefly. In addition to this, the contributions made by Antonio Gramsci and Gayatri Chakraborthy Spivak who gave a start to these kinds of concepts are also mentioned here.
Important subaltern characters who are selected for analysis and treatment figure in the second chapter, named 'Vital Subaltern Characters in the Mahabharata'. They are analyzed here by using subaltern theory of hegemony. Out of them only those characters who have experienced too much subalternity alone are included for the analysis. Five male characters like Ekalavya, Khatotkaca, Iravan, Karna and Vidura and seven female characters like Kunti, Madhavi, Amba, Ambika, Ambalika, Draupadi and Hidimbi are the characters included in the category of subalternity and subjected to the analysis.
Ekalavya is a subaltern, who is driven out from the main stream denying even proper education. The persons like Khatotkaca and Iravan though are ksatriyas by paternity are subalterns by virtue of maternity. Vidura is forced to live as a subaltern. Karna is a person who suffers a lot of humiliations and suppressions on the basis of caste as he has been brought up in the Sutavamsa tavamsa although he is the son of Surya by birth. In the Mahabharata, he has been in most of the occasions called as Sutaputra Karna.
A woman who has been suppressed and victimized in several ways could be generally included in the humiliated category of the subordinated or subaltern persons arrayed as suppressed persons. Accordingly, in the Mahabharata, Draupadi is a female who subjected to patriarchal hegemonical suffers from subalternity to a great extent. Though Draupadi is having five husbands, she is humiliated in the Kauravasabha and is not given any kind of protection. She is subjected to the ill-treatment from the males like Kicaka, Dussasana, and Jyadrata. Madhavi is portrayed as a representative of the female gender and as an instrument for money making. In addition to that she is an object for gratifying lust and for procreation. Hidimbi is a female character who experiences twin subalternities. As a woman and as one suffering from caste inequality she experiences subalternity. Kunti is yet another character in the Mahabharata who encounters subalternity to a great extent. Her sufferings start from the day on which she is donated by her father to another person to fulfill his words and suffers a lot till her death. Amba, Ambika and Ambalika are kidnapped by Bhisma in front of their own father. After that incident Amba loses her life itself. Amba, Ambika and Ambalika are forced to live by confronting various difficulties. These characters are analyzed here in this chapter by giving a focus on the various incidents in the Mahabharata.
Vedas (1182)
Upanishads (493)
Puranas (624)
Ramayana (741)
Mahabharata (354)
Dharmasastras (165)
Goddess (496)
Bhakti (242)
Saints (1503)
Gods (1290)
Shiva (370)
Journal (187)
Fiction (60)
Vedanta (362)
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