Indian Classical Literature

List of Contributors vii Foreword by Kevin McGrath xPreface by Albrecht Classen xi Acknowledgements xx Introduction 1 TANMOY KUNDU AND UJJWAL KR.PANDA PART I Natyasastra 15 1 The 'Feminine' Construction in Indian Classical Drama: A Study Based on Bharatmuni's Natyasastra 17 GUTIMALI GOSWAMI PART II Abhijnanasakuntalam 27 2 'Paradise Lost, Paradise Regained': Rethinking the Genealogy of Environmentalism and Mythology in Kalidasa's The Recognition of Sakuntala 29 INDRAJIT MUKHERJEE 3 A Saga of Erotic Love and Juxtaposition of Contraries: A Study of Kalidasa's Abhijnanasakuntalam 43 SOUMYADEEP CHAKRABORTY 4 Shakuntala in Kalidasa: Reiterating the Known Tales 51 SARANYA MUKHERJEE 5 'Creatures of the Woods': Abhijnanasakuntalam and Kalidasa's Nature Principle 59 SANJUKTA CHATTERJEE PART III The Mahabharata 71 6 Alliance of Krishna and Arjuna in the Mahabharata 73 SUBHAM AMIN 7 Understanding the Epic in a Postmodern Context: Mahabharata and 'Dharma', Narrated and Questioned from the Fringes 81 RAJA BASU 8 'Khandava', the Massacre of Non-Human Ontology: A Re-Reading of the Mahabharata 92 SAIKAT CHAKRABORTY 9 Serving Raison d'etre: Righteousness and Resistance in The Temptation of Karna 100 TUHIN MAJUMDAR 10 Neither Man Nor Woman Or Both: Exploring the Fluidity of Gender in the Mahabharata 108 SHAISTA IRSHAD PART IV M?cchakatika 117 11 M?cchakatika as a Mirror of Vedic State and Mass Insurgence 119 SUBHAJEET SINGHA 12 Mrichchakatika: The Triumph of Love and a 'New World Order' 126 ANKUR KONAR PART V The Cilappatikaram: A Tale of an Anklet 135 13 Sacral and Profane: Kingship, Society, and Tamil Nationalism in Ilanko Atikal's the Cilappatikaram: A Tale of an Anklet 137 ANIMESH BAG PART VI Panchatantra 149 14 The Animal Question in the Panchatantra 151 SEBONTI ROY CHOWDHURY PART VII Gitagovindam 161 15 Aesthetics of Emotion: Sringara Rasa in Jayadeva's Gitagovindam 163 SHRUTI DAS Index 175