The Sanskrit Mahabharata is one of the greatest works of world literature and pivotal for the understanding of both Hindu traditions and wider society in ancient, medieval and modern South Asia. This book presents a new synthesis of philological, anthropological and cognitive-linguistic method and theory in relation to the study of narrative text by focusing on the form and function of the Mahabharata in the context of early South Asia.

Arguing that the combination of structural and thematic features that have helped to establish the enduring cultural centrality of religious...

Use this book to spark your imagination, to provoke your inspiration. Pick it up, choose a page randomly, or read a few. It is a book for busy, creative people who would rather make something than sit around reading a lengthy manuscript. This is your notebook. Fill the pages with your own notes, your own insights. Draw all over it, dog-ear some pages. If you like something, tear out the page and tape it to the wall If something is completely stupid get out your biggest, fattest, marker and obliterate it - or rip it out and feed it to the shredder.