Arjuna and the Hunter

Arjuna and the Hunter

by Bharavi
Arjuna and the Hunter

Arjuna and the Hunter

by Bharavi

Hardcover(New Edition)

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Overview

The first complete English translation of one of the great court epics of Sanskrit literature.

Kirātārjunīya, or Arjuna and the Hunter, is one of the great court epics of the Sanskrit literary canon. Written by the sixth-century poet Bharavi, it is also the first and most remarkable reinterpretation of a pivotal episode in the Mahābhārata, India’s ancient epic. The warrior Arjuna travels to the Himalayas to perform penance and win a boon from the god Shiva that will help his brothers, the Pandavas, overcome their enemies in righteous war. Appearing in the guise of a hunter, Shiva tests Arjuna’s courage in combat, ultimately reveals himself, and bestows upon the hero an invincible weapon.

In Bharavi’s hands, the episode is turned into a masterful contemplation of heroic action, ethical conduct, ascetic discipline, and religious devotion—core values in India’s classical civilization and enduring themes in Indian literature. But the poem’s fame rests above all on its aesthetic achievement. With its elegant, epigrammatic verse, powerful imagery, dramatic speeches, and vivid descriptions, Arjuna and the Hunter, now made available for the first time in a complete English translation and accompanied by the Sanskrit original in the Devanagari script, will dazzle and move contemporary readers no less powerfully than its first courtly connoisseurs.


Product Details

ISBN-13: 9780674504967
Publisher: Harvard University Press
Publication date: 01/05/2016
Series: Murty Classical Library of India , #9
Edition description: New Edition
Pages: 480
Product dimensions: 5.60(w) x 8.10(h) x 1.40(d)

About the Author

Indira Viswanathan Peterson is David B. Truman Professor of Asian Studies at Mount Holyoke College.

Table of Contents

Introduction ix

Note on the Text and Translation xxxix

1 Queen Draupadi Calls for Action 1

2 Yudhishthira and Bhima Debate Policy 19

3 Vyasa's Counsel 39

4 Autumn Landscape 61

5 The Magnificent Himalaya 75

6 Arjuna's Asceticism 97

7 The Journey of the Apsarases and Gandharvas 115

8 Playing in the Woods and the River Ganga 135

9 The Lovemaking of the Apsarases and Gandharvas 155

10 A Failed Seduction 181

11 Indra Tests Arjuna 205

12 Shiva's Noble Plan 229

13 The Boar's Attack and the Hunter's Claim 249

14 Arjuna Defeats Shiva's Army of Spirits 273

15 Arjuna's Combat with Shiva 297

16 A Contest with Supernatural Weapons 317

17 The Loss of Arjuna's Weapons 339

18 Wrestling Match, Theophany, and Boon 361

Abbreviations 381

Notes to the Text 383

Notes to the Translation 385

Glossary 411

Bibliography 417

Index 423

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