GSFS 232 - Religion and Culture in Indian Epics

FC ARHU CD

4 credits
The Mahabharata and the Ramayana have been crucial religious and cultural texts in South Asia for millennia. In this course, we engage with the dynamic traditions of both epicsfrom Sanskrit versions composed over 2,000 years ago to contemporary theatrical, comic book, and televised renditions. While we will become familiar with major narrative, religious, and social themes of each text, our focus will be on how ideas about gender and sexuality are negotiated historically and in the vibrant modern lives of the epics. Feminist and postcolonial theories will inform how we approach each of our primary sources. Field trips required. Visits to the Allen Memorial Art Museum and Mudd Library Special Collections play an important part in the course.