Cardiff University | Prifysgol Caerdydd ORCA
Online Research @ Cardiff 
WelshClear Cookie - decide language by browser settings

Public reason and morality in the Sanskrit Mahābhārata: Some moral tasting notes on the Udyogaparvan of the Mahābhārata

Hegarty, James ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4769-2449 2022. Public reason and morality in the Sanskrit Mahābhārata: Some moral tasting notes on the Udyogaparvan of the Mahābhārata. Balkaran, Raj and Taylor, McComas, eds. Visions and Revisions of Ancient Indian Narrative: Studies in the Sanskrit Epics and Puranas, Australian National University Press,

Full text not available from this repository.

Abstract

This chapter explores the ways in which moral decisions are taken by people in positions of power and influence in the Sanskrit Mahābhārata, which I characterize as acts of public reason. It focuses on the moral content of the courtly debates contained in the Mahābhārata, which are so central to the narrative progression of the text. The paper pursues a universalist line of enquiry, which considers the moral foundations of the back and forth of negotiations in the Udyogaparvan of the Mahābhārata (its fifth book). This universalist approach develops after the work of the evolutionary psychologist and theorist of religion and politics, Jonathan Haidt. I demonstrate the utility of his approach to the analysis of the Mahābhārata as a globally significant text.

Item Type: Book Section
Date Type: Publication
Status: In Press
Schools: History, Archaeology and Religion
Subjects: B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > BL Religion
D History General and Old World > DS Asia
P Language and Literature > PI Oriental languages and literatures
Publisher: Australian National University Press
Last Modified: 07 Nov 2022 10:37
URI: https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/132814

Actions (repository staff only)

Edit Item Edit Item