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The Topos of the Four Ages of Humankind and the Question of Rāma’s Divinity

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Pigoniowa M.

Cracow Indological Studies

2013

vol. 15: Text History and Society as Depicted in Indian Literature and Art. Part II. ŚRAVYA. Poetry & Prose

209-236

The present paper explores the connection between the topos of the four ages of humankind, and kr̥tayuga in particular, and the way in which Rāma’s rule is described in the Rāmāyaṇa. This topos, commonly found in various literatures of the ancient world, is also attested in this epic, featuring in the account of Rāma’s rule in books one and six. The characteristic elements of kr̥tayuga, such as the earth’s spontaneous abundance and the absence of human miseries and suffering, make it clear that the king whose rule is described in such a way should be regarded as a divine human. The first part of this paper discusses the main problems connected with the Indian idea of king as presented especially by Edward W. Hopkins and Sheldon Pollock (king as a divine human or mortal god). The second part is devoted to the comparison of the descriptions of the world’s four periods in Indian, Greek, and Roman literature, with a focus on the similarities between them. In the third part of the paper emphasis is laid on the kr̥tayuga in particular and the way in which Rāma’s rule is described.

Between Enduring Urban Models and Shifting Cultural Trajectories: Unravelling Narratives on Ayodhyā and Bengaluru

88%

Milanetti G.

Cracow Indological Studies

2015

vol. 17: Crossing over “on the Birds’ Wings”: South Asian Literature in Local and Global Contexts

19-28

Indian cities seem particularly prone to investigation through narrative both for the abundance of material about the origins and the development of urban centres from ancient to medieval times—which often contrasts with the relative scarceness of purely ‘historical’ data—and for the tendency to elaborate modern and contemporary “a posteriori narrative- myths” (Aravot 1995) through popular media such as cinema and television. Using methodological tools provided by research on narratives and analysing two case studies with reference to the cities of Ayodhyā and Bengaluru, the present paper investigates the processes and the dynamics by which narrations on cities are made to evolve. It builds on the conceptual frame provided by recent narratological scholarship, with a specific reference to the “increasing recognition of the ubiquity of narrative within any culture, in discursive practices as diverse as theology, historiography, economics, legal practice, political speech-making, everyday conversation and philosophy” (Rigney 1992: 263–264, italics in the original). Focusing on the ‘constructive’ aspect of narrative, seen as a discourse that intrinsically involves the active (and determinant) participation of the narrator, it argues that this perspective of analysis allows the researcher to interpret urban narratives eminently in political terms, or within relations of power—which also legitimizes the use of narrative materials for historical research. In broader terms, it contends that narration can give back structured information about the values and the practices which characterize a given society, and which are selectively communicated by the narrator(s); and that, in turn, this quality of ‘restoring’ structured information may shed more light on the inherent nature of narration itself and lead to further theorization both on its creative dynamics and its created artefacts. Practice of exploration of narration in a context of open communication with other disciplines may undoubtedly facilitate this process.

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2 Cracow Indological Studies

1 Milanetti G.

1 Pigoniowa M.

1 2015

1 2013

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The Topos of the Four Ages of Humankind and the Question of Rāma’s Divinity

Between Enduring Urban Models and Shifting Cultural Trajectories: Unravelling Narratives on Ayodhyā and Bengaluru