Mccarter-Dissertation-2013
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The Dissertation Committee for Elliott Craver McCarter certifies that this is the approved version of the following dissertation: KURUKSHETRA: BENDING THE NARRATIVE INTO PLACE Committee: Joel Brereton, Supervisor Oliver Freiberger Patrick Olivelle Martha Selby Cynthia Talbot KURUKSHETRA: BENDING THE NARRATIVE INTO PLACE by Elliott Craver McCarter, B.A.; M.A. Dissertation Presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School of The University of Texas at Austin in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy The University of Texas at Austin May 2013 Acknowledgements There are many individuals and institutions that deserve acknowledgment and thanks for their assistance with this project. My supervisor, Joel Brereton, my committee members, Oliver Freiberger, Patrick Olivelle, Martha Selby, and Cynthia Talbot, and the rest of the faculty at the University of Texas have been supportive and encouraging in their guidance. The support from my fellow students has also been tremendous, though I hesitate to name particular individuals for fear that I may leave someone out. The exception is Justin Fifeld who went with me on my first trip to Kurukshetra in May of 2006 when this current project was first conceived. Financial support for this project was received from the University of Texas and through a Fulbright-Hays Doctoral Dissertation Research Abroad fellowship. Logistical support in India was provided by the United States Educational Foundation in India and the American Institute for Indian Studies. Several institutions in India guided me and provided assistance: The Special Centre for Sanskrit Studies at Jawaharlal Nehru University, Kurukshetra University, Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute, Anup Sanskrit Library, Kurukshetra Development Board, L’École Française d’Extrême- Orient, and the French Insitute, Pondicherry. Finally, this work would not have been possible without the support of my wife and the kindness of the people of Haryana. iii Kurukshetra: Bending the Narrative into Place Elliott Craver McCarter, Ph.D. The University of Texas at Austin, 2013 Supervisor: Joel Brereton This dissertation explores the connection among place, narrative, and ritual in a survey of Kurukshetra and its meaning to different communities across time. Kurukshetra, a region of central Haryana, is currently identified predominantly as a tīrtha and the site of the central battle of the Mahābhārata epic. I ask, “How did this area come to be known as Kurukshetra and how did it become so strongly associated with the Mahābhārata?” I argue that there is a constructive dynamic tension among place, narrative, and ritual that connects Kurukshetra, the Mahābhārata, and tīrthayātrā, leading to the current situation. I begin by examining pre-epic constructions of Kurukshetra to discover shifts and continuities in the terrain that Kurukshetra inhabits and the narrative themes ascribed to it. Following, I trace these themes into the epic period, and explore how a new ritual paradigm, tīrthayātrā, continues to modify the physical and narrative landscape. Next, I observe that the ritual, narrative, and terrain begin to coalesce in the post-epic period. I argue that even as the ritual begins to become more stable, the narrative and ritual geographies remain in flux. By the sixteenth century, the Mahābhārata begins to dominate the narrative identity of Kurukshetra and the region around the city of Thanesar becomes the primary locus of ritual activity and narrative reproduction. iv Table of Contents List of Tables ....................................................................................................... viii List of Figures ........................................................................................................ ix Chapter 1: Introduction ............................................................................................1 Organization, Structure, and Outline of Chapters .........................................17 Sources for the Study of Kurukshetra ...........................................................19 Middle to Late Vedic Sources..............................................................19 Epic and Epic Period Sources ..............................................................21 Post-epic Sources .................................................................................23 Early Modern and Modern Sources .....................................................26 Contemporary Sources .........................................................................28 Secondary Sources ...............................................................................29 Kurukshetra, Thanesar, The Mahābhārata, and the Solar Eclipse Festival .32 Kurukshetra and Thanesar ...................................................................32 The Mahābhārata ................................................................................42 The Solar Eclipse Festival (Sūryagrahaṇa Melā) ................................44 Scholarship on Tīrtha ...........................................................................45 Chapter 2: Placing Kurukshetra .............................................................................51 Introduction ...................................................................................................51 The Sarasvatī River and Kurukshetra in the Late Vedic Period ...................57 Geographies in Late Vedic Literature ...........................................................69 Non-geographic Constructions .....................................................................82 Conclusion ....................................................................................................86 Chapter 3: Shifting Kurukshetra in Epic and Epic Period Literature ....................88 Introduction ...................................................................................................88 Ideal Geographies: Kurukshetra in the Mānava Dharmaśāstra ...................90 Shifts in Post-Epic Literature ........................................................................94 Mahābhārata I: Contest in Kurukshetra .....................................................103 v Saṃvaraṇa ..........................................................................................107 Takṣaka ..............................................................................................109 Citrāṅgada; Sunda-Upasunda .............................................................112 Paraśurāma .........................................................................................114 Dharmakṣetra ....................................................................................117 Mahābhārata II: Tīrthayātrā and Narrative Overlap ..................................118 Kurukshetra’s Tīrthayātrā in the Mahābhārata ................................123 Actions: .....................................................................................124 Rewards: ...................................................................................127 Locations: ..................................................................................132 Ritual Geography and Narrative Overlap ..........................................136 Conclusion ..................................................................................................141 Chapter 4: Centering Kurukshetra in Post-Epic Literature, the Solar Eclipse Festival and Thanesar .................................................................................143 Introduction .................................................................................................143 Kurukshetra in the Early PurāṆas: Narrative Place and Tīrtha .................144 Kurukshetra in the Seventh Century: The Emergence of the Center at Thanesar .............................................................................................148 Kurukshetra in the Ninth, Tenth, and Eleventh Centuries: Center of Patronage and Wealth ........................................................................156 Kurukshetra in the Tenth Century I: The Bhāgavata PurāṆa and the Solar Eclipse Fair ........................................................................................163 Kurukshetra in the Tenth Century II: The Vāmana PurāṆa and the Saromāhātmya, Geographic Reconstructions ....................................167 Tīrthayātrā in the Vāmana Purāṇa ....................................................170 Pṛthūdaka in the Vāmana Purāṇa ......................................................173 Tīrthayātrā in the Saromāhātmya ......................................................176 Moving a Lake ...................................................................................179 Foundation Narratives in the Saromāhātmya and the Vāmana PurāṆa ....185 Conclusion ..................................................................................................188 vi Chapter 5: Becoming “The Land of the Gita” in Early Modern and Modern Kurukshetra .................................................................................................190 Introduction .................................................................................................190 Contest and Control ....................................................................................194 The Emerging Dominance of the Mahābhārata .........................................200 New Geographies in Sanskrit and British Literature ..................................208 Death: Ideal