Folkloristics of Mahabharata

The Mahabharata narrative invariably leaves an indelible impression and is deeply entrenched, in the psyche of the people, far and wide. The primarily oral narrative appeals to the attentive audience. However, confronted with the narrowly unsetting current departure from the traditional, the Mahabharata, too, is often mistakenly viewed with traces of suspicion. The unfounded skepticism primarily emanates from treating the entire Mahabharata as purely mythical or exaggerated fiction woven around poetic fancy. The book Folkloristics of Mahabharata attempts to consciously dissect or deconstruct the mythical to recapture the essence of the "historical elements", enshrined in the Mahabharata. It also emphasizes the importancae of the dynamic oral traditions of the Kurukshetra (Dharmakshetra) region. The decisive ‘war’, spread over eighteen days, is consequently perceived in discursive spatio-temporal contexts. These exercises in the folkloristics provide the discerning reader with an