{"product_id":"divine-yet-human-epics-shubha-pathak-9780674726758","title":"Divine Yet Human Epics: Reflections of Poetic Rulers from Ancient Greece and India","description":"The central character of \u003ci\u003eDivine Yet Human Epics\u003c\/i\u003e is the developing conception of epic itself. Its story unfolds as the ancient Greek idea of epic originates with Pindar and Herodotus on the basis of the \u003ci\u003eIliad \u003c\/i\u003eand \u003ci\u003eOdyssey\u003c\/i\u003e. While this notion eventually leads their Sanskrit counterparts, the \u003ci\u003eRamaya?a \u003c\/i\u003eand \u003ci\u003eMahabharata, \u003c\/i\u003e to be understood selectively in modern times, medieval readers Anandavardhana and Rajasekhara reveal distinctive features of these ancient Indian poems earlier in this exegetical tale. Shubha Pathak's interpretative account concludes with a new way to connect these primary epics to their Greek analogues. Both epic pairs feature poetic kings who together affirm and interrogate their societies' central religious ideals: Greek \u003ci\u003ekl os\u003c\/i\u003e (or heroic glory, which assuages uncertainty about the afterlife) and Indian \u003ci\u003edharma \u003c\/i\u003e(or righteousness, which counters encroaching immorality). The Greek and Sanskrit epics, by showing both the divine ease and the human difficulty with which \u003ci\u003ekl os\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003edharma\u003c\/i\u003e are achieved, employ similar teaching strategies to address the shared psychological needs of human beings learning to live within the disparate cultures of ancient Greece and India. This cross-cultural comparative study thus provides a more comprehensive perspective on the poems' religiosity than the vantage points of Hellenists or of Indologists alone.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Shubha Pathak\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-10:\u003c\/b\u003e 0674726758\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9780674726758\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Harvard University Press\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 11\/17\/2014\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 222\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 0.80lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 9.03h x 5.96w x 0.55d","brand":"Shubha Pathak","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":43925565833471,"sku":"9780674726758","price":22.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0662\/2982\/9887\/products\/img_1f2fa2ce-45b7-470a-b047-004b71ffb7a5.jpg?v=1681078028","url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/divine-yet-human-epics-shubha-pathak-9780674726758","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}