Religious Doctrines in the Mahabharata

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This study further offers an analysis of the epic's teachings by seeking to identify its principal doctrinal tendencies and the specific answers it gives to major questions of religious thinking such as the nature of God, the path to salvation, cosmic and personal eschatology, ethics and the authority of scripture. Through this approach the text is allowed to speak in its own terms and justice is done to the genuine diversity of perspectives contained in its various sections.

Contents:

Introduction.

1. Background to and major themes of epic thought.
2. The Mahabharata's teachings on the status of scripture.
3. Religious organisation in the Mahabharata.
4. Epic soteriology.
5. Epic theism: the nature of God.
6. Epic eschatology.
7. The Mahabharata's teachings on ethics.
8. The Mahabharata's understanding of humanity.
9. The control of destiny over human existence.
10. Creation: the epic's teachings on the origins of this world.
11. The Mahabharata's teachings on gender.
12. Conclusion: the significance of the Mahabharata's teachings.

Bibliography.

Index.