The topic of this course is "Love and War", an overview of the literature and culture of ancient and classical India (South Asia). It covers the period from the middle of the second millennium BCE. through the end of the first millennium CE. During the course some of the most influential works of Indian tradition and world civilization will be read and discussed in their cultural context, with an eye especially to how these texts are interpreted and used in contemporary religion and politics. These include the Rigveda, the Ramayana, the Mahabharata and Bhagavadgita, poetic and dramatic works by Kalidasa, the Pancatantra, and early South Indian lyric poetry and Cilappatikaram. Although the works covered in the course were originally composed in Sanskrit or Tamil, they will be read in English translation. No knowledge of an Indian language is presupposed.

Required books: (in sequence in which we will read them)
For purchase in the University Book Store and on reserve in OUGL (4-hour loan):
Narayan, R.K. 2006. The Ramayana: A Shortened Modern Prose Version of the Indian Epic. Penguin Classics.
Miller, Barbara Stoler. (trsl). 1986. The Bhagavad-Gita: Krishna's Counsel in Time of War. New York: Bantam, 1986.
Parthasarathy, R. (trsl).1993. The Cilappatikåram of Ilanko Atikal: An Epic of South India. New York: Columbia University Press.
Thapar, Romila. 2002. Sakuntala: Texts, Readings, Histories. London: Anthem Press. (this book may not arrive in time in the Bookstore, you may want to check other vendors to make sure you will get it on time)
Olivelle, Patrick. (trsl). 1997. The Pañcatantra: The Book of India's Folk Wisdom. Oxford/New York: Oxford University Press.

Other sources. On reserve in OUGL (4-hour loan):
Dimock, Edward C., et al. eds. 1974. The literatures of India: An introduction. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

WEEK 9
PART 6. STORIES FOR ALL TIMES: PANCATANTRA
Reading: : Olivelle 1997; [Dimock 1974: 198-211]
Tu: Lecture: Introduction to folk literature and story-telling in India & readings of Pañcatantra
Th: QS5. Discussion of Pañcatantra and screening cartoons

Website of the week:

Watch a dance performance of a Pancatantra story:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0HTLjRAyrAw

A cartoon in Hindi of the story of the friendship between the crocodile and the monkey

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YQdTe3uXfSQ

Watch a scene from the TV series Shakuntala by Moti Sagar

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GnGo13E93QY&list=PL85D9031563A9AAEB&index=2