Argument and Design: The Unity of the Mahabharata

Argument and Design features fifteen essays by leading scholars of the Sanskrit epics, the Mahābhārata and the Rāmāyaṇa, discussing the Mahābhārata’s upākhyānas, subtales that branch off from the central storyline and provide vantage points for reflecting on it.

Vishwa P. Adluri is Adjunct Associate Professor of Religion at Hunter College, New York and the author of numerous articles and essays on the Mahābhārata. His work mainly focuses on the reception of ancient thought--both Greek and Indian--in modernity. Vishwa has a PhD in Philosophy from the New School, New York and a PhD in Indology from Philipps-Universität Marburg.

Joydeep Bagchee is a post-doctoral fellow at the Freie Universität Berlin. His current research focuses on the intersection of the textual sciences, philology, textual criticism, and the history of science. Joydeep is co-author, with Vishwa Adluri, of The Nay Science: A History of German Indology (Oxford University Press, 2014) and Philology and Criticism: A Guide to Mahābhārata Textual Criticism (Anthem Press, 2015).