commissions him to compose the story of the ideal person, Ra ̄ma, just identified
as such by the sage Na ̄rada.
This continuity lies not only in the extended period over which both epics were
growing to their present dimensions but also in the way that both were taken up
by all succeeding periods both culturally and religiously, so that they have
become part of the very fabric of the culture. Indeed, they have been used not
only in support of traditional orthodoxy, as one might expect, but also by many
marginalized groups who have found a special affinity with one of their char-
acters; for example, Sı ̄ta ̄’s trials have enabled women to air the problem of a
husband’s neglect, Ra ̄vana’s defiance of the establishment has been glorified by
some South Indians and some outcaste groups, and Va ̄lmı ̄ki has become central
to the beliefs of one untouchable group. Such selective appropriation of the
epic narratives serves to underline both their richness and their flexibility.
Yet the position of the epics within Hindu culture is even more basic than that:
A. K. Ramanujan’s assertion that no Indian ever hears the Ra ̄ma ̄yan.astory for
the first time conveys the very real truth, applicable to both epics, that their
stories and their characters are integral to every Hindu’s consciousness.
Bibliography
Biardeau, Madeleine. 1976/1978. “Études de mythologie hindoue: Bhakti et avata ̄ra,”
Bulletin de l’École Française d’Extrême Orient63 (1976): 111–263 and 65 (1978):
87–238.
Brockington, John. 1984. Righteous Ra ̄ma: The Evolution of an Epic. Delhi: Oxford
University Press.
——. 1998. The Sanskrit Epics(Handbuch der Orientalistik, 2.12). Leiden: Brill.
Hiltebeitel, Alf. 1976. The Ritual of Battle: Krishna in the Maha ̄bha ̄rata. Ithaca: Cornell
University Press.
Lipner, Julius, ed. 1997. The Fruits of our Desiring: An Inquiry into the Ethics of the
Bhagavadgı ̄ta ̄ for Our Times. Calgary: Bayeux Arts.
The Maha ̄bha ̄rata, critically ed. by V. S. Sukthankar et al., 19 vols. Poona: Bhandarkar
Oriental Research Institute, 1933–66.
The Maha ̄bha ̄rata[Books 1–5], trans. J. A. B. van Buitenen, 3 vols. Chicago: University
of Chicago Press, 1973–8.
Pollock, Sheldon I. 1984. “The Divine King in the Indian Epic,” Journal of the American
Oriental Society104: 505–28.
The Ra ̄ma ̄yan.a of Va ̄lmı ̄ki, critically edited, G. H. Bhatt and U. P. Shah, gen. eds., 7 vols.
Baroda: Oriental Institute, 1960–75.
The Ra ̄ma ̄yan.a of Va ̄lmı ̄ki, An Epic of Ancient India, trans. Robert P. Goldman et al.
Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1984–.
Schreiner, Peter, ed. 1997. Na ̄ra ̄yan.ı ̄ya Studien(Pura ̄n.a Research Publications, Tübingen,
6). Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz.
128 john brockington