Lifting Brides/Lifting Enemies
Male Embraces in the Mahabharata’s Adiparvan and Virataparvan
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1558/rosa.24400Keywords:
bride abductions, enemy abductions, masculinities, MahābhārataAbstract
The paper examines four lifting scenes in the Mahabharata: (1) Bhisma lifting Amba, Ambika and Ambalika (1.96), (2) Arjuna lifting Subhadra (1.212), (3) Susarman lifting Virata / Bhima lifting Susarman (4.32), and (4) Arjuna lifting Uttara (4.36). Its main claim is that the bride abductions provide the key elements in terms of textual materials for the enemy ‘abductions’, which may then be seen as adaptations. This reading contributes to the understanding of some auctorial techniques within the Mahabharata, such as depictions of masculinity, comical reversals and self-references in general.
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