Of Deities and Demons: Madhva’s Doctrine of Hierarchy in the Mahābhāratatātparyanirṇaya
Date
2019-04-26
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Abstract
My thesis investigates the thirteenth century South Indian philosopher Madhva’s Doctrine of Hierarchy through an analysis of sections from his Mahābhāratatātparyanirṇaya. Madhva’s Doctrine of Hierarchy ranks all animate beings according to their innate capacity, placing the deity Viṣṇu as the highest God, and Vāyu, the Wind God as his highest devotee and agent. Madhva’s Doctrine of Hierarchy is one of the distinctive features of dualist (Dvaita) Vedānta, a theological system that argues for the fundamental disunity of the individual soul and God. I show in my thesis that Madhva’s Doctrine of Hierarchy reaches its full expression in the Mahābhāratatātparyanirṇaya, a narrative composition that re-interprets three epic texts: the Rāmāyaṇa, the Mahābhārata, and portions of the Bhāgavatapurāṇa. My thesis looks carefully at the three important functions that this doctrine plays within the Mahābhāratatātparyanirṇaya. Firstly, the Doctrine of Hierarchy bridges the distinct genres of scripture (śruti) and epics and myth (itihāsapurāṇa). Secondly, it demonizes proponents of rival theologies. Thirdly, it resolves problematic episodes where moral norms are transgressed by female characters in the epics by deifying the characters in question. My thesis contributes to growing scholarship on the intellectual history of Vedānta by explicating the relationship between literary texts and theology in medieval South India.
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Dvaita, hierarchy, Madhva, Mahābhārata, tāratamya
Citation
Sudindra Rao, A. (2019). Of Deities and Demons: Madhva’s Doctrine of Hierarchy in the Mahābhāratatātparyanirṇaya (Master's thesis, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada). Retrieved from https://prism.ucalgary.ca.