| The Mahābhārata, like other martial epics, presents a world of conflict in which heroes contest against a background of bronze age culture. The focus of this study is to define the nature and the function of such a hero: politically, socially, and in terms of kinship.; This question, as it stands in the Iliad—a cognate epic, has been fully addressed in the work of Gregory Nagy. The assumptions and methods of Nagy have been employed here in study of the Sanskrit hero.; Some of Nagy's assumptions stem from the work of Calvert Watkins and concern the nature of the hero within Indo-European poetry. This present study fully maintains those assumptions, both as to the role that the IE hero plays in poetry, and also concerning the organisation of such epic poetry and its poetic forms.; Nagy has developed the theories of preliterate poetry which were initially formulated by Parry and Lord. This current work has made full use of these theories in its analysis of how a hero operates within an epic system. Karn&dotbelow;a fits this model of analysis well.; Karn&dotbelow;a is the primary figure for this research as he ideally represents a typical hero, uncomplicated by the doctrinal influences which affect much of the poem. From an examination of the particular aspects of Karn&dotbelow;a's heroism and speech one can move to a more general appreciation of the Sanskrit hero at large. This movement is also illustrative of a shift from the archaic form of heroism to its classical model.; The study concludes that Karn&dotbelow;a is indeed the most central and, in terms of narrative, the most important hero in the poem. Great reference has been made to the importance that Karn&dotbelow;a plays in modern Indian drama and verse, where he is very often depicted as the rightful hero of the epic. |
