Similes in the Mahabharata: A stylistic analysis

This dissertation concerns the style of the Sanskrit epic the Mahabharata. The language and style of this epic form the transition from the earliest stage of Sanskrit, represented by the hymns of the R&dotbelow;gveda, to the highly formalized poetry of classical Sanskrit. While the Mahabharata has received a great deal of attention from historians, anthropologists and scholars of religion, the study of this text as a literary work has been neglected.;In this dissertation I analyze the comparisons or similes (upama, in Sanskrit) in Books 6 and 7 of the Mahrabharata. The simile is the most prominent stylistic device of the Indian epics, as well as one of the oldest rhetorical figures of Sanskrit literature. A simile is the comparison of one thing with a substantially different thing, as in MBh.6.14.13 sa sete bhumau vatarugn&dotbelow;a iva drumah&dotbelow; 'He lies on the ground like a tree broken by the wind.' In this project I also examine the metaphors (rupaka, in Sanskrit) in the abovementioned books. In a metaphor the subject of comparison is only implicitly compared with its object, as in MBh.6.106.43d dvipo bhis&dotbelow;mo `bhavat 'Bhis&dotbelow;ma became an island.' According to the Indian treatises on poetics (Alam&dotbelow;karasastra), the metaphor is a variant of the simile.;The goal of this project is twofold. First, by defining and analyzing the similes and metaphors in two books of the Mahabharata, I attempt to bring to light the poetic dimension of the text heretofore overlooked by the critics. Second, a diachronic study of the simile in several works of Sanskrit literature (the Mahabharata, the R&dotbelow;gveda and the Chandogya, Upanis&dotbelow;ad) brings to light a pattern in the development of Sanskrit style. The results of this study will lead us to new conclusions about the relevance of the Mahabharata as a literary work as well as its place in the history of Sanskrit diction and stylistics.