2006-07 International Focus Year Colloquium: "Mediating Myths: Indian Gods in Modern Times"

The Ramayana and the Mahabharata are the great epics of South Asia: exciting mythological tales of romance, warfare, and adventure involving the Hindu gods and goddesses, human heroes and heroines, demons,talking animals, and a wide cast of other characters. The earliest known versions of these epics are ancient tomes composed in the classical Sanskrit language, which have long been studied and translated by scholars of South Asian religion and literature. Yet these epic tales are far more than relics of the distant past; for more than 2,000 years these and other mythological Indian tales have continued to shape religious, political, and social identities in South Asia. (learn more)

Schedule of Events:

The Persistence of the Mythological in Indian Popular Cinema
Philip Lutgendorf
Sept. 28, 2006
7:30 p.m.
Gallery Theatre

A Hindu ‘Mythological’ in the Parsi Theatre: Betab’s Mahabharat
Kathryn Hansen
Oct. 26, 2006
7:30 p.m.
Gallery Theatre

Dilemmas of Womanhood: Recent South Indian Short Stories Based on the Ramayana
Paula Richman
Nov. 13, 2006
7:30 p.m.
Gallery Theatre

Screen Goddesses: Shakti, Sati, Naginas and Other Female Deities in Indian Cinema
Rachel Dwyer
April 10, 2007
7:30 p.m.
Gallery Theatre