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The Apaddharmaparvan, 'the book on conduct in times of distress', is an important section of the great Sanskrit epic the Mahabharata despite its significance for Mahabharata studies and for the history of Indian social and political thought.
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Dharma, Disorder and the Political in Ancient India Brill’s Indological Library Edited by Johannes Bronkhorst In co-operation with Richard Gombrich • Oskar von Hinüber Katsumi Mimaki • Arvind Sharma VOLUME 28 Dharma, Disorder and the Political in Ancient India The $paddharmaparvan of the Mah§bh§rata By Adam Bowles LEIDEN • BOSTON 2007 Cover illustration: Death of Bhishma, Art of Legend India (www.artoflegendindia.com) This book is printed on acid-free paper. A C.I.P. record for this book is available from the Library of Congress. ISSN: 0925-2916 ISBN: 978 90 04 15815 3 Copyright 2007 by Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands. Koninklijke Brill NV incorporates the imprints Brill, Hotei Publishing, IDC Publishers, Martinus Nijhoff Publishers and VSP. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, translated, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior written permission from the publisher. Authorization to photocopy items for internal or personal use is granted by Koninklijke Brill NV provided that the appropriate fees are paid directly to The Copyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Suite 910, Danvers, MA 01923, USA. Fees are subject to change. printed in the netherlands for Tracey and Hamish and in memory of Nan CONTENTS Preface ............................................................................................ Abbreviations.................................................................................. List of figures.................................................................................. Chapter One Introduction ............................................................ 1.1 The paddharmaparvan: A brief overview ....................... 1.2 A guide to this book: Propositions and directions............ 1.3 A note on chronologies ..................................................... 1.4 Mah bh rata scholarship and the didactic corpora: What is ‘Mah bh rata’? ....................................................... Chapter Two ‘Distress’ in the literature on dharma and artha ...................................................................... 2.1 From the dharmas tras to the dharma stras.................... 2.1.1 The dharmas tras...................................................... 2.1.2 Manu and beyond ..................................................... 2.2 The Artha stra ................................................................. 2.2.1 The Artha stra and the dharma stras .................... 2.2.2 Artha stra analyses ................................................. 2.2.3 The treasury ‘ko a’................................................... 2.2.4 The weak king vs. the strong king............................. 2.3 Concluding remarks ......................................................... Chapter Three Dharma ................................................................ 3.1 The origins of dharma: from dharman to dharma............. 3.1.1 Saühit s ................................................................... 3.1.2 Br hmaõas ................................................................ 3.1.3 Upaniùads ................................................................. 3.1.4 rauta- and g hya-s tras........................................... 3.1.5 Towards the dharmas tras........................................ 3.2 The crisis and renewal of Br hmaõism: the