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Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- Acknowledgements
- Part I About Theories and Philosophies
- Part II About Self
- Part III About Memory
- Chapter 4 The Cultural Scene: Allure of Tales in the Living Texts
- Chapter 5 Remembering Mahabharata: The Story Telling Time and the Time of the Story
- Chapter 6 Gendered Memories: The Heroine's Journey in Time
- Part IV About Interpretation
- Part V About Self, Memory and Interpretation
- Appendix I Tables
- Appendix II Interview Documents
- References
Chapter 5 - Remembering Mahabharata: The Story Telling Time and the Time of the Story
from Part III - About Memory
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 March 2012
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- Acknowledgements
- Part I About Theories and Philosophies
- Part II About Self
- Part III About Memory
- Chapter 4 The Cultural Scene: Allure of Tales in the Living Texts
- Chapter 5 Remembering Mahabharata: The Story Telling Time and the Time of the Story
- Chapter 6 Gendered Memories: The Heroine's Journey in Time
- Part IV About Interpretation
- Part V About Self, Memory and Interpretation
- Appendix I Tables
- Appendix II Interview Documents
- References
Summary
Katha Amrito Saman (The story equals life giving nectar)
A Sanskrit expression (Author and text unknown)The closest English translation for the Sanskrit word Katha is “story,” but this English word tends to convert the “active verb” into a “passive noun.” Etymologically, the word Katha is derived from the Sanskrit root Kath, which means “to converse with, tell, relate, narrate, speak out, explain” (Monier-Williams 1899, A Sanskrit-English Dictionary) and Katha, therefore, best translates as an act of “storying” or “telling,” which includes the tellers, the tales and the listeners. The dialogical angle is fundamental to the Katha activity. A common expression to begin a story very often is not necessarily, “let me tell you a story,” but “shall we tell ourselves some stories” or “shall we do some storying” or “do you want to spin some stories?” Katha is not just a single story, but it is at once personal, social and spiritual. At a subjective level, my concerns are with the ways in which the individual makes connections with the “all-pervasive” social and spiritual text. The relationship that one establishes with the text is dependent on both the level of knowledge, and the degree of engagement with the text, which in turn is dependent on the modes of encounter with the text.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Dialogics of Self, the Mahabharata, and CultureThe History of Understanding and Understanding of History, pp. 121 - 140Publisher: Anthem PressPrint publication year: 2010