Dharma and desire: Lacan and the left half of the Mahabharata

This dissertation is an interdisciplinary effort to bring Lacanian and feminist theory together in the reading and analysis of the Mahabharata. Specifically, it explores the relation between dharma and desire as they are implicated in such themes as maternity and paternity, the gaze, and transsexuality in the epic. In so doing, this dissertation aims to contribute not only to Mahkabharata studies and South Asian religious studies, but also to contemporary psychoanalytic and feminist theory, especially as they are applied to Indic materials.;A strong argument running throughout the dissertation will be that Lacan brings fresh theoretical insights to Freudian work that has been done on the subcontinent, offering a level of sophistication in approaching the symbolic content of cultural and religious objects that South Asianists cannot afford to ignore. The masculinist bias, however, that continues to be an issue both in Lacanian theory and psychoanalysis more broadly, must be countered by a feminist sensibility that is attuned to such currents and offers a set of parallel analytic tools to address them. By combining two theoretical approaches that have similar interests yet differing approaches, a lively engagement with the epic should emerge.;The concept of the "left half" has traditionally Hindu associations with the feminine, but it is applied somewhat unconventionally in this dissertation as a theoretical filter for discerning broader gendered dynamics beyond the more discrete categories of male and female. By making the left half of the Mahabharata the object of this dissertation, a broad yet symbolically specific field of inquiry is created that allows for theoretical explorations as well as specific insights on the epic's stories, characters, and underlying motivations. Dharma and desire both encompass this field and are richly interwoven throughout it.;This dissertation should demonstrate that not only can Lacanian and feminist theory shed light on the Mahabharata, but the Mahabharata can also provoke new insights within Lacanian and feminist theory. The epic offers us fertile possibilities for thinking about gender, subjectivity, and desire, and this dissertation seeks to refine and expand our methods for approaching it.