| The Mahabharata was compiled in North India during a time of lively debate in brahmanical intellectual circles about the boundaries of canon (sruti) in Hindu religious traditions. The indigenous tradition recognizes the epic as history (itihasa ) and as authoritative religious knowledge (smr&dotbelow;ti ), two forms of discourse produced by humans. This dissertation argues that the Mahabharata became religiously authoritative chiefly through the labors of brahman intellectuals who were responsible for an editorial process scholars do not understand well. The primary intent of that process, however, becomes evident when we isolate for study the remarkable body of story material that constitutes nearly half of the epic.; In examining the ancillary stories, I show that they serve the rhetorical function of making the epic into smr&dotbelow;ti. They are presented as authoritative information, as sacred history, that interprets the Pan&dotbelow;d&dotbelow;ava-Kaurava war. The interpretation itself, namely the resultant epic, is then declared to be religiously authoritative (smr&dotbelow;ti). Whether or not the characters or themes of a particular ancillary story were in fact ancient, the epic's compilers consistently presented them that way. Based on this prominent feature of the epic's ancillary stories, I conclude that it was a vehicle by which brahman intellectuals gained legitimacy for new practices such as bhakti, pilgrimage, and ahim&dotbelow;sa by arguing that they are fully congruent with sruti, if properly understood. |
