Woman as Fire, Woman as Sage Sexual Ideology in the Mahbhrata Arti Dhand WomanasFire,WomanasSage SUNYseries in Religious Studies Harold Coward, editor WomanasFire,WomanasSage Sexual Ideology in the Mah(cid:2)bh(cid:2)rata Arti Dhand (cid:2) State University of New York Press Publishedby StateUniversityofNewYorkPress,Albany ©2008StateUniversityofNewYorkPress Allrightsreserved PrintedintheUnitedStatesofAmerica Nopartofthisbookmaybeusedorreproduced inanymannerwhatsoeverwithoutwrittenpermission. Nopartofthisbookmaybestoredinaretrievalsystem ortransmittedinanyformorbyanymeansincluding electronic,electrostatic,magnetictape,mechanical, photocopying,recording,orotherwisewithouttheprior permissioninwritingofthepublisher. Forinformation,contact StateUniversityofNewYorkPress, Albany, New York www.sunypress.edu ProductionbyJudithBlock MarketingbyAnneM.Valentine LibraryofCongressCataloginginPublicationData Dhand,Arti1966– Womanasfire,womanassage:sexualideologyintheMahabharata/ArtiDhand. p. cm.—(SUNYseriesinreligiousstudies) Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex. ISBN978-0-7914-7139-5(hardcover:alk.paper) 1.Mahabharata—Criticism, interpretation,etc. 2.WomeninHinduism. 3.Sex—Religiousaspects—Hinduism. I.Title. BL1138.27.D425 2007 294.5'923048—dc22 2006101104 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 For my two little princes Rahul and Kai Contents (cid:2) Acknowledgments ix Introduction 1 1. ReligionintheMah(cid:3)bh(cid:3)rata 21 2. Nivr(cid:2)ttiDharma:TheSearchfortheHighest 55 3. WeddingandBeddinginPravr(cid:4)ttiDharma 95 4. TheUnrulyDesireofWomen 127 5. DiscipliningDesire 151 6. (cid:5)paddharma 181 Conclusion 199 Notes 205 SelectedBibliography 237 Index 253 vii Acknowledgments (cid:2) This work has benefited from the assistance of numerous people. In particu- lar, I owe my thanks to Katherine Young at McGill University, and to my excellent research assistants, John McGee, Patrick McGee, and Maithili Thayanithy. ix