Project

Redemption or Death: Jainism’s transformation of the Hindu villain Kīcaka in Jaina Mahābhāratas

Code
01D05119
Duration
01 December 2019 → 30 November 2023
Funding
Regional and community funding: Special Research Fund
Research disciplines
  • Humanities and the arts
    • Indian languages
    • Other Asian literatures
    • Other philosophy, ethics and religious studies not elsewhere classified
Keywords
South-Asian Religions Jainism Hinduism Sanskrit literature religious identity Mahābhārata
 
Project description

Jainism, a living minority religion in India, has its own tradition of Jain adaptation of the Hindu Sanskrit epic Mahābhārata. This project intends to compare Jain adaptions of Kīcakavadha-episode of the Mahābhārata epic. Do most Jain authors follow the earliest Jaina adaptation of the Kīcaka-episode, in which the sexual predator Kīcaka is redeemed as Jain monk, or not?