ABSTRACT
In Chapter 11, Bruce M Sullivan will discuss the dialogue between Bhīma and Hanūmān in the Mahābhārata. The most well-known and arguably most important dialogue in the Hindu religious tradition is to be found in the Bhagavad Gītā. In this Chapter, Sullivan compares this dialogue with another with which it has many parallels and thematic resonances, the dialogue between Hanūmān and Bhīma from the Vana Parvan. Each is a private discussion between a Paṇḍava warrior and a deity who is also a family elder. Each is a dialogue about svadharma and kṣatriya-dharma, in which devotion (bhakti) is advocated. Two levels of dialogue will be discussed in this presentation:
the verbal exchanges between these discussants, and
the intertextuality of these dialogues.
Sullivan will discuss shared themes in these passages, and raise issues about the extent to which the two passages themselves might be regarded as in dialogue with each other.
