ABSTRACT
In Chapter 7, Lynn Thomas analyses one of the ways in which the dialogical is used in Indian texts, and asks whether it is possible to forge a connection between this and the notion of a common humanity in human rights. She takes as her starting point a close textual analysis of one dialogue from the Mahābhārata: that between the Pāṇḍava king, Yudhiṣṭhira, and his ancestor Nahuṣa, cursed to take the form of a snake (3.197–206). By focusing on aspects of the dialogical in the account, Thomas seeks to unpack what it is that distinguishes a snake from a human being, and why the nature and manner of this particular dialogue is able to effect the snake’s transformation back to his former human state. After briefly outlining a number of other accounts that appear to suggest this transformative aspect of dialogue can be found across a broader range of Indian texts, the Chapter concludes by considering ways in which this feature of the Indian dialogical might engage with cross-cultural debates concerning human rights.
