ABSTRACT
This chapter will explore the theme of female listeners in the Maha¯bha¯rata, both in terms of how the text represents its projected audience and in terms of how the female characters claim authority to speak on matters of dharma and moks
˙ a.1 Despite the text’s orientation towards men, its focus on war,
and the way it characterizes the ideals of heroism, honour and courage as specifically masculine traits, subsequent Sanskrit texts have accepted the Maha¯bha¯rata as the Veda for women and s´u¯dras, a re-packaging of Vedic teachings in a format made accessible to a universal audience. This chapter asks the questions: to what degree is the Maha¯bha¯rata, a text whose ‘main business is the legend of men who were heroes’ (van Buitenen 1978: 168), a text for women? Is there any indication within the Maha¯bha¯rata that the text does in fact aim to reach the ears of women? If so, which women, and in what circumstances? This chapter will explore these questions by looking at how the dialogical presentation of the text gives us an indication of its projected audience, paying particular attention to the frame stories. As we will see, the Maha¯bha¯rata does explicitly include a female listenership, both by addressing unnamed women in phalas´rutis, and by depicting particular female characters as audience members. The female characters who are most often portrayed as auditors are Ga¯ndha¯rı¯ and Draupadı¯, both of whom hear large portions of the text while – at the sides of their husband kings – fulfilling their function as queens. Yet, despite the symbolic significance of their presence, for Ga¯ndha¯rı¯ and Draupadı¯ listening is far from passive, as both of them have consequential speaking parts and are major contributors to a number of pivotal episodes in the story. Indeed, for both Ga¯ndha¯rı¯ and Draupadı¯ their role as listeners, although sometimes relegated to the background, is intrinsically related to what they do and what they say. Despite the fact that the Maha¯bha¯rata does not explicitly state that it is a text for women, through the characters of Ga¯ndha¯rı¯ and Draupadı¯ it includes some women as a crucial part of its audience within the very structure of the text.
