Literature and Culture of Ancient India: Love and War
ASIAN 203
Autumn Quarter 2015
MW 12:30-2:20pm
CDH 105
The topic of this course is the literature and culture of ancient and classical India (South Asia). It covers the period from the middle of the second millennium BCE. through the end of the first millennium CE. During the course some of the most influential works of Indian tradition and world civilization will be read and discussed in their cultural context, with an eye especially to how these texts are interpreted and used in contemporary religion and politics. These include the Rigveda, the Ramayana, the Mahabharata and Bhagavadgita, poetic and dramatic works by Kalidasa, the Pañcatantra, and early South Indian lyric poetry. Although the works covered in the course were originally composed in Sanskrit or Tamil, they will be read in English translation. (5 credits) SLN 10511
Instructor: Professor Heidi Pauwels (hpauwels@u.washington.edu)