It was a joy to present my PhD work at The School of Divinity {Edinburgh University} yesterday on my first research panel. I talked about the gendered politics inscribed in the body of Draupadī, the Mahābhārata’s heroine. I argued that it is significant that a text such as the Mahābhārata, which holds so much religious, cultural and spiritual weight, includes the story of a sexually assaulted woman, and, moreover, one of divine origin, because it offers women subjected to gendered violence the opportunity to unearth psychological comfort in Draupadī’s story, and the opportunity to shed shame and fears of impurity rooted in varied internalisations of social or religious messages. Through the prism of shared experience, the trauma is voiced and processed, which percolates in the social stratum, where, by claiming and reimagining Draupadī’s symbol, women ask for and enact socio-political change. I am exploring this movement in my thesis.
It was astounding to listen to & learn from the presentations of the colleagues who shared the panel with me, and to engage with the work differently during the q&a portion; openings to approach the work differently, freshly, in ways i wouldn’t be prone to without external stimulus.
thank you to Ishita for the photos & video! 🫶
amaryllis 