James L. Fitzgerald

Last updated September 17, 2024

James L. Fitzgerald is an Indologist at Brown University. He studied at the University of Chicago, receiving his B.A. in 1971, his M.A. in Sanskrit in 1974 and his Ph.D. in Sanskrit and South Asian Civilizations in 1980. At Chicago he studied primarily with J. A. B. van Buitenen. From 1978 Fitzgerald joined the Department of Religious Studies at the University of Tennessee. In 2007 he was appointed Purandara Das Distinguished Professor of Sanskrit in the Department of Classics, Brown University.

Publications

Books

The Mahabharata: Book 11: The Book of the Women, Book 12: The Book of Peace, Part One. Translated, edited, and annotated by James L. Fitzgerald. 848 p., 1 halftone, 1 map, 4 charts, 7 tables. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2004.

In progress

The Mahabharata: Book 12: The Book of Peace, Part Two. Translated, edited, and annotated by James L. Fitzgerald. Chicago: University of Chicago.

Other projects

1981 Edited the posthumous publication of J. A. B. van Buitenen’s The Bhagavad Gītā in the Mahābhārata (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1981).

Articles

In press, 2009 “The Sāṃkhya-Yoga “Manifesto” at MBh 12.289-290,” in proceedings of the 13th World Sanskrit Conference, John Brockington, ed. (Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass): 185-212.

In press, 2009 “A Preliminary Study of the 681 Triṣṭubh Passages of the Mahābhārata,” in proceedings of the 12th World Sanskrit Conference, Robert Goldman and Muneo Tokunaga, editors (Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, in press): 95-117.

In press, 2009 “No Contest between Memory and Invention: The Invention of the Pāṇḍava Heroes of the Mahābhārata,” in the proceedings volume of the conference “Epic and History: Ancient and Medieval,” Brown University, December, 2006.

2007 “Bhīṣma beyond Freud: The Fall of the Sky, Bhīṣma in the Mahābhārata, 1,” in Epic Constructions: Gender, Myth, and Society in the Mahābhārata, edited by Brian Black and Simon Brodbeck (London: Routledge, 2007): 189-207.

2006 “Negotiating the Shape of ‘Scripture’: New Perspectives on the Development and Growth of the Epic Between the Empires,” in Between the Empires, edited by Patrick Olivelle (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2006): 257-87.

2006 “Toward a Database of the Non-Anuṣṭubh Verses of the Mahābhārata,” in Epics, Khilas, and Purāṇas: Continuities and Ruptures, Petteri Koskikallio, ed., Proceedings of the Third Dubrovnik International Conference on the Sanskrit Epics and Purāṇas (Zagreb: Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts, 2006): 137-148.

2004 “Dharma and Its Translation in the Mahābhārata,” Journal of Indian Philosophy 32.5 (Dec. 2004): 671-685.

2003 “The Many Voices of the Mahābhārata:” A Review Article of Rethinking the Mahābhārata: A Reader's Guide to the Education of the Dharma King by Alf Hiltebeitel (Chicago: University Of Chicago Press, 2001), Journal of The American Oriental Society 123.4 (2003): 803-18.

2004 “Mahābhārata,” in The Hindu World, Sushil Mittal and Gene Thursby, eds. (New York and London: Routledge, 2004): 52-74.

2002 “Nun Befuddles King, Shows karmayoga Does Not Work: Sulabhā’s Refutation of King Janaka at MBh 12.308,” Journal of Indian Philosophy 30.6 (December, 2002): 641-77.

2002 “The Rāma Jāmadagnya Thread of the Mahābhārata: A New Survey of Rāma Jāmadagnya in the Pune Text,” in Mary Brockington, ed., Stages and Transitions: Temporal and Historical Frameworks in Epic and Purāṇic Literature, Proceedings of the Second Dubrovnik International Conference on the Sanskrit Epics and Purāṇas, August, 1999 (Zagreb, Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts, 2002): 89-132.

2002 “Making Yudhiṣṭhira the King: The Dialectics and the Politics of Violence in the Mahābhārata,” Rocznik Orientalistyczny LIV (2001): 63-92.

2000 “pīta and śaikya/saikya: Two Terms of Iron and Steel Technology in the Mahābhārata,” Journal of the American Oriental Society, 120.1 (January–March 2000): 44-61.

1998 “Some Storks and Eagles Eat Carrion; Herons and Ospreys Do Not: Kaṅkas and Kuraras (and Baḍas) in the Mahābhārata,” Journal of the American Oriental Society, 118.2 (April–June 1998): 257-61.

1993 Articles on dharma, śānti, and Vyāsa in the Harper Dictionary of Religion (New York: Harper and Row, 1993).

1987. “Book Review: The Mahabharata: A Play Based Upon the Indian Classic Epic.” Soundings: An Interdisciplinary Journal 70 (3–4): 539–51.

1985 “India’s Fifth Veda: The Mahābhārata’s Presentation of Itself,” Journal of South Asian Literature, XX.1 (1985): 125-40. Reprinted in Essays on the Mahābhārata, edited by Arvind Sharma (Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1991): 150-71.

1983 “The Great Epic of India as Religious Rhetoric: A Fresh Look at the Mahābhārata,” Journal of the American Academy of Religion, LI.4 (December, 1983): 611-630.

1978 Annotated translation of Ṛgveda I.113, in Appendix I of The Meaning of Aphrodite, Paul Friedrich (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1978).

Related Research Articles

The Mahābhārata is one of the two major Smriti texts and Sanskrit epics of ancient India revered in Hinduism, the other being the Rāmāyaṇa. It narrates the events and aftermath of the Kurukshetra War, a war of succession between two groups of princely cousins, the Kauravas and the Pāṇḍavas.

Kalki, also called Kalkin, is the prophesied tenth and final incarnation of the Hindu god Vishnu. According to Vaishnava cosmology, Kalki is destined to appear at the end of the Kali Yuga, the last of the four ages in the cycle of existence (Krita). His arrival will mark the end of the Kali Yuga and herald the beginning of the Satya Yuga, the most virtuous age, before the ultimate dissolution of the universe (Mahapralaya).

The Vasus are a group of deities in Hinduism associated with fire and light. They are described as the attendant deities of Indra, and later Vishnu. Generally numbering eight and classified as the Ashtavasu, they are described in the Ramayana as the children of Kashyapa and Aditi, and in the Mahabharata as the sons of Manu or Dharma and a daughter of Daksha named Vasu. They are eight among the thirty-three gods featured in the Vedas.

Bharadvaja was one of the revered Vedic sages (maharishi) in Ancient India. He was a renowned scholar, economist, grammarian and a physician. He is one of the Saptarishis.

Gṛhastha literally means "being in and occupied with home, family" or "householder". It refers to the second phase of an individual's life in a four age-based stages of the Hindu asrama system. It follows celibacy life stage, and embodies a married life, with the duties of maintaining a home, raising a family, educating one's children, and leading a family-centred and a dharmic social life.

Svayamvara is a distinctive matrimonial tradition in ancient Indian society where a bride, usually from Kṣatriya (warrior) caste, selects her husband from a group of assembled suitors either by her own choice or a public contest between her suitors. This practice is mainly featured in the two major Sanskrit epics, the Mahābhārata and the Rāmāyaṇa, though its prevalence and portrayal vary significantly between them.

Hindu texts or Hindu scriptures are manuscripts and voluminous historical literature which are related to any of the diverse traditions within Hinduism. Some of the major Hindu texts include the Vedas, the Upanishads, and the Itihasa. Scholars hesitate in defining the term "Hindu scriptures" given the diverse nature of Hinduism, but many list the Agamas as Hindu scriptures, and Dominic Goodall includes Bhagavata Purana and Yajnavalkya Smriti in the list of Hindu scriptures as well.

Karna, also known as Vasusena, Anga-raja, and Radheya, is one of the main protagonists of the Hindu epic Mahābhārata. He is the son of the sun god Surya and princess Kunti, and thus a demigod of royal birth. Kunti was granted the boon to bear a child with desired divine qualities from the gods and without much knowledge, Kunti invoked the sun god to confirm it if it was true indeed. Karna was secretly born to an unmarried Kunti in her teenage years, and fearing outrage and backlash from society over her premarital pregnancy, Kunti had to abandon the newly born Karna adrift in a basket on the Ganges. The basket is discovered, and Karna is adopted and raised by foster Sūta parents named Radha and Adhiratha Nandana of the charioteer and poet profession working for king Dhritarashtra.

The Harivamsa is an important work of Sanskrit literature, containing 16,374 shlokas, mostly in the anustubh metre. The text is also known as the Harivamsa Purana. This text is believed to be a khila to the Mahabharata and is traditionally ascribed to Vyasa. The most celebrated commentary of the Mahabharata by Neelakantha Chaturdhara, the Bharata Bhava Deepa also covers the Harivamsa. According to a traditional version of the Mahabharata, the Harivamsa is divided into two parvas (books) and 12,000 verses. These are included with the eighteen parvas of the Mahabharata. The Critical Edition has three parvas and 5,965 verses.

The Viṣṇu Purāṇa is one of the eighteen Mahapuranas, a genre of ancient and medieval texts of Hinduism. It is an important Pancharatra text in the Vaishnavism literature corpus.

The Vayu Purana is a Sanskrit text and one of the eighteen major Puranas of Hinduism. Vayu Purana is mentioned in the manuscripts of the Mahabharata and other Hindu texts, which has led scholars to propose that the text is among the oldest in the Puranic genre. Vayu and Vayaviya Puranas do share a very large overlap in their structure and contents, possibly because they once were the same, but with continuous revisions over the centuries, the original text became two different texts, and the Vayaviya text came also to be known as the Brahmanda Purana.

The Linga Purana is one of the eighteen Mahapuranas, and a Shaivism text of Hinduism. The text's title Linga refers to the iconographical symbol for Shiva.

The Padma Purana is one of the eighteen Major Puranas, a genre of texts in Hinduism. It is an encyclopedic text, named after the lotus in which creator god Brahma appeared, and includes large sections dedicated to Vishnu, as well as significant sections on Shiva and Shakti.

The Vamana Purana, is an ancient Sanskrit text that is at least 1,000 years old and is one of the eighteen major Puranas of Hinduism. The text is named after one of the incarnations of Vishnu and probably was a Vaishnava text in its origin. However, the modern surviving manuscripts of Vamana Purana are more strongly centered on Shiva, while containing chapters that revere Vishnu and other Hindu gods and goddesses. It is considered a Shaiva text. Further, the text hardly has the character of a Purana, and is predominantly a collection of Mahatmyas to many Shiva-related places in India with legends and mythology woven in.

The Markandeya Purana is a Sanskrit text of Hinduism, and one of the eighteen major Puranas. The text's title Markandeya refers to a sage in Hindu mythology, who is the central character in two legends, one linked to Shiva and other to Vishnu. The Markandeya text is one of the Puranas that lacks a sectarian presentation of ideas in favor of any particular god, and it is rare to read any deity being invoked or deity prayers in the entire text.

Sabha Parva, also called the "Book of the Assembly Hall", is the second of eighteen books of Mahabharata. Sabha Parva traditionally has 10 parts and 81 chapters. The critical edition of Sabha Parva has 9 parts and 72 chapters.

Johannes Adrianus Bernardus van Buitenen was a Dutch Indologist at the University of Chicago where he was the George V. Bobrinskoy Professor of Sanskrit in the Department of South Asian Languages and Civilizations. He was one of the world's leading Sanskrit scholars. His interests ranged widely over literature, philosophy and philology, but toward the end of his career he focused primarily on the Mahābhārata.

Anushasana Parva or the "Book of Instructions", is the thirteenth of eighteen books of the Indian epic Mahabharata. It traditionally has 2 parts and 168 chapters. The critical edition has 2 parts and 154 chapters. Sometimes this parva is referred to as the "Book of Precepts".

Grahana refers to the Sanskrit term for an eclipse. Eclipses are regarded to be noteworthy phenomena in Hinduism, and legends involving their origin and purpose are featured in Hindu mythology.

Lomasha is a sage featured in Hindu texts. He is most prominently featured in the Mahabharata, where he narrates a number of legends to the Pandavas during their period of exile in the forest.

References

External links

The Mahābhārata at Brown University

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