‘Historical characters have myriad images’

Fulbright-Nehru scholar visits Ravenshaw, delivers lecture

Professor of Psychology, LaGuardia Community College, City University of New York and Fulbright-Nehru Fellow Dr Lakshmi Bandlamudi visited Ravenshaw University on Tuesday afternoon and delivered an extramural lecture on the topic ‘Representation of Women in the Mahabharata’. 

Her visit to the University was a part of her extensive research work under Fulbright-Nehru Senior Research Programme sponsored by City University of New York and Centre for the Study of Developing Societies, Delhi. 

Dr. Lakshmi Bandlamudi, who teaches courses in Human Development and Women's Studies in the US, spoke about her research work which is grounded on the theoretical foundations of two Russian thinkers, literary critic Mikhail Bakhtin and socio-historical epistemologist Lev Vygotsky. She explained how her main focus and goal is to promote dialogic consciousness by comparing the works of Mikhail Bakhtin with those of Sanskrit grammarian and philosopher Bhartrhari, and Indian philosopher of aesthetics Abhinavagupta. 

She also described her latest book ‘Dialogics of Self, The Mahabharata and Culture: The History of Understanding and Understanding of History’ (Anthem Press: 2010), which is an interdisciplinary work on her area of research connecting cultural studies, myths, culture, history and consciousness. 

“My work is a comprehensive study designed to explore transactions between life and literary text in the light of The Mahabharata, focusing on two central characters Karna and Draupadi,” she said. “While this work focuses on the psychological dimensions of interpretation, my research in India will explore the myriad images of these two characters in the literary and cultural history,” she explained further. 

The lecture was organised by Professor and HOD Political Science and coordinator of Ravenshaw extramural lectures, Prof Niranjan Barik. HOD English Dr Dipti Ranjan Pattanayak also spoke on the occasion and juxtaposed Sarala’s Mahabharata with Veda Vyasa’s Mahabharata. The lecture was followed by a question-answer session in which the scholar replied to queries raised by faculty and students. Vice Chancellor Devdas Chhotray and Dean (Administration) Prof Nachiketa Das were also present on the occasion.