Imperial Heroism? Ideology in Vālmīki’s Rāmāyaṇa and the Danger of Political Myth

• In Event: Myth, Epic, and Apocalypse: When Political Thinkers Put a Good Story to Use

Brief Overview

This paper examines an influential Hindu epic as an important work of political thought, arguing that the text's political mythology has been deployed for Hindu nationalist purposes in ways that challenge democratic pluralism in India.

Author

• Stuart Gray, Washington and Lee University