I was interested in the role that gender plays in Hinduism and its teachings and canons. So I searched I searched the Lafayette library catalogue for “Gender in Hinduism” and it lead me to this book. This book is extremely interesting and discusses aspects of the Hindu epic the Mahabharata from both the female and male perspective.

This whole book was exciting.  Gender is a heavily discussed topic in many different cultures and religions; this book provides an interesting insight into how gender is constructed in an ancient Hindu epic and how that affects gender in the Hindu religion. Its cover art beautifully depicts both male and female characters that I believe are depicting a scene from the Hindu epic. The book is split into 12 different chapters. The chapters dealt with topics ranging from the basics of the Mahabharata, conducting ones self, kings, queens, marriage, tran sexuality and other ambiguities. As I skimmed through the book I noticed that this book brings together the ideas and teachings of many different scholars who are using the Mahabharata to structure the discussion on gender. I believe that if I choose to focus my essay on the aspect of gender in Hinduism that this book would be an invaluable resource.

In the same isle as this book I found a few other interesting books that could be useful when writing a paper. I especially found a few books that focused on the issue of gender in both Hinduism and Jainism. I found books entitled “women as fire, women as sage”, and “gender and salvation”. Additionally I found a book that focused on the Hindu dharma, which is another topic and possible resource for my paper.

Brodbeck, S, Black, B. Gender and Narrative in the Mahabharata. New York: Routledge, 2007. Print.