Abstract

To note that the study of Sanskrit narrative literature, in particular the Epics and Purāṇas, has been plagued with the propensity towards diachronic dissection would be little more than a truism in most scholarly circles. Yet it is with this truism we are forced to begin as we strive to shed the old skin of colonial era receptions of these texts. While there have been notable efforts made to embrace Sanskrit narrative as synchronic wholes, there isn’t much in the way of a systematic methodology for doing so. This paper, therefore, is aimed at charting a methodology for synchronic study of Sanskrit narrative literature, paying particular attention to narrative frames. It advances five avenues of thematic import based on the structure of Sanskrit narrative: inception import, association import, exposition import, framing import, and impetus import. Examples are primarily drawn primarily from the Mahābhārata and the Mārkaṇḍeya Purāṇa. Note that key terms arising from the discussion in this chapter are bolded throughout and appear in a “terminology guide” appended to the end of this study for the sake of reader reference.