TY - JOUR

T1 - Contempt and Righteous Anger

T2 - A Gendered Perspective From a Classical Indian Epic

AU - Ram-Prasad, Chakravarthi

PY - 2023/7

Y1 - 2023/7

N2 - Reading a passage in the Sanskrit Mahābhārata—the attempted disrobing of Princess Draupadī after her senior husband has gambled her away (after losing all his wealth, his brothers and himself)—I suggest that we see in her attitude and angry words an expression of contempt. I explore how contempt is a concept that is not thematized within Sanskrit aesthetics of emotions, but nonetheless is clearly articulated in the literature. Focusing on the significance of her gendered expression of anger and contempt, and the positive acceptance of it in the text, I suggest that contempt can be understood as a transformative attitude in a woman (even a high-born one) towards iniquities in a patriarchal culture.

AB - Reading a passage in the Sanskrit Mahābhārata—the attempted disrobing of Princess Draupadī after her senior husband has gambled her away (after losing all his wealth, his brothers and himself)—I suggest that we see in her attitude and angry words an expression of contempt. I explore how contempt is a concept that is not thematized within Sanskrit aesthetics of emotions, but nonetheless is clearly articulated in the literature. Focusing on the significance of her gendered expression of anger and contempt, and the positive acceptance of it in the text, I suggest that contempt can be understood as a transformative attitude in a woman (even a high-born one) towards iniquities in a patriarchal culture.

KW - Sanskrit

KW - emotions

KW - contempt

KW - anger

U2 - 10.1177/17540739231182960

DO - 10.1177/17540739231182960

M3 - Journal article

VL - 15

SP - 224

EP - 234

JO - Emotion Review

JF - Emotion Review

SN - 1754-0739

IS - 3

ER -