Brian Collins, "The Other R?ma: Matricide and Genocide in the Mythology of Para?ur?ma" (SUNY Press, 2020) - a podcast by Marshall Poe

Brian Collins' book The Other R?ma Matricide and Genocide in the Mythology of Para?ur?ma (SUNY Press, 2020) examines a fascinating, understudied figure appearing in Sanskrit narrative texts: Para?ur?ma, i.e., “R?ma with the Axe”. Though he is counted as among the ten avat?ras of Vi??u, his biography is quite grisly: Para?ur?ma is best known for decapitating his own mother and launching a genocidal campaign to annihilate twenty-one generations of the warrior caste. Why do ancient Sanskrit mythmakers elevate such an arguably transgressive and antisocial figure to so exalted a religious status? The Other R?ma explores this question by undertaking analysis of the Para?ur?ma myth cycle using the methods of comparative mythology and psychoanalysis.
For information on your host Raj Balkaran’s background, see rajbalkaran.com/scholarship.
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