University Curriculum Committee
Proposal for New Course
1. Is this course being proposed for Liberal Studies designation?
If yes, route completed form to Liberal Studies.
Yes
No x
2. New course effective beginning what term and year? (ex. Spring 2009,
Summer 2009)
3. College
Fall 2011
See effective dates schedule.
Arts and Letters
4. Academic Unit /Department
5. Course subject/catalog number
CCS 490C
Comparative Cultural
Studies
6. Units/Credit Hours
3
Capstone in Comparative Cultural Studies
7. Long course title
(max 100 characters including spaces)
8. Short course title (max. 30 characters including
CCS Capstone
spaces)
9. Catalog course description (max. 30 words, excluding requisites).
A topics-oriented, interdisciplinary seminar in which students pursue a project in their emphasis; includes
comparative analysis of artistic, literary and religious practices from the disciplinary perspectives in CCS.
10. Grading option:
Letter grade
X
Pass/Fail
or Both
(If both, the course may only be offered one way for each respective section.)
11. Co-convened with
11a. Date approved by UGC
(Must be approved by UGC prior to bringing to UCC. Both course syllabi must be presented)
12. Cross-listed with
(Please submit a single cross-listed syllabus that will be used for all cross-listed courses.)
13. May course be repeated for additional units? yes
x
no
a. If yes, maximum units allowed?
6
b. If yes, may course be repeated for additional units in the same term?
yes
no
(ex. PES 100)
14. Prerequisites (must be completed before
proposed course)
Junior status or higher, CCS 250 and CCS 350W.
x
15. Corequisites (must be completed with
proposed course)
16. Is the course needed for a new or existing plan of study
(major, minor, certificate)?
yes
x
no
Name of plan?
BA in Comparative Cultural Studies
Note: If required, a new plan or plan change form must be submitted with this request.
17. Is a potential equivalent course offered at a community college (lower division only)
If yes, does it require listing in the Course Equivalency Guide?
Please list, if known, the institution and subject/catalog number of the course
18. Names of current faculty qualified to teach this course:
yes
yes
All CCS faculty
19. Justification for new course, including unique features if applicable. (Attach proposed
syllabus in the approved university format).
This course represents the new capstone class for all CCS majors; it replaces ARH 440C, HUM
475C, 480C and 490C and REL 421C, 441C, 451C, 481C and 491C. It focuses on interdisciplinary
learning and on the ramifications of interdisciplinary inquiry into cultural practices and products.
For Official AIO Use Only:
Component Type
Consent
Topics Course
35. Approvals
Department Chair (if appropriate)
Date
Chair of college curriculum committee
Date
Dean of college
Date
no
no
x
x
For Committees use only
For University Curriculum Committee
Date
Action taken:
Approved as
modified
Approved as submitted
Northern Arizona University
College of Arts & Letters
Dept. of Comparative Cultural Studies
CCS 490C:
Capstone in Comparative Cultural Studies
Epic & Drama: Hindu Perspectives
***
What is found in this epic may be elsewhere;
what is not in this epic is nowhere else.
from the Mahābhārata, 1.56.33.
***
Prof. Bruce M. Sullivan
Office: Riles 311
Office hours:TBA
Email: bruce.sullivan@nau.edu
523-0244
Spring, 2012
Course meeting times: TBA
Classroom: Riles 113
3 credit hours Phone:
My website = http://oak.ucc.nau.edu/bms
Course Prerequisites
Junior or senior standing, plus completion CCS 250 and CCS 350W.
Course Description
CCS 490C is the capstone course for the Department of Comparative Cultural Studies Bachelor of Arts
degree. Students in the CCS Capstone class are encouraged to pursue a project in their emphasis and are
required to employ methods taken from the other CCS fields. This approach ensures that CCS Capstone
students take full advantage of the opportunity to synthesize the skills they have learned from having taken
courses in all three emphasis areas in CCS.
This iteration of CCS 490C is an interdisciplinary examination of an important text of the Hindu religious
literature, the Sanskrit epic poem Mahābhārata, as well as dramas and artistic representations based on that
narrative. These literary and artistic works embody the diverse ideas and values of Hindu cultural and
religious traditions. The texts feature discussion of various perspectives on how to live, including the
meaning and purpose of life, the social consequences of one’s choices, ethical dilemmas, and divergent
religious ideas and practices. The artistic works are integral to Hindu temples and worship practices. Study
of these literary and artistic works enables the student to explore themes that are relevant to the human
condition and human experience across cultures, such as war and peace, loyalty, shame, fame, immortality,
etc.
Learning Outcomes and Course Objectives
As a capstone experience, this course calls upon and refines the skills cultivated in earlier courses. This
course will directly address two of the three Global Learning outcomes:
• Global Engagement: Students will learn how to analyze, synthesize, and evaluate the
interconnectedness and interdependence of the human experience on a global scale.
• Diversity: Students will learn about and critically reflect upon the nature and consequences of diversity
in the social (e.g. ethnic, religious, cultural) world, and develop an understanding of how this diversity both
alters and is altered in a world characterized by increasing global interaction.
Each of the course objectives entails careful reading and critical thinking, expressed through the
student’s effective writing and effective oral communication. Active engagement with the content of this
course will enable the student
(1) to describe the major characters and events of the epic poem Mahābhārata.
(2) to analyze how these characters and events embody and enact the ideas and values of
the Hindu
religious tradition and cultural heritage(s), and to articulate that analysis.
(3) to analyze the transformations of the epic narrative and its characters in other art forms
(dramas,
television series, films, dance, painting, sculpture).
(4) to analyze both primary works and secondary, scholarly studies of them.
(5) to analyze and articulate (in class discussions and in writing) themes in this literature that are
relevant to the human condition and human experience across cultures, such as
war and peace, loyalty, shame, fame, immortality, etc.
Course Structure & Approach
This course is in seminar format, and includes intensive reading of selected texts and studies. Students will
have the opportunity to read critically some of the vast literature of the Mahābhārata and discuss its cultural
context, religious ideas, and narrative strategies. Students will be enabled to reach greater understanding of
the embodiment of the Hindu religious tradition in a popular form as cultural performance: a recited text or
drama. Students will develop and refine these skills: (1) careful reading of various texts, (2) effective oral
communication through seminar discussions, discussion leadership, and the presentation to the class of their
findings, and (3) effective writing in response to the texts studied.
Texts & Required Readings
These are the readings on which this course is based. The books are available in the NAU Bookstore in
paperback, or through Amazon.com or bookstores, etc.
1) The Mahābhārata, an abridged translation. Smith, John D. (trans.).
London: Penguin Classics, 2009.
2) Sauptikaparvan of the Mahābhārata: The Massacre at Night.
Johnson, W.J. (trans.). Oxford: Oxford U. Press, 1999.
3) The Recognition of Śakuntalā: A play in seven acts, with Śakuntalā in the Mahābhārata.
Johnson,
W.J. (trans.). Oxford: Oxford U. Press, 2001.
4) The Bhagavad Gita. Patton, Laurie (trans.). London: Penguin Classics, 2008.
5) Additional readings at https://vista.nau.edu/ (or its replacement).
Plan to visit the course website regularly for readings, announcements, events, etc.
Course Schedule and Deadlines
Please read the assigned material before class to facilitate discussion.
Week 1 Introduction to the course and the world of the Mahābhārata.
In the first week, Professor Sullivan will be joined by instructors from Art History and Humanities.
Together they will introduce students to the principles of the capstone experience for their areas of
emphasis and how the study of epic literature is an opportunity for an interdisciplinary approach
involving areas of emphasis within the Department of Comparative Cultural Studies.
Week 2 Overview: Read Smith, “Introduction” (these sections:
“The Mahābhārata,” “The Story,” then “The MBh as a Text” and “This
Translation” — other sections of the “Introduction” are optional), plus
in Vista two readings for this week: “Origins” (MBh 1.1-2), and
“The Earliest Lineages” (MBh 1.53-55); then
read Smith, Book 1, Beginnings: pp. 10-23, and 28-83.
[Note: Johnson’s Sauptikaparvan, pp. 87-103, has a good summary.]
Week 3 Read Smith, Book 2, The Hall: pp. 84-163.
Week 4 Read Smith, Book 3, The Forest: pp. 164-166;
plus in Vista “The Mountain Man” (MBh 3.13-14 and 3.24-42);
and “The Bushel of Rice” and “The Abduction of Draupadī”
(MBh 3.245-256); then resume Smith, pp. 233-242.
Week 5 Read Smith, Book 4, Virāṭa: (pp. 243-292, all of this Parvan), then in Vista read these segments
of Book 5, Perseverance:
Karṇa (5.135-141), and Ambā (5.170-174 & 5.187-193).
Week 6
Article analysis paper and its presentation are due.
Week 7 Smith, Book 6, Bhīṣma: pp. 348 to 366 & 398 to 412; and
Book 7, Droṇa: pp. 469-484; and
Book 8, Karṇa: pp. 512-525; and
Book 9, Śalya: pp. 549-562.
Week 8 Book 10: Read Johnson, Sauptikaparvan, the Massacre at Night (pp. 1-86).
Week 9 Paper due on an aspect of the Mahābhārata.
Read in Vista a selection from Tranquillity, Book 12.110-115, plus
Books 15 through 18 (Smith, pp. 734-791).
Week 10
Bhagavad Gītā: the central message of the Mahābhārata (?), a discussion of
options regarding how to live and how to be religious. Patton (entire).
Week 11
The story of Śakuntalā in the MBh (Johnson, pp. 107-137), plus the stories of
“Sāvitrī” (Smith, pp. 214-233), and “Ṛśyaśṛṅga” (Smith, pp. 180-187).
Week 12
Johnson, Kālidāsa’s drama Abhijñāna-Śākuntala (Johnson, pp. 1-105).
Week 13
MBh Dramas (in Vista): Karṇabhāra (Karṇa’s Trial); Ūrubhaṅga (The Breaking of
the Thighs); Sullivan, “MBh on Stage”; Gitomer, “King Duryodhana”; and
Sullivan, “Dying on the Stage.”
Week 14
Research presentations.
Week 15
Research presentations.
Perspectives on the course: During this week the instructors from Art History and
Humanities will rejoin the course for a discussion on the students’ experiences in
interdisciplinary learning and on the ramifications of their interdisciplinary inquiry
into cultural practices and products during the semester.
Final paper is due in my office, Riles 311, at the time for the final exam.
Evaluation Methods & Deadlines
Assessment of Outcomes
As an in-depth exploration of various Hindu cultural and religious traditions, which will be seen to have
differing values and interests that at times conflict with each other, students will refine their capabilities with
regard to the Global Learning Outcomes of Global Engagement and Diversity. Each of the five course
objectives will be assessed throughout the semester by seminar discussion of readings at each session,
student presentations to the seminar, and the three writing assignments of increasing length and depth.
Assignments
Seminar discussion: In a seminar, each student is responsible for participating in discussion of
readings regularly. Twenty percent of the semester’s grade in this course is based on seminar discussion.
Discussion contributions are expected to show close and thoughtful reading of the material. Please note that
there is no adequate substitute for presence at our seminar class discussions; to be absent is to miss a segment
of the course. Absence not only reduces the student’s own understanding of the material, it prevents other
students from learning from the insights and interpretations of the absent student. Therefore, missing two
meetings without valid and documented reasons will result in reduction of 5% (50 points) from the
student’s total points on the semester, with another 5% reduction for each additional absence.
For each of the ten seminar meetings in which readings are being discussed, each student is to formulate
comments and questions about the readings, write them out, and plan to introduce these comments in seminar
discussion. For each week’s readings, the number of your comments will vary but strive for about eight to
ten comments analyzing the day’s reading. Observations and/or questions of especially good quality will
make up for a smaller quantity of them; the purpose is to enhance our discussion of the readings. Please send
me your comments and questions by email within the Vista system for our course by 6 A.M. on the day our
class meets, with your name clearly indicated and the reading on which you are commenting indicated.
Doing so will allow me to review the observations and questions, and determine themes to be addressed in
class. These reading responses will be part of the course grade based on seminar discussion; they also assure
that your analysis of readings is noticed even if we do not discuss all your particular points. Please keep a
copy of your reading responses for your use in discussion, in addition to sending one to me. Plan to bring up
during each class session several of these items you have thought about and written out.
Twice during the semester, each student will be responsible for discussion leadership on one reading. You
should assume that each person in the room has read the assignment and has something to say about it. Your
objective in leading discussion, therefore, is not to summarize at length what the reading says, though you
may want to identify some noteworthy aspects of what it says. Instead, this is an opportunity to ask a series
of questions about what the reading says and what we think about it. These might include questions about
the structure of the reading, its argument or the position it articulates on certain issues, what the reading
reveals about the assumptions or ideology embedded in this text, how this reading relates to earlier ones, and
so forth. Please provide me (in Vista) an outline of the points you plan to raise for discussion, again by 6
A.M. on that Wednesday. (See below for a list of readings and dates; plan to select two readings for
discussion leadership).
Article analysis & presentation: Each student will select one scholarly article from a list provided,
and present that article’s thesis and the main points of its argument to the class in summary fashion,
then facilitate our discussion of the ways in which the article contributes to our understanding of the
Mahābhārata. Expect about 10 minutes for this event. On the day of the presentation, the student
will hand in two copies of a paper (about 1200 words, or 4 pages) on the article that includes
summary and analysis of its contents.
Paper on the Mahābhārata: As a midterm exercise, each student will write a paper on the epic (7 to
10 pages), analyzing some aspect of the text. The paper may focus on one or more characters and/or
deities, a temple site, a particular theme, an interpretive problem, or some other relevant topic. At
least one week prior to the paper’s due date, the thesis for the paper should be presented to me and
approved; this will enable you to avoid writing on an inappropriate topic or with an unclear thesis
statement. Please hand in two copies in class.
Final paper and presentation: Each student will develop a research project on the Mahābhārata
and/or drama(s) based on the epic narrative and/or artistic representations of the story. Each student
will present the research project to the class. This is an opportunity to present one’s findings at a
preliminary stage and hear comments from seminar participants on the project. The objectives of the
presentation are as follows:
(1) to describe the topic chosen and reasons for doing so,
(2) to describe the approach to determining the most useful sources for that topic,
(3) to state the thesis on which the paper is to be based,
(4) to describe the structure of the paper’s argument,
(5) to discuss problems encountered in the process, and
(6) to consider additional related themes that might be pursued.
Students will be expected to discuss in class these presentations so as to assist their fellow students to
think critically about the chosen topic, and to argue effectively for the thesis of that paper. Doing so
is a form of collaborative learning on which a seminar depends. Plan for 10 minutes to present your
project, and another 5-7 minutes discussion by the class. The final paper should be 12 to 16 pages;
additional details will be provided. Where appropriate, students may seek subject matter guidance
from the course consultants.
Grading System
The grading scale for the course will be as follows:
90%+ = A; 80%+ = B; 70%+ = C; 60%+ = D; below 60% = F.
With 1000 points to be earned during the semester, 900 points would constitute an A, etc. Everyone will
have an equal opportunity for success in this course and equal access to extra
credit, if any. The points for the various components of the course are distributed as follows:
points % value
(1) Seminar discussion participation
200 (20%)
(2) First discussion leadership session
50
(5%)
(3) Second discussion leadership session
50
(5%)
(4) Article analysis paper
100
(10%)
(4) Article analysis presentation
30
(3%)
(5) Paper on MBh (7-10 pages)
200
(20%)
(6) Presentation of research for final paper
50
(5%)
(7) Responses to final paper presentations
20
(2%)
(8) Paper on epic or drama (12-16 pages)
300
(30%)
Course Policies
Enrolling in this course means that the student accepts the specified course requirements and agrees to fulfill
them, and accepts university and course policies, and agrees to abide by them.
Every student enrolled in this course is responsible on written assignments for recognizing the distinction
between the student’s own ideas and those from another source, and for indicating that difference in the
universally accepted fashion through citation of sources. This requirement applies both to paraphrased or
summarized material and to material quoted directly from the source and therefore enclosed in quotation
marks. Use of the words and ideas of others in a written assignment without giving them credit by citing the
sources of that information is called plagiarism. Plagiarism on an assignment for this course will result in a
grade of zero for the assignment. Plagiarism and other forms of cheating constitute grounds for further
disciplinary proceedings by NAU. Please see the university’s statement regarding this matter in the NAU
Undergraduate Catalog under the heading “Academic Integrity.”
Class attendance is the responsibility of the student. Active engagement with the content of this course
requires regular attendance. Consequently, attendance is strongly encouraged, as those who attend will learn
more and therefore be more successful in this course. Please see the university’s statement regarding this
matter in the NAU Undergraduate Catalog under the heading “Classroom Attendance.” In a seminar such
as this one, attendance is all the more vital, and one’s eventual grade in the course is in part determined by
in-class contributions to discussion, including leadership of discussion. Active engagement with the content
of the course is a requirement for success, and this means that one must be attentive, be a well-informed
participant in discussions of readings, and write clearly about the themes encountered in this course. As
attention can only be directed to one thing at a time, distractions such as cell phones and music devices are
not appropriate while class is in session.
Please see the statement of NAU policies, posted in Vista (or its replacement).
Recommended Readings
Please see the list of additional readings for study of this academic field, posted in Vista (or its replacement).
_____________________
Articles for Analysis
Written analysis of an article on the Mahābhārata is due in class during Week 6, and each student
will present to the class orally an analysis of the chosen article that day.
Please choose one from the list below as your article.
Adarkar, Aditya. “Karṇa’s Choice: Courage and Character in the Face of an Ethical Dilemma.” In
The Mahābhārata: What is Not Here is Nowhere Else. Edited by T.S. Rukmani.
New Delhi: Munshiram Manoharlal, 2005. Pp. 117-29.
Austin, Christopher. “Janamejaya’s Last Question.” Journal of Indian Philosophy 37 (2009): 597–625.
Black, Brian. “Eavesdropping on the Epic: Female listeners in the Mahābhārata.”
In Gender and Narrative in the Mahābhārata. Edited by S. Brodbeck & B. Black. London:
Routledge, 2007. Pp. 53-78.
Bowles, Adam. “Framing Bhīṣma’s Royal Instructions: The Mahābhārata and the Problem of its ‘Design’.”
In Parallels and Comparisons. Zagreb: Croatian Academy of Sciences & Arts, 2009. Pp. 121-135.
Brockington, Mary. “Husband or King? Yudhisthira’s Dilemma in the Mahābhārata.”
Indo-Iranian Journal 44 (2001): 253-63.
Brodbeck, Simon. "The Bharadvāja Pattern in the Mahābhārata." In Parallels and Comparisons. Zagreb:
Croatian Academy of Sciences & Arts, 2009. Pp. 137-79.
Chapple, Christopher Key. “Karṇa and the Mahābhārata: An Ethical Reflection.” In
The Mahābhārata: What is Not Here is Nowhere Else. Edited by T.S. Rukmani.
New Delhi: Munshiram Manoharlal, 2005. Pp.131-44.
Dhand, Arti. “The Subversive Nature of Virtue in the Mahābhārata: A Tale about Women, Smelly
Ascetics, and God.” Journal of the American Academy of Religion 72.1
(March, 2004): 33-58.
Evans, Kirsti. “Visual Narratives in Indian Art: Scenes from the Mahābhārata on the Hoysala Temples.”
South Asian Studies, 15.1 (1999): 25-40.
Framarin, Christopher. “Good and Bad Desires: Implications of the Dialogue between Kṛṣṇa and Arjuna.”
International Journal of Hindu Studies 11.2 (2007): 147–70.
Hall, Margaret. “The Victoria and Albert Museum's Mahābhārata Hanging.”
South Asian Studies, 12.1 (1996): 83-97.
Hiltebeitel, Alf. “Śiva, the Goddess, and the Disguises of the Pāṇḍavas and Draupadī.”
History of Religions, 20 (Aug.—Nov., 1980): 147-174.
Malinar, Angelika. “Arguments of a Queen: Draupadī’s views on kingship.” In
Gender and Narrative in the Mahābhārata. Edited by S. Brodbeck & B. Black.
London: Routledge, 2007. Pp. 79-96.
Matilal, B.K. “Krishna: In Defence of a Devious Deity.” In Essays on the Mahābhārata,
edited by Arvind Sharma. Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1991. Pp. 401-18.
Sax, William. “Worshiping Epic Villains: A Kaurava Cult in the Central Himalayas.” In
Epic traditions in the contemporary world: the poetics of community.
Edited by Margaret Beissinger, Jane Tylus, and Susanne Wofford. Berkeley: University of
California Press, 1999. Pp. 169-86.
Selvanayagam, Israel. “Aśoka and Arjuna as Counterfigures Standing on the Field of Dharma:
A Historical-Hermeneutical Perspective.” History of Religions, 32.1 (Aug., 1992): 59-75.
Sullivan, Bruce M. “The Religious Authority of the Mahābhārata: Vyāsa and Brahmā in the Hindu
Scriptural Tradition,” Journal of the American Academy of Religion 62.2 (Summer, 1994): 377-401.
———. “The Ideology of Self-Willed Death in the Epic Mahābhārata,”
Journal of Vaiṣṇava Studies, 14.2 (Spring, 2006): 61-79.
Sutton, Nick. “Aśoka and Yudhiṣṭhira: A Historical Setting for the Ideological Tensions of the
Mahābhārata?” Religion 27 (1997): 333–341.
Tieken, Herman. “The Mahābhārata after the Great Battle.” Wiener Zeitschrift für die Kunde Südasiens 48
(2004): 5–46.
———. “Kill and Be Killed: the Bhagavadgītā and Anugītā in the Mahābhārata.”
The Journal of Hindu Studies 2 (2009): 209–28.
revised 8/08
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