Browsing by Author "Bhattacharya, Sankar Kumar"

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Attracting Students to the Classroom With Innovative Pedagogies
(Sage, 2019-08) Dutta, Nirankush; Bhat, Anil Kumar; Bhattacharya, Sankar Kumar; Mahesh, Jayashree
One of the significant challenges of teaching Master’s in Business Administration (MBA) courses lies in the dynamic nature of the programme itself where the only constant is the change. Hence, the main pedagogical aim in such a programme is teaching students how to continuously learn, unlearn and relearn in a lifelong fashion. There are multiple factors that hinder the learning outcomes of many offered courses in an MBA programme. At Birla Institute of Technology and Sciences (BITS) Pilani, the challenge is enhanced somewhat as the student population pursuing an MBA degree is mostly from an engineering background. Moreover, the institutional regulations do not disqualify students from appearing in any evaluation based on their attendance in the class. Thus, teachers have to incorporate an innovative approach to their teaching style for attracting students to the classrooms
Beyond the Pale of Virtue: The Other Woman
(GNOSIS, 2019) Bhattacharya, Sankar Kumar
The unique Indic oral tradition documents the narratives of marginalization while it simultaneously showcases the resistance of the marginal. The Mahabharata recounts the stories of warrior princesses like Uloopi, Chitrangada and Hidimba who, despite being achievers, have been relegated in the background by the chroniclers of the metanarrative. Castigated for two reasons: one, for being outside of the pale of the Aryan occupancy, and two, for being the ones who initiated physical intimacy which was essentially a male prerogative, these three warrior princesses were representatives of scores of others, like the women of the Balhikas and the Madrakas, who were sanctioned for being different. Labelled as fallen women, the Epic has another category which can be called the ultimate male fantasy in Freudian terms. Ever youthful, never emotional, these women had to make the ultimate sacrifice. Menaka had to abandon her infant daughter Shakuntala. Urvashi had to leave her doting husband Pururava. The raison d’être of characters like Ghritachi, Jalapadi, Rambha and many others of their kind was to be pawns in the patriarchal power play. The accounts of Ahalya and Renuka echo the trope of a woman being either evil or an object of deliverance.
Boundary Violation and Rape: Reading Draupadi in the Silences of the Metanarrative
(IUP, 2021-03) Bhattacharya, Sankar Kumar
The persona of Draupadi in The Mahabharata is an enigmatic portrayal of contradictions. Her body is the site on which the entire saga of power and control unfolds. Conceived in hate, she is born to restore power. She is left vulnerable to male gaze—her body a text inscribed by the rules of patriarchy. Objectified and allocated like a commodity, caught in a web of the hyper-phallic enterprise of war and aggrandizement, silenced or made a spokesperson of the establishment, Draupadi loses her all, and then her sense of self when she is blamed by Yudhisthira and left to die on the Himalayas. Yet we find Draupadi directing the course of the narrative. She is the catalyst to the unfortunate chain of events that leads to the decimation of the Kauravas. What is denied her in the metanarrative is usurped by her in the retellings. As Bharati’s Panchali, or Devi’s Dopdi, or Ray’s Yajnaseni, she transcends the gendered ventriloquism of an essentially male preserve and renegotiates the margin. This paper reads how Draupadi, a gendered subaltern in a phallogocentric milieu, questions the culture of violence and emerges as the mascot of feminist assertion. The paper traces her journey from submission to subversion and follows the trajectory of her empowerment from a postcolonial and gender perspective
By Me Shall He Be Nursed! Queer Identity and Representation in The Mahabharata
(Rupkatha Journal, 2021) Bhattacharya, Sankar Kumar
The Mahabharata is a treasure-trove of the cultural memories of the Hindus. The grand Epic has entertained and edified our society through its numerous identity-relevant narratives since time immemorial. The longevity of The Mahabharata lies in its capacity to adapt, adopt and re-fashion the account, which grants endless opportunities of initiating open-ended debate. The grand Epic has shaped our values and shared a template by which a life guided by Dharma is to be lived. The dialogic text continues to contribute to the resolution of our emotional angst and existential dilemmas. Much ahead of its times, the Epic revels in the liminality that is apparent in the narratives of the gender-queer people who are an integral part of its culture-scape. This paper seeks to study two liminal figures in the Epic narrative – Shikhandi, the trans-gender Prince of Panchala, and Yuvanashwa, the pregnant King, who swayed between gendered identities and challenged the hegemonic heteronormative sexual framework, thereby opening avenues of conversation related to marginalization, resistance and empowerment. The paper also examines the queer cases of King Sudyumna and King Bhangashwan, who questioned the symbolic binaries of gender and delineated a horizon of possibilities. The aim here is to measure the resistance of the genderqueer against the prescriptive order of subjectivities and assess the impact and the outcome. Drawing from the deconstructivist and the queer theories, the study foregrounds the trauma and the resistance of the marginal. These narratives establish The Mahabharata as one of the earliest texts to have a meaningful discourse in the queer-space.
Caste as a Social Construct in Indira Goswami’s The Moth-Eaten Howdah of the Tusker and The Offspring
(Journal of Post-Colonial Cultures and Societies, 2012) Bhattacharya, Sankar Kumar
Using Indira Goswami’s literary works like The Moth-Eaten Howdah of the Tuskerand “The Offspring,” this essay explores the disabilities and functionalities of region-specific caste system in India. As it analyzes the complex nuances of marginality in terms of caste, it also reveals the complementary nature of caste and class in certain cases as Goswami has demonstrated, that leads to unique identity formation at multiple levels
Food, fields and forage: A socio-ecological account of cultural transitions among the Gaddis of Himachal Pradesh in India
(Elsevier, 2021-07) Bhattacharya, Sankar Kumar; Nandigama, Sailaja
Traditional food systems of many ethnic communities in India directly depend on their symbiotic relationship with the surrounding natural resources and the local socio-ecological and cultural dynamics. However, in the light of development activities resulting in drastic socio-ecological changes, these communities are oftentimes found stranded with over-simplified and unsustainable food systems. Using an ethnographic methodology, we present the case of Gaddis – an agro-pastoral community of Himachal Pradesh in India. In this paper, we documented the on-going trade-offs in traditional livelihoods of the Gaddis and their land use patterns that cause a significant transition in the traditional food systems. Based on our observations, we argue that mapping the shifting political ecology of resources enables a better understanding of transitioning food systems and the consequent eco-cultural changes. While doing so, we emphasize the need for revisitng the existing praxis of tribal development in India with an urgent focus on holistic socio-ecological approaches.
Learning Transversal Competencies from the Soldiers: A Study of Saving Private Ryan
(Taylor & Francis, 2022) Sangwan, Devika; Bhattacharya, Sankar Kumar
Audio-visual media such as movies are increasingly taking a prominent role in education worldwide (Devika et al. Citation2020). The edificatory uses of movies have been recently considered particularly quick and effective and labeled edutainment, (Djamàa Citation2016). The movies with their visual reality nowadays have become an effective and long-lasting means of influence on the audience by inviting and allowing the audience to explore and experience new occurrences that take place in the real-life world (Zhang Citation2013). With its own discourse in learning, films as a significant tool even teach good habits of mind (Iranmanesh and Darani Citation2018). Though created not necessarily with an eye to accuracy or truthfulness (DATABASES: Library of Congress Citation2021; Marwick Citation2010), film as an artifact deserves the serious attention of historians. Recasting a literary historic and classic piece into a cinematic adaptation offers a new vista to the insightful understanding of lavish yet everlasting values with a fusion of esthetics and stark life truths that persist irrespective of the time (DATABASES: Library of Congress 2021; Strong and Lotter Citation2015; Vergara Citation2015). Analyzing films is in a way transformation of an iconic and indexical experience into a symbolic one that is able to be verbally expressed. Considered a noble reviving of the preciousness, adaptations materialize an entry into a new world extracted from the real-life heroic and horrific incidents of World Wars (Baiju Citation2018). After WWII, there was a huge competition in presenting the lively scenes of the battle. Hollywood has a remarkable importance in such various events, experiences, wars, ages, and epochs assisted in forming the history of each nation. As a learning tool, in research and practice, movies keep on receiving two persistent questions on movie usage: How can learning be made easy through the movie? What is the authenticity of such learning?.
Puhals: Outlining the Dynamics of Labour and Hired Herding among the Gaddi Pastoralists of India
(Springer, 2022-08) Bhattacharya, Sankar Kumar; Nandigama, Sailaja
Pastoral practices throughout the world are in a state of flux, and Gaddi pastoralism in India’s Western Himalayas is no exception. Often in literature and common parlance, these practices are predicted to end with the current generation of practising pastoralists. For Gaddi, an agro-pastoral community located in the hill state of Himachal Pradesh in India, these gloomy predictions have remained persistent over decades. Irrespective of these claims, pastoralism continues to remain a viable livelihood option for many within the community even today. However, the institutional dynamics in which these practices are embedded have undergone several changes. In this paper, we discuss the changes in Gaddi pastoralism and its resilience by stressing a critical aspect of labour, often referred to as puhals in their vernacular dialect. Out of the various contextual meanings, we adopt the applied translation of this term as hired herders to understand their role in the larger socio-ecological system amidst the on-going livelihood shifts and declining interest among the Gaddi youth to pursue pastoralism. The data presented in this paper was collected through ethnographic fieldwork conducted during 2018–2019 at Bharmour region of Chamba district in Himachal Pradesh, India. Qualitative tools including in-depth interviews, focus group discussions and participant observations were administered. We discuss various aspects of puhal practices among the Gaddis including their recruitment process, need for hiring, involved negotiations over remunerations, skill sets and access to the resources, to highlight the institutional dynamism. Our findings suggest that hiring herders remains a crucial adaptation for the continuation and sustenance of pastoral practices that are facing contingent external pressures. It also facilitates transmission of local knowledge, livelihood and income diversification, accumulation of wealth, social mobility and cultural continuity. We conclude that hired herding, in the face of increasing labour shortages among the Gaddis, offers an innovative proposition to halt the decline in pastoralism and shape its future.
Queer Discourse in Indic Myths: ‘Other’ Stories from a Gender-Fluid World
(Re-Markings, 2020-03) Bhattacharya, Sankar Kumar
Gender and sexuality in the Indic myths have long been a subject of academic research (Brodbeck and Black, 2007; Smith, 1985; Dumezil, 1988; Hiltebeital, 1980). Asexual reproduction has been referred to several times over in The Mahabharata. The celebrated Guru Dronacharya proudly proclaimed that he was born ‘ayonija, i.e. not out of a womb (1:61). The fabled Guru of the Pandavas was born out of a ‘water pot’ (1.120). Guru Kripacharya took birth from a clump of reed (1.120). The commander-in chief of the army of the Devas, Kartikeyan, also called Skanda, was born when Fire met Fire, i.e. from the union of Lord Shiva and God Agni (1.60). The Epic recounts the haunting story of Shikhandi, the trans-gender, who was presented as Shikhandini the princess. In yet another instance of gender-bending The Mahabharata cites the example of King Yuvanashwa who drank the sacred water meant for his wife and gave birth to Mandhata, who in turn was wetnursed by Lord Indra (3:126). Vashishtha, the great sage, was born of two Vedic Gods, Mitra and Varuna (1.59). The Epic makes Arjuna take up the role of Brihannala, the eunuch, who as a warrior saves the fortunes of the Matsya Empire (4: 2). The Epic casts Vishnu as Mohini, the enchantress, who saved the Devas by killing Rahu and Ketu (1:16). It reiterates the Upanishadic rendition of Shiva as the primal ‘Purusha’ who was one with Prakriti, lauding him as ‘Ardhanarishwara’.
Transgressing the Patriarchy: Three Women in Indira Goswmai’s Works
(Atlantic Publishers and Distributors Pvt. Ltd., 2019-09) Bhattacharya, Sankar Kumar
Writing the ‘Other’: En-Gendered Resistance through ‘Écriture Féminine’
(Vishvanatha Kaviraja Institute, 2020) Bhattacharya, Sankar Kumar
This paper attempts to read the silences and omissions that are brought out in the revisionist re-tellings, and the rationale behind the exercise. The dire need for questioning the patriarchal tropes xviii that confined women within the Lakshaman Rekha (boundary) of ‘propriety’ was met by the revisionist authors who chose to re-tell the Epic story with modern sensitivities. These writings give expression to the disquiet that has simmered beneath the surface in the patriarchal texts. The voices that were silenced in the meta-narrative have found a release in the re-tellings. The unidirectionality of the meta-narrative is countered by re-inventing these stories through the eyes of women.