Book Review: The Dharma of Unfaithful Wives and Faithful Jackals : Some Moral Tales From The Mahabharata by Wendy Doniger
2 min read
Namrata reviews Wendy Doniger’s The Dharma of Unfaithful Wives and Faithful Jackals: Some Moral Tales From The Mahabharata (Speaking Tiger, 2024) observing how it delves into the moral complexity that permeates these stories, offering a fresh perspective on ancient concepts of right and wrong, duty and desire.
Wendy Doniger’s The Dharma of Unfaithful Wives and Faithful Jackals: Some Moral Tales From The Mahabharata is a rich, engaging exploration of the lesser-known tales embedded within the epic’s vast discourse on dharma. Doniger, celebrated for her incisive and often provocative interpretations of Hindu mythology, brings her characteristic wit and depth to these selections from the Shanti and Anushasana Parvans, where Bhishma, on his deathbed, offers King Yudhishthira a plethora of moral lessons that range from the cosmic to the mundane.
The Narrative and Descriptions
The stories in The Dharma of Unfaithful Wives and Faithful Jackals traverse a wide spectrum, from whimsical fables featuring clever jackals and cunning mice to weightier narratives that wrestle with profound moral dilemmas surrounding kingship, gender identity, and human desire. Doniger’s translations bring these ancient tales to life with her characteristic clarity, making them accessible while preserving their philosophical richness. What sets these stories apart is how they serve as a mirror to the complexities of Hindu thought—where dharma is not a rigid set of rules but a fluid concept, shaped by context, individual circumstances, and often conflicting desires.
One of Doniger’s great achievements in this book is her ability to navigate these complexities with ease, offering readers insight into the moral dilemmas that have fascinated and confounded readers of the Mahabharata for centuries. The tales of unfaithful wives and faithful jackals are not merely moral lessons but reflections of the multifaceted human condition—where righteousness is often blurred by personal desires, societal duties, and divine interventions.
