Fables of identity and contingencies of certainty

disarticulations of the panchatantra

pp. 131-157

in: , Cultures of memory in South Asia, Berlin, Springer, 2014

Abstract

This chapter inquires into the epistemic space of narrative in Indic mnemocultures. If narrative is seen to filiate identity and ethics in temporal terms in European tradition, Sanskrit mnemocultures suspend any such status to narrative; they do not sublimate memory in narratives of self-hood. They spread across through non-narrative strands and are oriented to imparting action knowledges. This chapter concentrates on the Panchatantra to explore the relation between narrative and non-narrative strands and their ethical political implications.