Iconography of violence in televised Hinduism: the politics of images in the Mahabharata

Abstract

Violence and the representation of it in various forms of media have remained an intriguing subject of research particularly since violence occupies some key discursive spaces in the larger realm of media images. It is also often argued that the media promotes violence through repeated use of visuals representing, for example, physical combat or stealth, especially by the way of television programmes such as soap operas and mythological television series, which depict violence inherent in their narratives. The portrayal of violence in the televised version of mythological epics remains of primary concern for two specific reasons. First, epics such as the Ramayana and Mahabharata remain points of reference for everyday teaching and instruction even at the level of the household in India. Second, forms of individual and collective violence represented in the narratives, which include fratricide, attempted murder, molestation and kidnapping, emerge as the pivots on which the epics develop, categorizing them as fantastical tales of violence spawning more violence and bloodshed. The history of Indian television is beset with both the epics having been transformed into well-mounted television extravaganzas, beamed into households every week or weekday. Epic stories such as the Mahabharata and the Ramayana have been popular choices among television moguls attempting a portrayal of Hindu mythology through iconography and representation. As such, bringing alive on screen inherent tales of violence emerges as one of the foremost objectives of those behind the televisual epics, at the same time justifying such depictions of violence as necessary for the ultimate common good. Often these descriptions or representations of violence through the narrative of the epics appear to be exaggerated as visual images of violence magnify the impact of the scenario in question. The paper envisages an investigation into the several forms of violence depicted through the epics and the manner in which these instances of graphic violence are mounted as central to the progression of the narrative of the television series. Further, it would base its central arguments on the political narrative of televised versions of the Mahabharata envisioning the inherent violence in several of its themes. Engaging with violence to further its thematic background – the moral necessity of the victory of good over evil and the creation of a just society – remains the centrepiece of the argument even as the paper would attempt to argue that televised versions of the Mahabharata have repeatedly and continually glorified violence and attempted to establish binaries between justifiable and unjustifiable violence.