This excellent book provides specificity regarding the frequent observation that the Mahābhārata narrative has a great deal to do with genealogy. Simon Pearse Brodbeck, now a research associate and lecturer at Cardiff University, has written a study of the lineages represented in the Sanskrit Mahābhārata, in eighteen chapters divided into four parts. The lineage is narrated in the Mahābhārata twice, with some differences: first in śloka verses (1.70 through 1.89, interrupted and complemented by the story of Yayāti), and immediately thereafter (1.90) in prose. Brodbeck describes his method as follows: “I want to set history aside and approach the Mahābhārata as fiction. Some of my interpretive methods are speculative, and are unusual within Mahābhārata scholarship … I discuss possibilities and their ramifications within the text's imaginary world. I present my results in an optative mood” (p. 10). In so doing, Brodbeck observes that “contrasting literary interpretations may be held simultaneously, and the text may hold them simultaneously already, in its poetry” (p. 10). The interpretive methods that he employs include considering adjacent stories as versions of one statement because of similarities of theme, as well as attending to narrative structure in which symmetry highlights the central point by framing it. He writes, “Presuming the text to understand itself as a carefully organised whole, we are invited to read creatively” (p. 11).

Part I, “A Royal Patrilineal Model,” includes a chapter on “Śrāddha in the Mahābhārata,” in which Brodbeck introduces what he calls the patrilineal soteriological technology: “every generation, one son takes responsibility for feeding and remembering the patrilineal ancestors (thus keeping them in heaven) and having a son to do so in future” (p. 85). One method for producing such an heir is through the putrikā daughter, whose son becomes her father's heir, not her husband's—a theme explored in relation to the pativratā (husband-avowed) wife whose son becomes her husband's heir. In the chapter “The Royal Hunt,” Brodbeck examines the “ways in which Mahābhārata hunting stories can be interpreted as representing friction with in-laws over the availability and preparation of the wife's sons for the husband's line” (p. 86), creatively shedding new light on familiar narratives.

Part II of the volume treats “The Distant Ancestry” of the main figures in the Mahābhārata, starting with Dakṣa and Manu, both of whose daughters are examples of the putrikā phenomenon. Yayāti and Pūru receive close attention, and all of chapter 10 is devoted to Duhṣanta, Śakuntalā, and Bharata. As an example of Brodbeck's speculative interpretation, he suggests the possibility that the Brahmin Bharadvāja, who supplied Bharata's heir, is the disinherited elder brother of Bharata. This part of the book is concluded with chapters on Saṃvaraṇa and Kuru. Part iII, “The Pāṇḍavas and their Proximate Ancestry,” consists of three chapters, “Śaṃtanu and Bhīṣma,” “Dhṛtarāṣṭra and Pāṇḍu,” and “The Pāṇḍavas.” Brodbeck compares Dhṛtarāṣṭra's manner of obtaining sons with the story of Sagara, and compares Pāṇḍu's story with the punishment of Prajāpati's incest. His analysis of the Pāṇḍavas includes the details of the brothers' various wives and their sons. In addition, he explores the ritual stages by which the Pāṇḍavas take over the line from their cousins (the rājasūya rite, the exile and war, finally the aśvamedha). The pattern of the elder brother being displaced in the lineage by a younger brother (Arjuna's heir survives, while Yudhiṣṭhira's does not) is shown as a persistent theme in this lineage, and it is a reason why the genealogical accounts of ancestors are of such interest to the Pāṇḍavas and their descendants.

The final part of the book, “Janamejaya and the Sarpasatra,” examines the heirs of the Pāṇḍavas and the snake sacrifice that the text presents as the setting for the recitation of the Mahābhārata by the Brahmin Vaiśaṃpāyana, a pupil of the composer Vyāsa. Brodbeck argues that “the stories of Parikṣit and Janamejaya help to explain why Vaiśaṃpāyana's narration would be as it is” and, indeed, that Vaiśaṃpāyana is (with various names) the elder brother of king Janamejaya. Though not part of his argument, the fact that the name Vaiśaṃpāyana means “king's descendant” (an odd name for a Brahmin) supports his interpretation.

Any brief review such as this can only hint at the many fascinating readings of the text presented here. One of its strengths is Brodbeck's attention to the placement of narratives within the larger context of the Mahābhārata, demonstrating again and again the thematic connections between tales about ancient forebears and matters concerning the main characters in the Mahābhārata's present. Brodbeck's translations are commendable for their clarity and freshness, and the style throughout is lively and engaging. Reading enjoyment is enhanced by the fact that the volume is free from typographical errors. This book advances the field of Mahābhārata studies through its intensive focus on lineage, a matter of great concern within the text. Brodbeck has shown us new ways of understanding the issues surrounding issue.