The Subtlety of Subtales: Subaltern Voices of Suksma Dharma in the Mahabharata

Many scholars have identified suksma dharma (subtle dharma) as a central theme of the Mahabharata. However, beyond recognizing it as an understanding of dharma that is elusive and ambiguous, there has been relatively little investigation into the meaning and implications of suksma dharma. As this article shows, even if the central episodes of the main story leave suksma dharma undefined or unclear, the Mahabharata's embedded narratives (upakhyanas) offer more explicit descriptions and demonstrations that can shed light on this otherwise elusive understanding of dharma. By focusing on three substories, the article argues that suksma dharma is presented as a coherent and communicable teaching about how to act in morally ambiguous situations. This understanding of suksma dharma, as the article shows, is often associated with subaltern characters who demonstrate their knowledge through-what the article characterizes as-intuition and spontaneity in everyday situations.