Séminaire « India Matters » de l’AJEI

Mathieu Boisvert, directeur du CERIAS, participera au séminaire « India Matters » organisé par l’Association Jeunes Études Indiennes (AJEI), qui se tiendra le 2 avril 2026 à 16 h (France) / 10 h (Québec).

Titre : Testing Alain Testart’s Hypothesis on Female Martiality from the Episode of Ambā in Vyāsa’s Mahābhārata

Conférencière : Dr Julie ROCTON (Université d’Aix-Marseille, TDMAM)
Discutant : Prof. Mathieu Boisvert (UQAM, CERIAS)

Résumé :

According to the French anthropologist Alain Testart, women have almost universally been excluded from martial practices involving bloodshed due to an unconscious law of avoiding blood accumulation. This study examines this hypothesis through the figure of Ambā in the Sanskrit Mahābhārata, reflecting the ideology of Brahmanical society. Reincarnated as Śikhaṇḍinī and later transformed into Śikhaṇḍin, Ambā ultimately confronts Bhīṣma, the object of her vengeance. While this narrative may initially seem to support Testart’s model—since Ambā cannot fight as a woman—a closer analysis reveals more complex martial dimensions in the Ambā–Śikhaṇḍin figure. It also shows that Śikhaṇḍin does not become a warrior like others due to lingering female attributes. This study further suggests another possible explanation for the exclusion of women from the martial sphere: the symbolic analogy between combat and sexual intercourse.

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