A Taxonomy of Exile: Vanavāsa, Agyātavāsa, and the Cultural Logic of Displacement

Abstract

Exile in the Mahabharata is often read as a narrative of banishment, hardship, and return, obscuring the epic's distinction between vanavāsa, the twelve-year forest residence, and agyātavāsa, the subsequent year of concealed existence. This paper argues that these are distinct yet interconnected modes of displacement. Vanavāsa produces geographical, political, and social displacement; agyātavāsa introduces identity concealment and the suspension of public recognition. The paper proposes a fourfold taxonomy: spatial displacement, political-social displacement, identity concealment, and recognitional displacement. Drawing on Said, Malkki, Massey, Cresswell, Brah, and Yuval-Davis, it situates the epic within broader debates on displacement and attachment to place. It then examines Tharoor's The Great Indian Novel, Divakaruni's The Palace of Illusions, and Neelakantan's Ajaya to demonstrate how contemporary retellings transform epic exile into questions of political marginalisation, unstable identity, and contested belonging. The study concludes that the Mahabharata anticipates a multidimensional understanding of displacement in which home is simultaneously geographical, political, social, mnemonic, and recognitional. This complexity accounts for the continuing cultural productivity of its exile narratives.