Co(s)mic Vision

The Bhagavata Purana (BhP) is a popular sacred Sanskrit text characterized by its devotion for Krsna and the many narratives concerning him and his incarnations. These narratives have an edifying quality. A great number of them bring their point across through the use of humour. Though the comic tradition of India has been covered by scholars, such studies primarily discuss the performing arts. I argue that there is a strong presence of humour in the BhP, and that this humour communicates a playful attitude which has a prominent place in the overall religiosity of the BhP, thus communicating a worldview I term the co(s)mic vision. This study contributes to the discussion on the ludic dimensions of religious traditions and indicates how religious discourse is established through the entertaining and edifying effects of humour. Narrative is used as an entertaining alternative to religious instruction as exhortation, theological assertion, or propositional excursuses.

Vraja/Braj

Vraja is an old Sanskrit word that is now used to denote “Braj,” or the Braj region. Vraja/Braj/Brij presently denotes a particular geographical area in and around Mathura that is related to the childhood activities of Krishna (Skt. Kṛṣṇa), the most popular incarnation (avatar) of Lord Vishnu (Skt.Viṣṇu)—so important, in fact, that some of his most influential devotees consider that he is “God himself” (bhagavān svayam), as the Bhāgavata Purāṇa declares. The word vraja is derived from the Sanskrit verbal root dhātu (vraj), which means “go, walk, proceed,” implying “motion and movement.” In its early forms it can be used to designate areas where cows graze, but it may also refer to a cow pen or cattle shed. More broadly, it has to do with the culture of a semi-nomadic pastoral encampment. The modern-day term Braj, building on these meanings, denotes a conceptual as well as a geographic entity—the former related to the childhood of Krishna, the latter to the area on the banks of the River Yamuna where he is considered to have spent his childhood and youth. The language associated with this region is Brajbhasha [Skt.Brajbhāṣā], which came to have an almost canonical weight—along with Persian and Sanskrit—in Mughal times; for that reason, along with others, it came to be well known far beyond the geographical area of Braj itself. By no means is every usage of Brajbhasha to be associated with Krishna, although his imprint is often to be felt. Over the long course of time, then, we have, on the one hand, a sedimentation and localization of the term vraja (its geographical usage), and, on the other, an expansion of the term (its conceptual breadth and linguistic weight). Acknowledgement: Dr. John Stratton Hawley helped edit this article.

The Vernacular Pulse of Sanskrit: Metre and More in Songs of the Gītagovinda and Bhāgavata Purāṇa

This article explores the metrical patterns of Gītagovinda’s songs, to investigate what they reveal about their origin and inspiration, building on previous scholarly research into the vernacular nature of the songs. Seemingly abstruse, metre lies at the heart of the performative nature of the text, but is often overlooked in a quest for meaning. The article starts with the approach of Sanskrit commentators, focusing on Mahārāṇā Kumbhakarṇa of Mewar’s fifteenth-century Rasikapriyā, interrelating with his theoretical work on music, the Saṃgītarāja. This reveals the problem of the discrepancy between metrical theory, or śāstra, and praxis, or prayoga, problematising the metrical pundits’ focus on classification and static definitions at the expense of rhythmical processes of actual performance. The article proposes an alternative by analysing Gītagovinda’s songs instead through the lens of New Indo-Aryan (NIA) poetry, which significantly enhances appreciation of the poetic craft of the author. Finally, comparison with selected Gopīgītas, or ‘Songs of the Gopīs’, from the ninth-century classic scripture of Krishna devotion, Bhāgavata Purāṇa, reveals parallels in both metre and oral formulae. Reading Gopīgītas in conjunction with Gītagovinda’s songs opens up a new perspective, revealing a vernacular pulse underlying some of the best-known and best-loved Sanskrit literature.

Two Passing Clouds: The Rainy Season of Mīrzā Bīdil and Amānat Rāy’s Persian Version of Bhāgavata Purāṇa 10.20

This paper deals with a chapter of Amānat Rāy’s Persian verse translation of the Bhāgavata Purāṇa, completed in Delhi in 1732-33, and a section of the Ṭūr-i maʿrifat by his poetic and philosophical mentor Mīrzā ʿAbd al-Qādir Bīdil (1644-1720), a mathnawī describing the monsoon in a hilly region of present day Rajasthan. The aim of our brief analysis is to introduce a debate on the poetics of physis in early modern Persian literary culture, in the context of a wider project on Bīdil and nature. Through a guided reading of the two authors’ description of the cloud (abr), its interactions with the Sanskritic literary practices and conventions, and the diverse intertextual ties, we show how the connected analogical and metaphorical procedures employed create two complementary ways of dealing with the phenomenology of (natural) existence.

Māyā in the Bhāgavata Purāṇa

The idea of māyā pervades Indian philosophy: it is complex, multivalent, and foundational, with its oldest referents found in the Ṛg -veda. This book explores māyā’s rich conceptual history, and then focuses on the highly developed theology of māyā found in the Sanskrit Bhāgavata Purāṇa, one of the most important Hindu sacred texts. Gopal K. Gupta examines māyā’s role in the Bhāgavata’s narratives, paying special attention to māyā’s relationship with other key concepts in the text, such as human suffering (duḥkha), devotion (bhakti), and divine play (līlā). In the Bhāgavata, māyā is often identified as the divine feminine, and her scope and influence are far-reaching—māyā is the world and the means by which God creates the world, she is the power that deludes living beings and ensorcells them in the phenomenal world, and she is the facilitator of God’s play, paradoxically revealing him to his devotees by concealing his majesty. While Vedānta philosophy typically sees māyā as a negative force, the Bhāgavata affirms that māyā also has a positive role, for in both the conditioned and liberated states, māyā is meant to ultimately draw living beings toward Kṛṣṇa and intensify their love for him.