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The Bhagavata Purana: Sacred Text and Living Tradition

A vibrant example of living literature, the Bhagavata Purana is a versatile Hindu sacred text written in Sanskrit verse. Finding its present form by the tenth century C.E., the work inspired several major north Indian devotional (bhakti) traditions as well as schools of dance and drama, and continues to permeate popular Hindu art and ritual in both India and the diaspora.

Introducing the Bhagavata Purana's key themes while also examining its extensive influence on Hindu thought and practice, this collection conducts the first multidimensional reading of the entire text. Each essay focuses on a key theme of the Bhagavata Purana and its subsequent presence in Hindu theology, performing arts, ritual recitation, and commentary. The authors consider the relationship between the sacred text and the divine image, the text's metaphysical and cosmological underpinnings, its shaping of Indian culture, and its ongoing relevance to contemporary Indian concerns.

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The Bhagavata Purana: Sacred Text and Living Tradition

A vibrant example of living literature, the Bhagavata Purana is a versatile Hindu sacred text written in Sanskrit verse. Finding its present form by the tenth century C.E., the work inspired several major north Indian devotional (bhakti) traditions as well as schools of dance and drama, and continues to permeate popular Hindu art and ritual in both India and the diaspora.

Introducing the Bhagavata Purana's key themes while also examining its extensive influence on Hindu thought and practice, this collection conducts the first multidimensional reading of the entire text. Each essay focuses on a key theme of the Bhagavata Purana and its subsequent presence in Hindu theology, performing arts, ritual recitation, and commentary. The authors consider the relationship between the sacred text and the divine image, the text's metaphysical and cosmological underpinnings, its shaping of Indian culture, and its ongoing relevance to contemporary Indian concerns.

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The Bhagavata Purana: Sacred Text and Living Tradition

The Bhagavata Purana: Sacred Text and Living Tradition

The Bhagavata Purana: Sacred Text and Living Tradition
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The Bhagavata Purana: Sacred Text and Living Tradition

The Bhagavata Purana: Sacred Text and Living Tradition

Overview

A vibrant example of living literature, the Bhagavata Purana is a versatile Hindu sacred text written in Sanskrit verse. Finding its present form by the tenth century C.E., the work inspired several major north Indian devotional (bhakti) traditions as well as schools of dance and drama, and continues to permeate popular Hindu art and ritual in both India and the diaspora.

Introducing the Bhagavata Purana's key themes while also examining its extensive influence on Hindu thought and practice, this collection conducts the first multidimensional reading of the entire text. Each essay focuses on a key theme of the Bhagavata Purana and its subsequent presence in Hindu theology, performing arts, ritual recitation, and commentary. The authors consider the relationship between the sacred text and the divine image, the text's metaphysical and cosmological underpinnings, its shaping of Indian culture, and its ongoing relevance to contemporary Indian concerns.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9780231531474
Publisher: Columbia University Press
Publication date: 03/19/2013
Series: NONE
Sold by: Barnes & Noble
Format: eBook
Pages: 288
File size: 18 MB
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About the Author

Ravi M. Gupta is associate professor of religious studies at the The College of William and Mary and is the author of The Caitanya Vaisnava Vedanta of Jiva Gosvami: When Knowledge Meets Devotion.

Kenneth R. Valpey is a research fellow of the Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies and has been a regular visiting scholar at the Chinese University of Hong Kong.

Table of Contents

Preface
Introduction. Churning the Ocean of L?l?: Themes for Bhagavata Study
Part One: The World of the Bh?gavata
1. Reading: Pur??ic Trekking Along the Path of the Bh?gavatas
2. Time and Narrative: A Ma??ala of Remembrance: The Bh?gavata Pur??a's Time-Transcending Narrative of L?l?
3. Cosmology: Dialogues on Natural Theology: The Bh?gavata Pur??a's Cosmology as Religious Practice
4. Ethics: "May Calamities Befall Us at Every Step": The Bh?gavata's Response to the Problem of Evil
5. Commentary: Vallabha, the Bh?gavata Pur??a, and the Path of Grace
6. Sacred Geography: Vraja-Dh?man: Krishna Embodied in Geographic Place and Transcendent Space
7. Theology: The R?sa L?l? of Krishna and the Gop?s: On the Bh?gavata's Vision of Boundless Love
Part Two: The Bh?gavata in the World
8. Boundaries: Heresies and Heretics in the Bh?gavata Pur??a
9. Dance: Krishna Come Soon: Bharata Natyam and the Bh?gavata Pur??a on Stage
10. Song: Two Braj Bh??? Versions of the R?sa L?l? Pañc?dhy?y? and Their Musical Performance in Vai??ava Worship
11. Recitation:
12. Text History: Modern Reception and Text Migration of the Bh?gavata Pur??a
Bibliography
List of Contributors
Index

What People are Saying About This

Daniel P. Sheridan

The Bhagavata Purana gathers a superb group of contemporary scholars who bring a new dimension of appreciation for this religious masterpiece of Vaisnava Hinduism. Their essays plumb its unique devotional intensity and metaphysical subtlety. The vast narratives of the Bhagavata Purana reveal a luxuriant universe in which the divine and created worlds interpenetrate and in which Krishna is portrayed as a God truly to be loved with 'whole heart, mind, soul, and strength.' The text's special genius heightens devotional intensity to Krishna while presenting profound theological discourse. No wonder Hinduism in all its varieties cannot be understood without first understanding the Bhagavata Purana. Ravi M. Gupta and Kenneth R. Valpey are to be thanked for gathering these important contributions to its scholarship.

Cynthia Ann Humes

This book brings together some of the most highly regarded scholars on the subject and cohesively provides an entry into the main themes of the Bhagavata Purana. Moreover, it does so by drawing on materials from comparative religion, theology, history, anthropology, and ethnomusicology.

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