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Heroic Krsna: friendship in epic Mahabharata

By: Material type: TextTextSeries: Ilex Foundation Series 9Publication details: Cambridge Harvard University Press 2013Description: ix, 165 pISBN:
  • 9780674073333
Subject(s): DDC classification:
  • 294.5923046 M2H3
Summary: Heroic Krsna is a portrait of a pre-Hindu and pre-classical figure of a superhuman hero who in time became the divinity Krsna, an incarnation of Visnu. This is a picture, drawn from the epic Mahābhārata, of an archaic warrior who excelled as a charioteer; in fact this is the best depiction that we presently possess in any epic corpus of a charioteer type. Krsna is also described in his role of moral instructor, as poet and ambassador, and in the office of dual kingship with the dharmaraja Yudhisthira. There is no other representation of a complex friendship in the poem apart from what exists between Krsna and Arjuna, and this profound amity is completely founded on the activity of a charioteer and his hero. Cultural and poetic continuities from the Bronze Age Vedic world are shown to exist in this model of duality. Krsna is also an adept of the speech-act, for—apart from his charioteering—he accomplishes little in the epic except via the causality of speech: he is a master of “doing things with words.” This book illustrates a heroic life which pre-exists the divine status of one of the most popular Indian deities of today. Machine generated contents note: ch. One Concepts and Methods ch. Two Two Krsnas ch. Three The Alliance ch. Four The Embassy ch. Five Krsna Sarathi ch. Six Strategy and Maneuver Bhisma Parvan Drona Parvan Karna Parvan Salya Parvan ch. Seven Aftermath ch. Eight Death. (http://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674073333)
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Books Vikram Sarabhai Library Rack 7-B / Slot 219 (0 Floor, West Wing) Non-fiction General Stacks 294.5923046 M2H3 (Browse shelf(Opens below)) Available 189609

Heroic Krsna is a portrait of a pre-Hindu and pre-classical figure of a superhuman hero who in time became the divinity Krsna, an incarnation of Visnu. This is a picture, drawn from the epic Mahābhārata, of an archaic warrior who excelled as a charioteer; in fact this is the best depiction that we presently possess in any epic corpus of a charioteer type. Krsna is also described in his role of moral instructor, as poet and ambassador, and in the office of dual kingship with the dharmaraja Yudhisthira. There is no other representation of a complex friendship in the poem apart from what exists between Krsna and Arjuna, and this profound amity is completely founded on the activity of a charioteer and his hero. Cultural and poetic continuities from the Bronze Age Vedic world are shown to exist in this model of duality. Krsna is also an adept of the speech-act, for—apart from his charioteering—he accomplishes little in the epic except via the causality of speech: he is a master of “doing things with words.” This book illustrates a heroic life which pre-exists the divine status of one of the most popular Indian deities of today.
Machine generated contents note: ch. One Concepts and Methods
ch. Two Two Krsnas
ch. Three The Alliance
ch. Four The Embassy
ch. Five Krsna Sarathi
ch. Six Strategy and Maneuver
Bhisma Parvan
Drona Parvan
Karna Parvan
Salya Parvan
ch. Seven Aftermath
ch. Eight Death.
(http://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674073333)

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