Krishna Promises


Book Description

In the Bhagavad Gita, Krishna has not only explained many concepts but has also made many promises. These are promises which have not been highlighted as such by commentators and acharyas in the past. 81 of such promises have been identified and explained in this book, with 81 corresponding jokes, proving the author’s “Ek shlok Ek joke” motto.




I Promise...


Book Description

A story of love and deceit I Promise... is a story about a perfectionist. Every job demands the same but who had ever thought of Raghunath, a pyre maker, to be a cynical perfectionist. Each pyre that he made was a masterpiece for him. Every time he built a pyre, his father's instructions used to run over and over again in his head... The wood should not be soft - checked; it should be dry - checked; it should be seven feet in length and two-and-a-half feet in breadth - checked; the hollow ones separated from the solid and heavy ones - checked; the hay and burning material all ready - checked; ghee - checked. Thirty-two years of his life went by living with the dead. But then somebody's presence changed everything about his existence, for good or for worse? Let us have you decide the same... I promise . . . brings Raghunath's life to a question. 'Is it better living dead, when life is like your mistress, or is it better getting a life right before death, like an unfaithful one?' The perfectly made pyre stood staring at Raghu. Who had ever thought of witnessing one's own pyre? But in Raghu's case, it was justified .... read on to know Raghunath's story ... a story never told before.




KRISHNACHARITAM


Book Description

Krishna is bliss. He is a symbol of love, sacrifice and spiritualism. The life, deeds and philosophy of Krishna remain perennial guiding inspirations to mankind. In the world festering with materialism where humanity bleeds, knowledge and study of Krishna provides eternal peace and turns the conscience vibrant. It also lets the people understand the whispering instructions of their souls. The understanding of Krishna separates grief from life. Dhruva – the Pole Star, the narrator of the KRISHNACHARITAM The Essence of Life, narrates Krishna's complete life and elucidates various events that happened during the lifetime of the Avatar. Krishna's early life at Vrindavan, his actions in Mathura and Dwarika, and his diplomacy during the great war of Mahabharata have been beautifully knitted in this book. It contains sermons of Krishna which he gives to Arjuna on the battle field of Kurukshetra and to Udhava at the end of his Lila on the Earth. This book will provide the reader a solace from the competitive and hectic world. It is a must read for all virtuous people aspiring an abode in the realm of true devotion and righteous welfare. May Lord Krishna bestow his blessings upon the ardent reader.




Krishna's Lineage


Book Description

Forming the final part of the Sanskrit Mahabharata, the Harivamsha's main business is to supply narrative details about the great god Vishnu's avatar Krishna Vasudeva, who has been a comparatively minor character in the previous parts of the Mahabharata, despite having taken centre stage in the Bhagavad Gita. Krishna is born in Mathura (some 85 miles south of present-day Delhi). As an infant he is smuggled out of Mathura for his own safety. He and his brother Baladeva grow up among cowherds in the forest, where between them they perform many miraculous deeds and kill many dangerous demons, before returning to Mathura where they kill the evil King Kamsa and his cronies. Thereafter, Krishna is the hero and unofficial leader of his people the Yadava-Vrishnis. When Mathura is besieged by enemies, Krishna leads his people to abandon the town and migrate west, founding the dazzling new city of Dvaraka by the sea. Krishna then repeatedly travels away from that base repeatedly to perform heroic deeds benefitting those in need - including his own people, his more immediate family, and the gods. After narrating the stories of Krishna, the Harivamsha ends by finishing the story of Janamejaya with which the Mahabharata began. The Harivamsha is a powerhouse of Hindu mythology and a classic of world literature. It begins by contextualising Vishnu's appearance as Krishna in several ways, in the process presenting a variety of cosmogonical, cosmological, genealogical, mythological, theological, and karmalogical materials. It then narrates Krishna's birth and adventures in detail. Presenting a wide variety of exciting stories in a poetic register that makes extensive use of natural imagery, the Harivamsha is a neglected literary gem and an ideal starting-point for readers new to Indian literature.




Krishna's Mahabharatas


Book Description

Krishna's Mahabharatas: Devotional Retellings of an Epic Narrative is a comprehensive study of premodern regional Mahabharata retellings. This book argues that Vaishnavas (devotees of the Hindu god Vishnu and his various forms) throughout South Asia turned this epic about an apocalyptic, bloody war into works of ardent bhakti or "devotion" focused on the beloved Hindu deity Krishna. Examining over forty retellings in eleven different regional South Asian languages composed over a period of nine hundred years, it focuses on two particular Mahabharatas: Villiputturar's fifteenth-century Tamil Paratam and Sabalsingh Chauhan's seventeenth-century Bhasha (Old Hindi) Mahahbharat.




Kuchipudi


Book Description

One Of The Seven Major Classical Dance Forms Of India, Kuchipudi In Its Solo Avatara Has Acquired A Status Of A Classical Dance Form Of Andhra Pradesh. The Story Of Kuchipudi From Its Origin As A Dance-Drama And Its Emergence As A Solo Dance Form Is One Of The Most Fascinating Phenomena Engaging Attention Of The Gurus, The Performing Dancers And The Research Scholars. Essentially A Preserve Of The Male Dancers, Who Also Excelled In The Female Roles, Today Kuchipudi Is Being Mainly Performed By The Female Dancers. However, The Tradition Continues To Survive In Kuchipudi Village, Some 30 Kilometres Away From Vijayawada In Andhra Pradesh. The Traditional Dance-Dramas Continue To Exist Along With More Popular Solo Dance Form. Kuchipudi Has Innumerable Votaries Not Only In India But Also Abroad And Their Number Is Ever Increasing. Padma Shri Dr. Sunil Kothari, Dance Historian, Scholar And Critic, Traces In This Volume The Origins Of The Dance-Drama Tradition, Correlating The Prayoga, The Practice And The Shastra, The Theory And How From The Natya, The Drama, Its Integral Elements Nritya, Expressional Dance And Nritta, The Pure Dance In The Hands Of Creative, Traditional Gurus Have Shaped Its Present Solo Format, Giving It Its Own Identity. Based On His Extensive Field Work Dr. Kothari Has Studied The Allied Forms Like Vithi Bhagavatam, Turpubani Vidhi Natakam, Pagati Vesham, Navajanardana Parijatam, Bhagavata Mela Nataka, Kuravanji Dance- Idrama And Offered An Overview Of The Dance Form As It Exists Today And Continues To Develop In Its Many Ramifications. He Has Also Dwelt Upon The All-Pervading Influence Of Vempati Chinna Satyam And His Contibution In Sh Dj'Ing Kuchipudi Into A Solo Form Along With The Dance-Dramas That He Has Choreographed. The Brief Biographies Of The Traditional Gurus And Some Of The Celebrated Exponents I Add Tp The Value Of This Volume, Presenting The Current State Of Kuchipudi On The Contemporary Dance Scene. Profusely Illustrated With 166 Colour And 221 Black And White Photographs By The Ace Photographer A Vinash Pasricha And Designed By The Eminent Artist And Designer Dashrath Patel, Kuchipudi Is A Major Significant Study Of The Classical D'Ance Form Of Andhra Pradesh.




Holy Tears


Book Description

What religion does not serve as a theater of tears? Holy Tears addresses this all but universal phenomenon with passion and precision, ranging from Mycenaean Greece up through the tragedy of 9/11. Sixteen authors, including many leading voices in the study of religion, offer essays on specific topics in religious weeping while also considering broader issues such as gender, memory, physiology, and spontaneity. A comprehensive, elegantly written introduction offers a key to these topics. Given the pervasiveness of its theme, it is remarkable that this book is the first of its kind--and it is long overdue. The essays ask such questions as: Is religious weeping primal or culturally constructed? Is it universal? Is it spontaneous? Does God ever cry? Is religious weeping altered by sexual or social roles? Is it, perhaps, at once scripted and spontaneous, private and communal? Is it, indeed, divine? The grief occasioned by 9/11 and violence in Afghanistan, Iraq, Israel, and elsewhere offers a poignant context for this fascinating and richly detailed book. Holy Tears concludes with a compelling meditation on the theology of weeping that emerged from pastoral responses to 9/11, as described in the editors' interview with Reverend Betsee Parker, who became head chaplain for the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner of New York City and leader of the multifaith chaplaincy team at Ground Zero. The contributors are Diane Apostolos-Cappadona, Amy Bard, Herbert Basser, Santha Bhattacharji, William Chittick, Gary Ebersole, M. David Eckel, John Hawley, Gay Lynch, Jacob Olúpqnà (with Solá Ajíbádé), Betsee Parker, Kimberley Patton, Nehemia Polen, Kay Read, and Kallistos Ware.




Feminine Journeys of the Mahabharata


Book Description

The Mahabharata preserves powerful journeys of women recognized as the feminine divine and the feminine heroic in the larger culture of India. Each journey upholds the unique aspects of women's life. This book analytically examines the narratives of eleven women from the Mahabharata in the historical context as well as in association with religious and cultural practices. Lavanya Vemsani brings together history, myth, religion, and practice to arrive at a comprehensive understanding of the history of Hindu women, as well as their significance within religious Indian culture. Additionally, Vemsani provides important perspective for understanding the enduring legacy of these women in popular culture and modern society.




Religions of Early India


Book Description

The extraordinary multiplicity of religions and religious cultures in India, chronicled over two thousand years From its earliest recorded history, India was a place of remarkable and varied religious activity, ranging from elaborate sacrificial rituals and rigorous regimes of personal austerity to psycho-spiritual experimentation and utopian visions. In this ambitious and wide-ranging chronicle, Richard Davis offers a history of India’s myriad religious cultures that spans two thousand years, from 1300 BCE to 700 CE. India, Davis writes, was not only the birthplace of the religions we now know as Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism. It was also the home of other, often unnamed religions that can be classified as “folk” or “popular” religions. Tracing these intertwined practices, Davis shows that the ardent and heterogeneous religious cultures of early India came to define and redefine themselves in relation to one another. Davis recounts this history through voices—voices recorded in hymns, poems, songs, didactic stories, epic narratives, scientific treatises, and theological discourses, as well as voices that speak through material remains, whether monumental sculptures or tiny terracotta figurines of nameless goddesses. He focuses on the long millennium often designated as “classical India,” which stretches from the time of the founding figures of Buddhism and Jainism during the sixth century BCE through the seventh-century-CE dynasties of the Chalukyas and the Pallavas in southern India. Throughout, he emphasizes encounter, interaction, debate, critique, and borrowing among religious communities within a shared, changing social and political reality. The voices and visions of early India’s religions, Davis shows us, are fascinating in their multiplicity.




The Divine Consort


Book Description

Papers presented at a conference held June 1978 at Harvard University, sponsored by the Center for the Study of World Religions.