Radhe, Radhe!

Continuity and Change in the Contemporary Oral Performance of the Bhagavatapurana

Authors

  • McComas Taylor The Australian National University Author

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.1558/rosa.v6i1.83

Keywords:

Bhāgavatapurāṇa, Bhāgavat-saptāh, Kṛṣṇa, oral performance, Rādhā, Vrindavan

Abstract

This article focuses on the sacred week-long story-telling event known as a Bhagavat-saptah. The saptah centres on narratives of the deity Visnu and, in particular, his manifestation as Krsna, and on Krsna’s devoted lover Radha. These stories are preserved in their most authoritative form in the Sanskrit text of the Bhagavatapurana. First I will examine the traditional instructions for holding a saptah, which I will call the ‘archetype’. I will then describe a saptah which took place at Vrindavan, Uttarpradesh, India, in November 2009. I will then compare the archetype with the case study, identifying six major continuities: the central role of the text, temporal aspects, economic considerations, visual preparation, spatial arrangements and social inclusiveness. I also identify two major divergences: the sectarian content and the use of the vernacular. Finally, I seek to explain both in terms of modernizing processes. Continuity and divergence are found to take place both in spite of, and because of, such processes.

Author Biography

  • McComas Taylor, The Australian National University

    McComas Taylor heads the South Asia Program in the School of Culture, History and Language, College of Asia and the Pacific at the Australian National University. His research focuses on power and knowledge in Sanskrit texts and the contemporary purāṇic performance.

References

Bryant, E. F. 2004. Krishna: The Beautiful Legend of God. New York: Penguin Books.

— 2007. ‘Krishna in the Tenth Book of the Bhagavata Purana.’ In E. F. Bryant (ed.), Krishna: A Sourcebook: 111–36. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Chandra, S. 1998. Encyclopaedia of Hindu Gods and Goddesses. New Delhi: Sarup and Sons.

Pollock, S. 2006. The Language of the Gods in the World of Men: Sanskrit, Culture, and Power in PremodernIndia. Berkeley: University of California Press.

Rocher, L. 1986. The Puranas. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz.

Schweig, G. M. 2007a. ‘The Divine Feminine in the Theology of Krishna.’ In E. F. Bryant (ed.), Krishna: A Sourcebook: 441–74. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

— 2007b. Dance of Divine Love: The Rasa Lila of Krishna from the Bhagavata Purana, India’s Classic Sacred Love Story. Delhi, Motilal Banarsidass [orig. pub. Princeton, 2005].

Spradley, J. 1980. Participant Observation. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston.

Published

2012-11-23

Issue

Section

Articles

How to Cite

Taylor, M. (2012). Radhe, Radhe! Continuity and Change in the Contemporary Oral Performance of the Bhagavatapurana. Religions of South Asia, 6(1), 83-101. https://doi.org/10.1558/rosa.v6i1.83