The Bhāgavata Purāna: Selected Readings 9780231542340

Citation preview

• .

-

.

THE BHAGAVATA PURA:NA

-

-

THE BHAGAVATA PURANA •

Selected Readings

Ravi

M.

Gupta and Kenneth R. Valpey

COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY PRESS New York

Columbia University Press

Publishers Since 1893 New York Chichester, West Sussex cup.columbia.edu Copyright© 2017 Columbia University Press

All rights re served Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Pubhcation Data

Names: Gupta, Ravi M. (Ravi Mohan), 1982- editor. I Valpey, Kenneth Russell, 1950- editor. Title: The Bhagavata Pura1;1a : selected translations /Edited by Ravi M. Gupta and Kenneth R. Valpey. Description: New York : Columbia University Press, 2016. I Includes bibliographical references and index. I Translated from Sanskrit.

Identifiers: LCCN 2016000353 (print) I LCCN 2016040118 (ebook) I

ISBN 9780231169004 (cloth : alk. paper) I ISBN 9780231169011 (pbk.) I ISBN 9780231542340 (electronic) Classification: LCC BL1140.4.B434E5 2016 (print) I LCC BL1140.4.B434 (ebook)

I

DDC 294.5/925-dc23 LC record available at https:/ /lccn.loc.gov /20 160 00353

Columbia University Press books are printed on permanent and durable acid-free paper. Printed in the United States of America COVER DESIGN:

COVER IMAGE AND FRONTISPIECE:

Noah Arlow

Detail from "Krishna Welcoming Sudama,

from a Bhagavata Purana Manuscript." Color and gold on paper, c. 1700, Pahari School. Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Smithsonian Institution: Purchase-Charles Lang FreerEndowment, Fl930.25

• . .

To Shaunaka and Keshava, and all our friends at the Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies sat am prasangan mama vfrya-samvido bhavanti hrt-ka�a-rasayana� katha� tajjo�a�ad asv apavarga-vartmani sraddha ratir bhaktir anukrami�yati

In the company of good souls, discourses about my prowess become the elixir narratives for ear and heart. By delighting in them, confidence, attraction, and devotion will quickly follow for one on the path of freedom. -BHAGAVATA PURAN,A 3.25.25 (KAPILA TO DEVAHUTI)

CONTENTS

Foreword by C. Mackenzie Brown Preface xvii

x1

INTRODUCTION 1 BOOK ONE

27

Introducing the Bhagavata's Subject 28 Queen Kunti Praises Krishna 31 Bhi�ma Shares His Wisdom 33 King Parik�it and Sage Suka Meet 36 BOOK TWO 42 The Sage Suka Begins His Answer 43 Vishnu's Descents: An Overview 45 The Bhagavata in a Nutshell 51 BOOK THREE 54 Brahma's Creation and the Measures of Time 55 Four Sages Curse the Gatekeepers of Heaven 61 The Nature of Temporal Nature 68 Yogic Meditation on the Form ofVishnu 71

viii

Contents

BOOK FOUR 77 Confrontation and Death at Dak�a' s Sacrifice 78 King Prthu's Competition with Indra 85 BOOK FIVE 90 ��abha Counsels His Hundred Sons 91 Bharata Becomes a Deer 94 Description of]ambudvipa 98 BOOK SIX

102

Ajamila's Near-Death Lesson 103 Indra's Grave Mistake 111 Indra Slays Visvarupa 112 Indra Slays Vfl:ra 113 Indra's Lament 115 Citraketu Cursed to Become Vrtra 116 BOOK SEVEN 119 Hiral',lyakasipu Seeks Immortality 120 The Demon King Conquers the World 123 Hiral',lyakasipu Torments His Son Prahlada 126 Prahlada Teaches His Friends 128 Nrsimha s lays Hiral',lyakasipu 130 BOOK EIGHT 135 Churning the Ocean of Milk, and Shiva Drinks Poison 136 Vamana Dwarfs the Universe 143 BOOK NINE

151

Sage Durvasa Flees Vishnu's Fiery Weapon 152 Rama's Victorious Homecoming 156 Krishna's Life Story in a Nutshell 158 BOOK TEN 160 Krishna Eats Dirt, and Yasoda Has a Vision 161 Yasoda Binds Krishna After He Steals Butter 162

lX

Contents

Krishna Frees Nalakuvara and Mal!igriva from a Curse 164 The Worship and Lifting of Mount Govardhana 166 Krishna Calls the Gopfs 171 The Rasa Dance 174 Singing to a Bee 176 BOOK ELEVEN 182 Lessons from the World 183 The Formal Worship ofVishnu 186 BOOK TWELVE 192 The Earth Sings 193 The Unsurpassed Bhagavata 196 COMMENTARIAL EXCURSIONS 199 1. Diving Into the Bhagavata: Sridhara's Commentary on the First Verse 199 2. Who Is to Blame? The Fall ofVishnu's Gatekeepers 205 3. A Cosmic Debate on the Power of Divine Names 211 4. Righteous Indignation in Longing for Krishna 219 Notes 227 Glossary 281 References 285 Index 289

FOREWORD C.

MACKENZIE BROWN,

JENNIE FARRIS RAILEY KING PROFESSOR OF RELIGION, TRINITY UNIVERSITY

The Bhagavata Puriil)a is perhaps the most popular of all the great Hindu Puriil)as-sacred dialogic narratives revealing ancient happenings that, for their followers, are relevant for today's living. Until very recent times, the Puriil)as have not been as well known in the West as the four Vedas and their affiliated Upani�ads, but the Puriil)as surpass the latter two revelatory texts in terms of their everyday impact on religious practice. The various Puriil)as are embraced by one or another school of Hindu­ ism, such as the Saivas, s aktas, and Vai�l)avas. They provide the spiritual seekers in these schools with answers to what is real, what is false, and in light of what is real, what ideals to follow. The Puriil)as themselves at times make the claim that they are the equivalent of the Vedas, or a "fifth Veda," but, unlike the Vedas, they are, in the strictest sense, open to all regardless of class, caste, or gender. The Bhagavata Puriil)a makes precisely such a claim and promises to offer everyone the means for liberation from the suffering-infused round of birth and death. This ongoing round is the fundamental predicament of humankind assumed by the text and its followers. By reading and listen­ ing to the text, with its many stories of the cosmic and terrestrial exploits of Krishna, one can attain the liberating state of Krishna consciousness. The Bhagavata Puriil)a is one of the foremost sacred texts of the Gauit of Krishna's transcendent position, beyond consid­ erations of piety and impiety. Similarly, he argues, Krishna's associates­ such as the gopfs-are beyond such considerations because of the purity of their devotion to their Lord (implying, according to the commentator Visvanatha, that it is only reflections of the gopfs-maya-fabricated fac­ similes-that consort with their apparent husbands). Moreover, Krishna is present within all beings (including the gopfs' husbands) as the supreme self, and so he acts in such a way as to attract all beings to himself. Indeed, suka concludes, by hearing about this particular lfla of the rasa dance, one can become freed from all sensual desire and gain perfect bhakti, devotion for Krishna. Sometime later Krishna again meets the gopfs, when he kills Sankhact1