The Divinity of Krishna

Abstract

This book is substantially the same as the thesis 'Of the author for which he was awarded the Ph. D. in Sanskrit and Indian "Studiesby Harvard University in 19S0. Through a thorough comparative analysis of various incidents of Krishna's life in the Vishnu Parva section. 'Of Harivamsa, the Fifth Book of the Vi{it!in Purana, and the famous Tenth book of the Bhagavata Purana, the author convincingly shows that a progressively more divine image of Krishna emerges from these sources. These texts belong to different centuries and they seem to manifest three different attitudes, namely, the attitudes of hero-worship, self-surrender in devotion, and mystical love. The evolution in their understanding of Krishna's divinity and identity does not imply a process of divinization of Krishna. It only means that the believers endeavoured to remove the blemishes from their earlier portraits of Krishna thus making his divinity shine forth more brilliantly.