In the forest of insecurities, is it possible to discover humanity through pleasure? Can we stop seeing each other as predator, prey, rival or mate, and rediscover ourselves as lovers?
Does the divine reside in sensual delight, in emotional intimacy and in aesthetic experience?
Yes, yes, yes. That is the promise of the Bhagavata. The Bhagavata is the story of Krishna, known as Shyam to those who find beauty, wisdom and love in his dark complexion. It is the third great Hindu epic after the Mahabharata and the Ramayana. However, this narration was composed in fragments over thousands of years, first as the Harivamsa, then as the Bhagavata Purana, and finally as the passionate songs of poet-sages in various regional languages.
This book seamlessly weaves the story from Krishna's birth to his death, or rather from his descent to the butter-smeared world of happy women to his ascent from the blood-soaked world of angry men.
Yes, yes, yes. That is the promise of the Bhagavata. The Bhagavata is the story of Krishna, known as Shyam to those who find beauty, wisdom and love in his dark complexion. It is the third great Hindu epic after the Mahabharata and the Ramayana. However, this narration was composed in fragments over thousands of years, first as the Harivamsa, then as the Bhagavata Purana, and finally as the passionate songs of poet-sages in various regional languages.
This book seamlessly weaves the story from Krishna's birth to his death, or rather from his descent to the butter-smeared world of happy women to his ascent from the blood-soaked world of angry men.
Shyam An Illustrated Retelling Of The Bhagavata is the
latest book by Devdutt Pattanaik which is published by Penguin India. The
author writes, illustrates & lectures on the relevance of mythology in
modern times. He has, since 1996, written over 30 books & 600 columns on
how stories, symbols & rituals construct the subjective truth of ancient
& modern cultures around the world. To know more, visit www.devdutt.com.
The book starts with King Vajranabhi, great grandson of
Krishna trying to trace people who can actually describe a clear picture of how
magnificent he looked as the king had heard a lot about his ancestor’s beauty
but they all varied from each other. In his quest he meets Uttari, Abhimanyu’s
widow who gave a beautiful description according to which we come to know
different variations of Krishna’s image. In the next chapter we meet Shuka,
unborn son of Vyasa who planned to not live on Earth as he believed it is just
full of miseries. Since he had attained full knowledge of Vedas while being in
the womb, he had no intentions of living on Earth anymore but as he was leaving
towards the sky Vyasa stopped him. Using Shyam’s adventurous stories he entices
the unborn child to stay & experience the earthly life too. Get this book
here to relish the stories of the Purna-Purush,
Devdutt Pattanaik is a legend himself when it comes to
narrating mythology. He focuses on the big picture than pinpointing & hence
captures the soul of the stories. Shyam is called a purna purush for the precise
reason as he accepts his feminine side along with masculine, but as we’re fed
with toxic masculinity since birth we won’t find these stories being told to
us. For this exact reason books by Devdutt are quite necessary for the modern
Hindu population. Apart from his writing his illustrations are breathtaking
too. I would surely recommend it to everyone, especially the “Viraat Hindus”
who are quite keen to propagate homogeneity of Hinduism.
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