28 Jun 2006 @ 21:46, by V. Susan Ferguson
Krishna Chaitanya/KK Nair explores the betrayal of Krishna in the texts and men who taught the schools that grew up after 150 BC and Vyasa’s Bhagavad Gita.
These are the areas he investigates:
The Capture by Court Poets
The Harivamsa
The Vishnu Purana
Krishna in Sangham Poetry
Krishna and Alvar Poetry
The Bhagavata Purana
Sankara
Ramanuja
Madhva
Jayadeva’s 12th century poem The Gita Govinda
Chaitanya (1486-1534) and Bengal Vaishnavism
Vallabha (1479-1531) and Pure Monism (Suddha-Advaita)
I will limit this analysis to only four of these. It should be understood that KC/KK Nair sees this progression of betrayal beginning with the early (1st-3rd century) court poets who were catering to the tastes of their patrons, the rich. Because the common man could not read Sanskrit, naturally Sanskrit poetry was usually written for patricians, princes and princesses, as entertainment of those who were no doubt involved in romantic intrigue, usually nurtured by fertile insulated environments of wealth, power and boredom.
Along with being a philosopher and thinker, KC/KK Nair is also an art historian and critic. He wrote four books on Indian Art, and is obviously deeply appreciative of the arts and poetry; but he feels that these poems were ‘the elegant but amoral eroticism of court poetry’ and led peoples' perception of Krishna in a less than purely metaphysical and sacred direction.
He says, ‘A prime motive in writing this book (The Betrayal of Krishna) is to show that while Krishna of the Gita had revealed to us the true nature of religious experience, we have betrayed him because of our fantastic obsession with sex.’ One need look no further than the bewilderingly fabulous Khajuharo.
Full article
[link]
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