H A R V A R D   U N I V E R S I T Y

Department of South Asian Studies

Series on "Indian Society through the Ages"

Winter  2012

Lecture XII

"Heroic Krishna In the Epic Mahabharata"

by

Dr. Kevin McGrath

Department of South Asian Studies
Harvard University

Sunday, January 8, 2011, 3:00 PM
Hall A, Harvard University Science Center
1 Oxford Street, Cambridge

Abstract

We learn from the literature of Mahabharata that its huge current extent represents an expansion from an earlier, much shorter core.  Study of the local literature suggests that in the earliest version of the epic Krishna's role was close to the model established for respected kshatriyas of the first millennium BCE. As religious outlook and practice gradually and subtly developed from a primarily Vedic to a "Hindu" orientation, Krishna's role in the epic became predominately that of a deity.  Evidence for this change is evident from similarities in the characterization of various kshatriya characters both in folklore and in the Epic.

Kevin McGrath is an Associate of the Department of South Asian Studies in Harvard University and the Poet in Residence at Lowell House. His recent publications include - The Sanskrit Hero: Karna in Epic Mahabharata (Brill, 2004); Stri: Women in Epic Mahabharata (Harvard University Press, 2009); Jaya: Performance in Epic Mahabharata (Harvard University Press, 2011). The material in the lecture comes from a forthcoming book - Heroic Krsna: Friendship in Epic Mahabharata, due for release in 2012.  He is also involved in fieldwork in western Gujarat studying Kinship, Landscape, & Migration for many years,

Contact: Dr. B. Misra 617-864-5121

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