Oxford Centre for
Hindu Studies Online
Oxford Centre for
Hindu Studies Online
The Bhagavata Purana, often known as the Srimad Bhagavatam, is among the most loved of all Hindu sacred texts. It has inspired the great bhakti traditions of north India, schools of dance and drama, and centuries of art and ritual, and it remains a living presence in Hindu practice across India and the diaspora.
The course examines the text’s key themes: its philosophy and cosmology, its social world, its psychology of self-realisation, and above all its central teaching of devotion to Krishna. We then follow the Bhagavata as a living tradition, through oral recitation and katha performance, dance and drama, its commentarial tradition, and its translation and journey to the modern West.
The course is based on the edited volume Bhagavata Purana: Sacred Text and Living Tradition, and every student receives an electronic copy of the book. It was created by the volume’s editors, Prof. Ravi Gupta and Dr Kenneth Valpey, and runs over eight sessions.
To begin this journey into the Bhagavata Purana, we first consider the text in its historical context before moving into a brief overview of its philosophy, theology, sociology, and literary features. Aided by one of the Bhagavata’s most famous stories – the Churning of the Milk Ocean – we will call attention to some important themes, noting how the work as a whole functions to ‘churn’ and refine devotional emotions.
The highest dharma of good persons who are without envy—dharma that is free from deceit—is found here in the Bhagavata Purana, which was composed by the great sage (Vyasa). The matter to be known here is genuine—it grants well-being and destroys the three miseries. Those virtuous people who desire to hear this Bhagavata Purana immediately and at once capture the Lord in the heart! What is the use of other books?
Bhagavata Purana: 1.1.2
The Bhagavata Purana is a web of narratives, each developing and illustrating the primacy of bhakti. In this session we look at two particular tales. First, the relatively long Man-Lion avatara (descent) story highlights the theme of divine protection (in a ‘surprise appearance’) as well as characteristics of saintliness. Secondly, we look at the story of King Bharata traversing three successive lifetimes to gain spiritual perfection. Narratives of the Bhagavata Purana’s first nine books (skandhas) lead into the work’s tenth and longest book, with its central narrative on the life of Krishna.
As a living tradition, the Bhagavata Purana is as much a culture as a text. This is especially seen in its recitation and explication in assemblies, small and large. What sort of social and performative dynamics are at play in such events, and what can we learn about the Bhagavata’s appeal despite – or because of – modern distractions? As a recitation performance that is often done over seven-day periods, Bhagavata-katha is led by a kathakar – a trained and experienced speaker. What sort of training does he or she receive?
In this lesson we will enter into ways of reading the Bhagavata Purana, giving attention to its commentarial traditions that reach back to the 14th century and forward to the present day. What purposes do these commentaries serve, and how might we be enriched by them? We will sample some specific commentaries to answer these questions. Also, we will look at how the Bhagavata Purana itself advises its readers to get the most from their reading, by engaging oneself in the various devotional practices of bhakti-yoga. Finally, we will briefly consider what are the challenges and opportunities of translating the Sanskrit text of the Bhagavata Purana into a modern language.
The Bhagavata Purana is strikingly inclusive. Everyone is invited to enter its world of bhakti. But this is not to say that no distinctions are made. In this lesson we consider some of the work’s main social and ideological designations, distinctions, and judgments of propriety and impropriety, always measured against its ideal of unadulterated devotion to the supreme divinity (Narayana, Vishnu, Krishna). We will also take up the issue of feminine representation in the Bhagavata, culminating in what the text celebrates as the perfection of devotion, embodied in the cowherdesses of Vrindavan.
A cornerstone of the Bhagavata Purana’s philosophy and theology is that ultimate reality is irreducibly personal, and that as the energetic source of all existence, Krishna has energies by which he accomplishes his many purposes. In this lesson we see how the Bhagavata Purana’s theism works to illuminate the human condition and sensitise readers to its vision of perpetual interplay of the eternal self with the supreme Self in ever-deepening relationships of love.
Sri Bhagavan said: Knowledge of me is the greatest mystery. Receive it (now), as spoken by me, along with its application, secrets, and supplements.
All that I am—my nature, form, qualities, and activities: may you comprehend that truth, by my grace.
I alone existed in the beginning, and nothing else that is beyond cause and effect existed. All of this after (creation) is me, and what remains (in the end)—I am also that!
Bhagavata Purana 2.9.31-33
In this session, we trace the modern history of the Bhagavata Purana’s westward migration. This takes us first to 19th century Bengal with its religious reform movements and vocal reformists, some of whom found cause to criticise the Bhagavata. This would not deter admirers of the Bhagavata from seeking ways to defend and popularise the text – most notably Kedarnath Bhaktivinoda (1838–1915), his son Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati (1874–1937), and the latter’s disciple, A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami (1896–1977). One very important question we address in this session is: which conditions in the West were favorable for reception of the Bhagavata Purana?
A major subject of the Bhagavata Purana is the nature of time, and an essential question it addresses is, how best to use our time in this life, given that it leads us finally to our death? In this lesson we pay attention to how the cyclical quality of time is highlighted to lead the text’s readers and listeners to practices of remembrance (smaranam) that open out into the timeless dimension of lila – divine play – that brings one beyond even liberation. Conversely, we consider how the Bhagavata Purana can speak to us in today’s troubled and conflicted world.
Course Tutor
With a D.Phil. in Theology and Religion at Oxford, Alan is a Post-doctoral Research Fellow at the Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies. His current projects include philosophical approaches to the Vaiṣṇava concept of God and the intersection between Hinduism and secular society.