The Ritual of Battle: Krishna in the Mahabharata (Suny Hindu Studies)

This book is a study of Indias great epic, the Mahabharata, against the background of IndoEuropean myth, epic, and ritual. It builds upon the pioneering studies in these areas by Georges Dumezil and Stig Wikander to work toward the goal of understanding how this epics IndoEuropean heritage is interpreted and reshaped within the setting of bhakti or devotional Hinduism.The book begins with a comparative typology of traditional classical epics, arguing that epic is a distinctive mythical genre, and that the Mahabharata in particular should be studied as part of an IndoEuropean epic and (and not just mythical) continuum. The reshaping of IndoEuropean themes is then examined in relation to the Mahabharatas central mystery: the figure of Krishna, hero and ally of the Panbrothers in their struggles against their cousins, the Kauravas, and incarnation of Vis.The study argues that Krishna figures in the epic at the center of a coherent theological ensemble that builds upon continuities in IndoEuropean, Vedic, and particularly Brahmanic sacrificial idioms. Ultimately, Krishna guides the forces of dharma or righteousness through a great sacrifice of battle whose eschatological background recalls IndoEuropean and Vedic themes, while projecting them into the Hindu bhakti cosmology of universal dissolutions, recreations, and divine grace. The study vigorously opposes attempts to explain Krishna by arbitrary theories of the Mahabharatas growth through interpolations.