In search of Krishna
PREMA NANDAKUMAR
IN SEARCH OF THE BLUE-GREEN CREST: Asha Goswami; Y. R. Publications, 7694, G.T. Road, near Clock Tower, Delhi-110007. Rs. 896.
The problem with Krishna is that he is charmingly mysterious. He eludes categorisation even by an erudite scholar like Asha Goswami who has brought in tons of references in her exploration that comes to us with the fascinating title, In Search of the Blue-Green Crest.
Goswami has done well to limit herself to the Krishna-related material found in the Mahabharata and the Harivamsa. However, it is understandable that, in spite of her assiduous planning, the book has a cluttery visage. The Krishna lore is oceanic. Fortunately, her enthusiasm and the name of Krishna help us sail through with ease.
We gather plenty of important information, neatly settled as historical, religious, allegorical, traditional, mythical, and rational interpretations. Rational interpretation? Why not? Of Abhimanyu’s wedding with Uttara: “Rationally interpreting the narrative, it must be maintained that this adventure of Krsna [Krishna] reflects on His organising capacity.”
Untenable
In such a compartmentalised critical adventure, it is not surprising that many of the cherished events have to be brushed aside as untenable. Was Krishna married only to Rukmini or did he have 16,100 wives? Was the import of the ‘parijatha’ tree a poetic fiction? The disrobing of Draupadi also gets buffeted for Goswami’s wide and deep reading can produce plenty of matter on the subject which seeks to prove that the outrage never happened. Was it added by later redactors to glorify Krishna? And who can speak out when a scientific interpretation fails? “The scientific view does not hold such events pertaining to the miracles as factual events that took place in the court of the Kauravas.”
But Krishna will not let us go so easily for his name occurs even in the Vedas as Devaki’s son. The Puranic Krishna. The Radha cult. Is she a mystical symbol? Perhaps a static one?
“For, Sri Radha’s image occupying the left side of Sri Krishna, the Supreme Lord, symbolically represents the corresponding feminine power of Sri Krsna [Krishna], which enables to perform his lilas [functions] just like in the case of other Godheads like Purusha, Siva and Visnu, who are activated by their corresponding powers which are represented by Prakriti, Parvati and Laksmi respectively.”
Universal
Presently Goswami sets off in search of Krishna in other personae like Jesus Christ and emphatically denies that the Christian Gospels had inspired the Gita. She finds in it a universal religion (Krishnaism) and assures us that the Mahayogesvara could have transmitted the entire Gita and the vision of Viswarupa to Arjuna in a trice on the battlefield since the human brain “has both the receiving and the transmitting apparatus whereby all human beings are capable of both transmitting visions or ideas to others, as well as of receiving the same from others.” With such valid points dotting the text, the book deserves an enthusiastic welcome.
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