Radhe, Radhe!
Continuity and Change in the Contemporary Oral Performance of the Bhagavatapurana
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1558/rosa.v6i1.83Keywords:
Bhāgavatapurāṇa, Bhāgavat-saptāh, Kṛṣṇa, oral performance, Rādhā, VrindavanAbstract
This article focuses on the sacred week-long story-telling event known as a Bhagavat-saptah. The saptah centres on narratives of the deity Visnu and, in particular, his manifestation as Krsna, and on Krsna’s devoted lover Radha. These stories are preserved in their most authoritative form in the Sanskrit text of the Bhagavatapurana. First I will examine the traditional instructions for holding a saptah, which I will call the ‘archetype’. I will then describe a saptah which took place at Vrindavan, Uttarpradesh, India, in November 2009. I will then compare the archetype with the case study, identifying six major continuities: the central role of the text, temporal aspects, economic considerations, visual preparation, spatial arrangements and social inclusiveness. I also identify two major divergences: the sectarian content and the use of the vernacular. Finally, I seek to explain both in terms of modernizing processes. Continuity and divergence are found to take place both in spite of, and because of, such processes.
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