Kṛṣṇa is an important Hindu deity who features prominently throughout the Indian subcontinent's literature, fine arts, drama, architecture, and theology for almost two millennia. Although his character does not fully blossom in terms of the plot of the epic Mahābhārata, he became more and more prominent during the composition of the later Purāṇas and has permeated several diverse devotional and intellectual traditions. Over the past few decades, western scholars studying South Asia have explored various aspects of Kṛṣṇa and the tradition that developed around him, and Edwin Bryant's Krishna: A Sourcebook is a valuable contribution to this growing body of scholarship that naturally complements his earlier translation of the Bhāgavata Purāṇa's tenth book (Kṛṣṇa: The Beautiful Legend of God).
As a ‘sourcebook’, this volume provides translations of the most important and foundational primary sources on Kṛṣṇa, along with individual introductions by some of the leading scholars in the field. The selected texts span the epic Mahābhārata, the Purāṇas, Vedāntic writings, aesthetics, ritual texts, and poetry, written in Sanskrit and in a wide range of Indian vernaculars. This book is divided into four parts – ‘Classical Source Material’, ‘Regional Literary Expressions’, ‘Philosophy and Theology’, and ‘Hagiography …
