[INDOLOGY] Publication Announcement: "Kṛṣṇa in the Harivaṁśa" (Dr André Couture)

[Mrinal Kaul]

Dear Friends,

Please allow me to announce the latest publication of Professor André
Couture (Université Laval, Québec, Canada). A copy of the table of contents
is attached herewith along with the information about how to order the book.

*About the book:*

Written over a thirty-year period, the thirteen texts of this book — some
of which have been updated, others translated from the original French —
address various aspects of Kṛṣṇa’s childhood in the *Harivaṁśa*. As a part
of a continuous effort to better understand this oft-neglected complement
to the *Mahābhārata*, the present book demonstrates that these stories of
Kṛṣṇa’s childhood were carefully composed by *brāhmaṇa**s* who knew fully
well what they were doing.

During the ten or so years he spends as a herder in the forest surrounding
Mathurā, Kṛṣṇa prepares himself to kill the evil king Kaṁsa: when packs of
wolves spring from the hairs of his body, he manifests his destructive
power; he appears as a true *avatāra* when he dives into the Yamunā to
subdue the snake Kāliya; he reveals himself as a new Brahmā able to create
a new world when he uplifts Mount Govardhana with which he has just
identified himself, then sheltering cows and herders in his own body.

It is author’s contention throughout these chapters that these episodes
cannot be dismissed as a hotchpotch of legends borrowed from the Ābhīras or
similar pastoral tribes. Neither does one do justice to the genre when one
reinterprets the story symbolically, as if it were the product of an
overactive imagination. Rejecting these positions, the author instead
attempts to show here how these talented storytellers carefully crafted a
narrative, often using material drawn from their own Vedic tradition, in
order to address the new concerns of their audiences.

Links:  http://www.dkprintworld.com/product-detail.php?pid=1280857777

************************
Mrinal Kaul
Università degli Studi di Napoli "L'Orientale"
Dipartimento Asia, Africa e Mediterraneo
Piazza S. Domenico Maggiore, (Piano 5)
12-80134, Napoli (Palazzo Corigliano)
ITALIA
*************************
Tel: +39-3472579917
https://unior.academia.edu/MrinalKaul
http://www.unior.it
e-mail: mrinal.kaul at stx.oxon.org


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