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Annals BORI, LXVI (1985)
chariot'. But the word saptarasmiratha) seems to mean whose chariot has i, e. is controlled by seven reins.' (5) Onp. xlvi the translator cites a stanza drstani vai etc. in which occurs the word mahātman. This he readers as
great soul'. But this word is not likely to be a poun. It should have been reodered as high-souled' (adj.).
The General Editor of the Series, Prof. J. L. Shastri, in the Prefaces to the five Volumes briefly indicates the contents of the respective volumes.
M. A. Mehendale
THE KRSNA CYCLE IN THE PURĀNAS : by Benjamin Preciado
Solis, Motilal Banarsidass, Delhi, Varanasi, Patna, 1984, pp. xii,
151, and plates 75.
The sub-title of the work Themes and Motifs in a Heroic Saga' is quite modest. The work, in fact, is much more comprehensive. It deals with "the stories of Krşna, their origins and formation, the themes and motifs that constitute them, and their representation both in art and literature, specially in the Purāņas up to the tenth century" (p. 124).
The author has done full justice to what he has aimed to do. In Chapter 1 he discusses the Vedic Antecedents of Krsna and comes to the conclusion that although the main traits of the Vedic deities Vişnu and Nārāyaṇa are reflected in the later Krşoa stories, the name Kropa in the Rgveda cannot be said to refer to the hero and the god of the Purānas. In Chapter 2, the author examines the next phase of the literary cvideace beginning with the Chandogya Upanişad (3.17.6 ) and ending with the Mahābhasya of Patañjali. He also draws on the epigraphic evidence like the Besanagar column and the Ghosundi stone inscriptions. It was during this period that Krsna began to acquire the form in which he is widoly known. Towards the end of the chapter the author establishes for this period the chronology of the development of Krşaa as a god and of the legends connected with him. .
Io the following two chapters (3, 4) the autbor has inade an admirable survey of some characteristic themes and motifs in the Kțşa stories as they occur in the Harivamsa, the Visnu, the Bhāgavala and the Devi Bhāgavata Purāpas, the Ghata Jātaka and the Balacarita. He also compares these motifs with their parallels in the stories of Indra in India and of Heracles in Greece.
Madhu Vidyā/663
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