The sword and the flute : Kālī and Kṛṣṇa, dark visions of the terrible and the sublime in Hindu mythology / David R. Kinsley, with a new preface.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Kinsley, David R.

Contributor:

Gotham Book Mart Collection (University of Pennsylvania)

Series:

Hermeneutics, studies in the history of religions ; 4.

Hermeneutics, studies in the history of religions ; 4

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Hindu gods.

Krishna (Hindu deity).

Krishna.

Kālī (Hindu deity).

Kālī.

Penn Provenance:

Gotham Book Mart (former owner) (Gotham Book Mart Collection copy)

Physical Description:

2 unnumbered pages, x, 167 pages, 5 unnumbered pages ; 20 cm.

Edition:

[Second edition].

Place of Publication:

Berkeley ; Los Angeles : University of California Press, [©2000]

Summary:

Krsna and Kali are two of Hinduism's most popular deities, representing dramatically different truths about the nature of the sacred. The cruel and terrible Kali is thought to be born of wild, aboriginal roots. She is the goddess of thieves and often associated with human blood sacrifice. Krsna, in contrast, is the divine lover and inimitable prankster who plays a bewitching flute to draw all to him. But Kali and Krsna have much more in common than their contrasting personalities suggest. Kinsley shows that Krsna's flute can be interchangeable with Kali's sword, revealing important perceptions of the divine in the Hindu tradition.

Contents:

pt. I. The flute : Kṛṣṇa's carnival of joy. Kṛṣṇa and the "Kṛṣṇas"

The divine child : the spontaneous and tumultuous nature of God

Kṛṣṇa's sport with demons : combat as play

The embodiment of beauty and grace

The call of Kṛṣṇa's flute

The divine lover

Bhakti : from lord to lover

Ānanda : the inherent bliss of the divine

Līlā : the divine player

pt. II. The sword : Kālī, mistress of death. The prehistory of Kālī

Kālī in the Mahābhārata

Kālī in the Devī-māhātmya

The early history of Kālī in Purānic and dramatic literature

Kālī's regional distribution

Kālī's association with Śiva

Kālī and the Tantric hero

Kālī and Bengali devotionalism

Kālī as mahāmāyā

Kālī as prakṛti and duḥkha

Kālī as time

Confrontation and acceptance of death : Kālī's boon

Kālī's "taming"

The sword and the flute : conclusion.

Notes:

Based in part on the author's thesis.

Contains prefaces to the Second and Original Editions.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 161-[168]).

ISBN:

0520224760

9780520224766

OCLC:

44021167