RG ST 3 Lecture Notes - Lecture 6: Avatar, Janaka, Total Annihilation
Bhakti, Continued
Krishna and the Gopis
When passionate love is stressed, bhakti contrasts with ideals of
renunciation detachment, and austerities
○
Like Upanishads, bhakti movements are concerned with moksha,
but employ less extreme austerity (tapas) practices
○
•
Bhagavad Gita
Trend towards conceiving of Absolute in personal terms develops in
Bhagavad Gita (2nd century BCE - 2nd century CE)
○
The Gita ("Song of the Lord") is most widely read scripture in Hindu
tradition
○
Text is read, studies, chanted, consulted, and cited by Hindus of all
backgrounds
○
Gita has an honorary Shruti status
○
Above all, Gita teaches devotion to God as a means to
liberation/moksha
○
Krishna states "Center your mind on me, be devoted to me,
sacrifice to me, revere me, and you shall come to me"
○
•
Bhagavad Gita: Text in Context
The Gita occupies a small part of the huge epic poem, the
Mahabharata
○
The Mahabharata is an encyclopedia of religion, myth, and culture
○
It centers around a great war between two branches of the same
royal family
Branches: Kauravas and Pandavas
§
Royal family: Bharatas
§
○
•
Mahabharata
The leader of the Pandavas loses the kingdom to the Kauravas in a
rigged dice game
○
Pandavas forced to live in exile for 13 years
○
At the end of those 13 years, Kauravas refused to return the
kingdom
○
•
Krishna
Krishna is from another branch of the Bharatas royal family
○
Offers his troops to Kauravas and himself as a charioteer to the
Pandavas
○
He becomes the driver to Pandava hero Arjuna, where he reveals
his true identity as god (unknown prior)
○
•
THE ADVENTURES OF GODS ON EARTH: NARRATIVE AND EPIC TRADITIONS
Narrative Theism
First millennium BCE saw development of important traditions
Brahmanical ritual
§
Ideology of renunciation
§
Adherence to ideologies (duties) of caste and stages of life
(varna, ashrama, dharma)
§
○
Occurred in the context of growth of kingdoms and notions of
sacred kingship
○
Growth in worship of sectarian deities from 500 BCE thru 1000 CE
○
Practice of puja (personal worship) begins to displace Vedic sacrifice
○
Puja is a way of expressing love and devotion to form a particular
deity
It becomes a central practice in Hinduism
§
○
Puja = deity worship
No rituals
§
Offering to Ganesh (elephant god) -- giving gifts, prayers, etc.
§
○
Growth of theism and devotionalism (bhakti) reflected in Sanskrit
narrative traditions in:
Great epics (itihasa) "history"
§
Ancient stories (purana)
§
Devotional poetry in vernacular languages (i.e.
Ramcharitmanas of Tulsidas)
§
○
•
Hindu Narrative Traditions
Hinduism has produced elaborate mythic narratives in which history
and myth are not clearly distinguished
○
Numerous important texts present ideas, stories, normative and
non-normative behavior
○
Historicity is assumed or not an issue
○
What seems to be important in these mythological narratives is:
The actual story being told
§
The "truth" it conveys
§
The communal or traditional values and identity being
communicated
§
The entertainment factor
§
Gives guidelines for how to conduct your everyday life
Resource for making decisions and things like that in an
individual/local community
□
Dictating values and influencing norms of local society□
§
○
•
Epics and Puranas
Epics = stories of heroes (larger than life and mythological)
○
Puranas = stories of gods
○
Ancient stories/Hindu narratives
○
These texts are technically smriti ("remembered" of human
authorship)
○
Referred to as the 5th Veda ("revealed", shruti)
○
Available to all casts, not just the dvija high castes (twice born)
○
Reflect the concerns of politics, brahmans, ordinary people
○
Describe ritual, pilgrimage, mythology
○
Document rise of great theistic traditions of Hinduism: Vishnu,
Shiva, and the Goddess (Devi)
○
•
Mahabharata
Huge epic poem with appeal across centuries and cultures
○
Longest poem in the world with over 100,000 verses
Divided into 18 volumes
§
Many versions exist
§
○
Composed by sage Vyasa ("editor"/visionary seer "rishi") probably
between 1st century BCE to 4th century CE
○
Origins in non-brahman groups
○
Later appropriated by orthodoxy and overlaid with brahmanical
ideology of social duty (dharma)
○
Story of the rivalry between cousins: 5 Pandava brothers and 100
Kauravas
Pandavas are descended from Vedic gods
§
Kauravas descend from demons
Conveyed as the evil bad guys□
Although, they play fair and are more virtuous□
§
Krishna is their distant relation
§
Pandavas are tricked out of their kingdom in a rigged dice
game
§
They go into exile in "the forest" for 13 years
§
○
•
Moral Ambiguity in the Gita
Pandavas win, but there is total annihilation of both sides
○
Pandavas kill their family, mentors, friends through dirty fighting
instructed by Krishna
Krishna says to cheat and fight dirty
§
○
Sense of horror and malaise
○
The Kauravas fought fairly and lost while God urged foul play which
is strange
○
•
Ramayana
Ramayana is the 2nd Indian epic
○
Slightly shorter than Mahabharata, 12 volumes
○
2 main recensions and several vernacular versions
○
Performed in movies, TV, stage theater, and temples
○
Thousands attend annual Ram Lila performed annually in Varanasi
○
Plot
Prince Rama is the son of King Dasharatha, married to Sita the
daughter of Janaka (most beautiful woman in the entire
world)
§
Dasharatha is forced to exile Rama to the forest for 13 years
due to a promise he made to his second wife, Kaikeyi
Promises are held as truth and must not be broken□
She wants her son to become king instead of Rama□
§
Rama is accompanied by Sita and his brother Lakshmana
§
While the brothers are away hunting, Sita is abducted by 10-
headed demon king Ravana
§
Rama is able to rescue Sita with the help of Hanuman and his
monkey army
§
Rama returns with Sita to his city to rule
§
City inhabitants suspect Sita of being unchaste, which is
untrue.. She was pure, faithful, and virtuous
§
Rama exiles Sita to a hermitage because these rumors look
bad
§
Sita gives birth to his twins… Rama invites her back but she
refuses
§
○
Story of a heroic king and his dharma
○
Rama is referred to as an incarnation/avatar of Vishnu
○
Story of the triumph of good over evil, order over chaos, dharma
over adharma
○
Rama and Sita are the ideal dharmic gender roles
○
The term "Ram" became synonym for God in North India
○
•
Puranas
Ancient stories composed 4th 6th century CE
○
Epics about humans who may be gods or avatars (incarnations of
god)
○
Contain essential information for understanding religions of Vishnu,
Shiva, and Goddess (Devi)
○
Suggests rise in popularity of Vishnu and Shiva and document their
assimilation by the brahmanas
○
•
Incarnations/Avatars of Vishnu
Vishnu is a supreme Lord who manifests when dharma is
disappearing
○
These manifestations are his incarnations or descents (avatara)
○
Classic statement of this doctrine is in the Bhagavad-Gita and
Ramayana
○
The standard number of incarnations mentioned in the Puranas is
10
○
•
Lecture 6: Bhakti, Cont… Epics
Wednesday, April 18, 2018
10:48 AM
Bhakti, Continued
Krishna and the Gopis
When passionate love is stressed, bhakti contrasts with ideals of
renunciation detachment, and austerities
○
Like Upanishads, bhakti movements are concerned with moksha,
but employ less extreme austerity (tapas) practices
○
•
Bhagavad Gita
Trend towards conceiving of Absolute in personal terms develops in
Bhagavad Gita (2nd century BCE - 2nd century CE)
○
The Gita ("Song of the Lord") is most widely read scripture in Hindu
tradition
○
Text is read, studies, chanted, consulted, and cited by Hindus of all
backgrounds
○
Gita has an honorary Shruti status
○
Above all, Gita teaches devotion to God as a means to
liberation/moksha
○
Krishna states "Center your mind on me, be devoted to me,
sacrifice to me, revere me, and you shall come to me"
○
•
Bhagavad Gita: Text in Context
The Gita occupies a small part of the huge epic poem, the
Mahabharata
○
The Mahabharata is an encyclopedia of religion, myth, and culture
○
It centers around a great war between two branches of the same
royal family
Branches: Kauravas and Pandavas
§
Royal family: Bharatas
§
○
•
Mahabharata
The leader of the Pandavas loses the kingdom to the Kauravas in a
rigged dice game
○
Pandavas forced to live in exile for 13 years
○
At the end of those 13 years, Kauravas refused to return the
kingdom
○
•
Krishna
Krishna is from another branch of the Bharatas royal family
○
Offers his troops to Kauravas and himself as a charioteer to the
Pandavas
○
He becomes the driver to Pandava hero Arjuna, where he reveals
his true identity as god (unknown prior)
○
•
THE ADVENTURES OF GODS ON EARTH: NARRATIVE AND EPIC TRADITIONS
Narrative Theism
First millennium BCE saw development of important traditions
Brahmanical ritual
§
Ideology of renunciation
§
Adherence to ideologies (duties) of caste and stages of life
(varna, ashrama, dharma)
§
○
Occurred in the context of growth of kingdoms and notions of
sacred kingship
○
Growth in worship of sectarian deities from 500 BCE thru 1000 CE
○
Practice of puja (personal worship) begins to displace Vedic sacrifice
○
Puja is a way of expressing love and devotion to form a particular
deity
It becomes a central practice in Hinduism
§
○
Puja = deity worship
No rituals
§
Offering to Ganesh (elephant god) -- giving gifts, prayers, etc.
§
○
Growth of theism and devotionalism (bhakti) reflected in Sanskrit
narrative traditions in:
Great epics (itihasa) "history"
§
Ancient stories (purana)
§
Devotional poetry in vernacular languages (i.e.
Ramcharitmanas of Tulsidas)
§
○
•
Hindu Narrative Traditions
Hinduism has produced elaborate mythic narratives in which history
and myth are not clearly distinguished
○
Numerous important texts present ideas, stories, normative and
non-normative behavior
○
Historicity is assumed or not an issue
○
What seems to be important in these mythological narratives is:
The actual story being told
§
The "truth" it conveys
§
The communal or traditional values and identity being
communicated
§
The entertainment factor
§
Gives guidelines for how to conduct your everyday life
Resource for making decisions and things like that in an
individual/local community
□
Dictating values and influencing norms of local society□
§
○
•
Epics and Puranas
Epics = stories of heroes (larger than life and mythological)
○
Puranas = stories of gods
○
Ancient stories/Hindu narratives
○
These texts are technically smriti ("remembered" of human
authorship)
○
Referred to as the 5th Veda ("revealed", shruti)
○
Available to all casts, not just the dvija high castes (twice born)
○
Reflect the concerns of politics, brahmans, ordinary people
○
Describe ritual, pilgrimage, mythology
○
Document rise of great theistic traditions of Hinduism: Vishnu,
Shiva, and the Goddess (Devi)
○
•
Mahabharata
Huge epic poem with appeal across centuries and cultures
○
Longest poem in the world with over 100,000 verses
Divided into 18 volumes
§
Many versions exist
§
○
Composed by sage Vyasa ("editor"/visionary seer "rishi") probably
between 1st century BCE to 4th century CE
○
Origins in non-brahman groups
○
Later appropriated by orthodoxy and overlaid with brahmanical
ideology of social duty (dharma)
○
Story of the rivalry between cousins: 5 Pandava brothers and 100
Kauravas
Pandavas are descended from Vedic gods
§
Kauravas descend from demons
Conveyed as the evil bad guys□
Although, they play fair and are more virtuous□
§
Krishna is their distant relation
§
Pandavas are tricked out of their kingdom in a rigged dice
game
§
They go into exile in "the forest" for 13 years
§
○
•
Moral Ambiguity in the Gita
Pandavas win, but there is total annihilation of both sides
○
Pandavas kill their family, mentors, friends through dirty fighting
instructed by Krishna
Krishna says to cheat and fight dirty
§
○
Sense of horror and malaise
○
The Kauravas fought fairly and lost while God urged foul play which
is strange
○
•
Ramayana
Ramayana is the 2nd Indian epic
○
Slightly shorter than Mahabharata, 12 volumes
○
2 main recensions and several vernacular versions
○
Performed in movies, TV, stage theater, and temples
○
Thousands attend annual Ram Lila performed annually in Varanasi
○
Plot
Prince Rama is the son of King Dasharatha, married to Sita the
daughter of Janaka (most beautiful woman in the entire
world)
§
Dasharatha is forced to exile Rama to the forest for 13 years
due to a promise he made to his second wife, Kaikeyi
Promises are held as truth and must not be broken□
She wants her son to become king instead of Rama□
§
Rama is accompanied by Sita and his brother Lakshmana
§
While the brothers are away hunting, Sita is abducted by 10-
headed demon king Ravana
§
Rama is able to rescue Sita with the help of Hanuman and his
monkey army
§
Rama returns with Sita to his city to rule
§
City inhabitants suspect Sita of being unchaste, which is
untrue.. She was pure, faithful, and virtuous
§
Rama exiles Sita to a hermitage because these rumors look
bad
§
Sita gives birth to his twins… Rama invites her back but she
refuses
§
○
Story of a heroic king and his dharma
○
Rama is referred to as an incarnation/avatar of Vishnu
○
Story of the triumph of good over evil, order over chaos, dharma
over adharma
○
Rama and Sita are the ideal dharmic gender roles
○
The term "Ram" became synonym for God in North India
○
•
Puranas
Ancient stories composed 4th 6th century CE
○
Epics about humans who may be gods or avatars (incarnations of
god)
○
Contain essential information for understanding religions of Vishnu,
Shiva, and Goddess (Devi)
○
Suggests rise in popularity of Vishnu and Shiva and document their
assimilation by the brahmanas
○
•
Incarnations/Avatars of Vishnu
Vishnu is a supreme Lord who manifests when dharma is
disappearing
○
These manifestations are his incarnations or descents (avatara)
○
Classic statement of this doctrine is in the Bhagavad-Gita and
Ramayana
○
The standard number of incarnations mentioned in the Puranas is
10
○
•
Lecture 6: Bhakti, Cont… Epics
Wednesday, April 18, 2018 10:48 AM
