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- Title
Kāma, Preman, and Bhakti in Śrīdhara's Commentary on Kṛṣṇa and the Gopīs in the Bhāgavata Purāṇa.
- Authors
Coleman, Tracy
- Abstract
Although the Bhāgavata Purāṇa presents an innovative soteriology of emotion that explicitly identifies kāma as the gopīs' path to union with Kṛṣṇa, a close reading of his commentary on the rāsalīlā (and other passages treating the gopīs) reveals how Śrīdhara introduces preman into the narrative, sharply distinguishing kāma and preman. Śrīdhara also states that Bhāgavata 10.29–33 portrays Kṛṣṇa's "victory over kāma" and that devotees who hear and recite the rāsalīlā likewise attain victory over kāma as the reward for their Kṛṣṇa-bhakti. This article shows that such claims disregard the Bhāgavata's unambiguous statements about the gopīs' kāma, and thus deny the Purāṇa's subversive soteriology that legitimates various emotional modes of bhakti in order to enable everyone, including women, to experience an intimate and unmediated relationship with Kṛṣṇa.
- Subjects
PURANAS. Bhagavatapurana; SALVATION; DEVOTION; KRISHNA (Hindu deity); RASALILA; BRAHMANS
- Publication
International Journal of Hindu Studies, 2020, Vol 24, Issue 3, p283
- ISSN
1022-4556
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1007/s11407-020-09280-6