Celibate Seducer: Vedānta Deśika’s Domestication of Kṛṣṇa’s Sexuality in the Yādavābhyudaya

Vedānta Deśika produced his monumental poetic biography of Kṛṣṇa in a time when Kṛṣṇa-centered devotionalism was expanding to become perhaps the dominant mode of bhakti across South Asia. Central to this phenomenon is the growing popularity of the Bhāgavatapurāṇa , and especially of its exploration...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:International journal of Hindu studies 2023-08, Vol.27 (2), p.213-235
Main Authors: Bronner, Yigal, McCrea, Lawrence J.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Asian History
Biographies
Celibacy
Eroticism
Hinduism
Non-Western Philosophy
Philosophy of Religion
Plot (Narrative)
Poetics
Religion and Philosophy
Religious Studies
Sexuality
Theology
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Summary:Vedānta Deśika produced his monumental poetic biography of Kṛṣṇa in a time when Kṛṣṇa-centered devotionalism was expanding to become perhaps the dominant mode of bhakti across South Asia. Central to this phenomenon is the growing popularity of the Bhāgavatapurāṇa , and especially of its exploration of Kṛṣṇa’s erotic play with the gopī s in his youth. Troubled by the unrestrained and seemingly adharmic sexuality of Kṛṣṇa, Deśika used the literary techniques and narrative paradigms of the mahākāvya to assimilate but also domesticate this increasingly important Bhāgavata episode: Kṛṣṇa’s eroticism remains central but confined within more conventional marital norms and is thus made dharmically and theologically acceptable. Once he has resolved these dharmic problems, however, Deśika is happy to explore the soteriological, devotional, and paradoxical dimensions of erotic love with Kṛṣṇa.
ISSN:1022-4556
1574-9282
DOI:10.1007/s11407-022-09327-w