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The Bha\gavata-Pura\n≥a, like the Maha\bha\rata, features narratives followed by their own metanarratives, forming successive layers constellated around a major theme. Within these laminated-like structures one finds the unifying motif of bhakti appearing through various characters in modes of both union and separation. This particular devotional element distinguishes the Pura\n≥a from its precursor, the great Epic, in which dharma, the “over-arching” sacred law, predominates thematically , (although Bha\gavata themes are present and are more than hinted at in the Epic).1 Both texts, interestingly enough, bring one face-to-face with a holocaust situation. The Maha\bha\rata actually chronicles the decimation of a race while the Bha\gavata extends the chronicle as it narrows the focus to the annihilation of an individual representative of that race (Parêks≥it). The Bha\gavata-Pura\n≥a preserves much of the Epic’s narrative form. Like the Maha\bha\rata, it is said to be the creation of Kr≥s≥n≥a Dvaipa\yana Vya\sa, although it does not share the Epic’s narrators. The principal narrators and interlocutors in the Bha\gavata are Vya\sa’s son, S:uka, and Arjuna’s grandson, Parêks≥it. In this way, as J. L. Mehta noted, the Pura\n≥a literally presents itself as an offspring of the Epic and as a culmination of the creative process of Vya\sa.2 Moreover, by casting its narrative in the mode of genealogical succession, the Bha\gavata awards itself legitimacy. However, in seeing itself as an improvement on “the ripened fruit of the Vedic tree,” the Pura\n≥a is not merely echoing the past in order to derive its authority. On the contrary, it reveals its own polemical purpose explicitly: that if dharma does not lead to rati (pleasure ) in hari katha\ (discourse on God), it is mere toil.3 Along with its concentration on Kr≥s≥n≥a and on the profound pleasure of bhakti, the Bha\gavata, more than the Epic, looks toward the future. 41 3 NARRATIVES OF ABSENCE With its strong awareness of the rupture caused by the Bha\rata war, of the disappearance of the avata\ra and his dynasty, and of the end of the age that these events portend, the Bha\gavata offers itself as a means to negotiate a new and more difficult era. In this way, too, the narrative grapples with death, not only an individual’s death, but the death of an epoch After the opening “ga\yatrê” verse followed by two other stotra verses, the text begins, in conventional Epic/Pura\n≥ic fashion, by speaking of (just who actually narrates is not exactly clear) a gathering of r≥s≥is at Naimis≥a forest who question Su\ta, their preceptor, through the voice of S:aunaka, the leader of the assembled sages.4 The position of the su\ta in the Bha\gavata is a bit ambiguous. He is certainly not an ordinary bard, being anagha, “faultless” or “sinless.” While he does not recite directly from the Veda, (as a su\ta should not) he has learned all that Ba\dara\yan≥a (Vya\sa) knows, Vya\sa being veda-vida\mæ s;res≥èhah≥, “the best among those who know the Veda.”5 Therefore, he can expound upon the katha\ of S:u\ka’s. This is yet another way in which the Pura\n≥ic narration continues to associate itself with the Veda. I mention the su\ta here not only because of his pivotal position in the text’s narrative scheme, but also because his position is an acknowledgement by the text of the importance of its oral transmission. As Mehta points out in reference to the Epic, the narratives are always “told to someone by someone face-to-face, somewhere, at some point of time,”6 and to this day, su\tas (now either bhaèèas or bra\hman≥as) continue to recount “Pura\n≥a” in formal as well as improvisational settings throughout India.7 The r≥s≥is gathered in the forest then ask Su\ta to speak on the ultimate good of humankind.8 Instead of a direct reply from the bard, however, Vya\sa, the reputed “author” of the Pura\n≥a, narrates Su\ta’s reply, embedding Su\ta’s narrative within his own. Su\ta discourses on ultimate good (s;reyas), on devotion to Bhagava\n, and on the benefits of...

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