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The aesthetic aspects of the Bha\gavata-Pura\n≥a strongly resonate with A|nandavardhana’s discussion of Va\lmêki’s “first poetic verse” in the Ra\ma\yan≥a. In both instances sorrow (s;oka) is transformed into verse (s;loka), and poetic utterance is motivated by loss. More often than not in the Pura\n≥a, such loss is irrevocable, even when literal death is not involved. Accounts where apparent loss leads to literal reunion, as in death and revival scenarios (the Lazarus phenomenon), are quite common in Epic and Pura\n≥ic traditions and do occur a number of times in the Bha\gavata. At other times, situations of loss will precipitate the “higher vision,” characterized as alaukika (other-worldly, i.e., deathless ). The Bha\gavata is more intriguing than the Epic in the unconventionality of its hero and his loves and losses, but in this area too, even the childhood pranks of Kr≥s≥n≥a will be framed and invariably touched by death. The Pura\n≥a begins and ends with death, constantly casting a shadow of separation and loss over its narrative form. As mentioned, death, in the Pura\n≥a, does not walk alone, but operates in conjunction with its principal allies: time (ka\la), destiny (daiva), and sexuality (ka\ma).1 The important connection between images of death and sexuality reveal a perspective which is less a pitting of eros against thanatos than a progression of eros leading to thanatos, as well as to rebirth and bondage in the realms of desire. Indeed, there are principles opposed to desire (ka\ma) that operate in the text, manifesting themselves as the adherence to social standards of behavior (dharma), as asceticism leading to liberation (mukti), and ultimately as preman, other-worldly love. Before we can take up these matters, however, the many aspects of death in this work need to be considered. As we do so, let us keep in mind that Epic and Pura\n≥ic narratives continue to inhabit the Hindu imagination in a deep and powerful way. 51 4 THE DOMINION OF DEATH In his psychoanalytic exploration of contemporary Hindu social life, Sudhir Kakar emphasizes the psychological importance of the theme of fusion and separation, seeing its power in the “intimate relation to the human fear of death.”2 Thus, in going through the Bha\gavata-Pura\n≥a and its many-layered images of loss and dying, we may be unearthing a part of the foundation upon which contemporary Hindu feelings, perceptions , and behaviors are still based. Moreover, as stated before, I would not underestimate the power of the Pura\n≥a to speak beyond its borders of origin. One characteristic of Bha\gavatism, in general, has been its ability to change form and locale; it has shifted between south and north India, between advaita and dvaita, and between India, Europe, and America. Perhaps this is one of the major distinguishing features of the Pura\n≥a whose approach to loss, death, and dissolution from many angles, highlights the encounter of the individual person (embodied by Parêks≥it) with her/his apparent destiny of annihilation. The awareness of imminent death, its shocking and powerful quality , and the denial of death as a sort of madness, are all very powerfully present in the Maha\bha\rata, as in the passage, discussed earlier, describing Yudhis≥èhira’s interview with Dharma. The Bha\gavata picks up this Epic thread through S:uka’s opening monologue, in which he declares that Parêks≥it’s question about death is glorious, and that householders who listen to thousands of subjects and somehow forget this most important one are “mad.”3 S:uka goes on to say the following: Madly enamored by one’s body, wife, children, and others, though they are unreal soldiers of the self—even though one has seen their destruction—one still does not see.4 (BhP. II.1.4) As in the Epic, the denial or refusal of death becomes impossible, for it constantly intrudes into the lives of the Pura\n≥a’s major characters. Such intrusions often carry an element of fear along with the disruption of quotidian life, contributing to the text’s polemic of renunciation. The Bha\gavata’s concerns, however, may be more far-reaching than simply to establish an argument for renouncing the world. The king (Parêks≥it) is about to die. As an archetypal embodiment of the center of the cosmoskingdom...

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