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Introduction: Many Ways of Dying 1. MBh. II.311 (Southern Recension). 2. Sigmund Freud, “Our Attitude towards Death,” in Thoughts for the Times on War and Death and in Civilization, Society, and Religion, vol. 12 (1915; reprint, The Pelican Freud Library; Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1985). 3. I cite Wendy Doniger’s introduction to The Laws of Manu: “For it is the privilege of the Orientalist (and I use the word in a non-pejorative sense, in the hope of restoring some of its faded dignity) to reopen a text that the native commentators have closed. The Laws of Manu (New York: Penguin Books, 1991). 4. svamate tu acintyabheda\bhedam eva acintyas;aktimayatva\d iti // Jêva Gosva\mê, in Radhagobinda Natha, Gaud≥êya Vais≥n≥ava Dars;ana (Calcutta: Pracyavani Mandir, 1957), 1:139. 5. There are instances in the Bha\gavata-Pura\n≥a where human beings are brought back from the dead, but they are often given an ironic twist (see chapter 4 of this volume). 6. See Friedhelm Hardy, Viraha-Bhakti (Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1983); and Ludo Rocher, The Pura\n≥as (Weisbaden: Otto Harrassowitz, 1986), for a discussion of the dating of the Bha\gavata. Based on the Pura\n≥a‘s appropriation of the poetry of the Alva\rs, Hardy dates the Pura\n≥a from the ninth to tenth century. E. W. Hopkins dates the text between 850–900 C.E. M. A. Winternitz , A History of Indian Literature, vol. 1:2 (Calcutta: Calcutta University, 1971). He declares that it “bears the stamp of a unified composition,” while Surendranath Dasgupta, A History of Indian Philosophy (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1949) calls it “a collection of accretions from different trends at different times and not a systematic whole.” Let me mention, once again here, that extrinsic authorship and dating, as fascinating and problematic as they may be, are not the concern of this volume. 141 NOTES 7. Along with its other polarity—Hebraic evolving into Judaeo Christian. See James Hillman, Revisioning Psychology (New York: Harper and Row, 1975). 8. Bhagavadgêta\ VIII.5, anta-ka\le ca ma\m eva smaran muktva\ kalevaram yah≥ praya\ti sa mad-bha\vam ya\ti na\styatra samæs;ayah≥ 9. Note the difference in this focus from that of the Gêta\, in which the narrative grows out of an encounter with the possibility of warfare, and more specifically, with the seemingly senseless death of others. 10. A. S. Biswas, Bha\gavata-Pura\n≥a (Dibrugarh: Vishveshvaranand Book Agency, 1968; Friedhelm Hardy, Viraha-Bhakti (Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1983); R. C. Hazra, Studies in the Puranic Records on Hindu Rites and Customs (Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 1974); Ludo Rocher, The Pura\n≥as (Weisbaden: Otto Harrassowitz, 1986); S. Bhattacharya, The Philosophy of the S:rêmad Bha\gavatam (Santiniketan: Visva Bharati, 1960). 11. I credit James Hillman with exposing me to this idea. See Hillman, Revisioning Psychology, 1975. 12. See Philip Lutgendorf, “Ra\ma\yan: The Video,” in Drama Review 34, no. 2 (Summer, 1990). 13. A. K. Ramanujan, interview by author, New York, NY, 1989, Personal Communication, 1992. The religious-devotional cult aspect is, of course, absent in Ulysses, though some may want to argue this point. 14. BhP. I.19.37. 15. BhP. I.3.46, kr≥s≥n≥e svadha\mopagate dharma-jña\na\dibhih≥ saha kalau nas≥èa-dr≥s;a\m es≥a pura\n≥a\rko’ dhunoditah≥ See BhP. XII.2.1 for a discussion on the length of life declining due to the strong force of the Kaliyuga. “Indeed,” says the text, “the life-span will gradually be reduced to twenty to thirty years.” 16. Hazra, The Pura\n≥as, 246–247. Hazra continues with “sacraments, customs , pacification of unfavorable planets, dedication of wells, tanks, gardens of worship, and so forth. 17. There are a number of possible working definitions of myth that I would accept here, although I suspect that definition could too easily demythologize myth. As Wendy Doniger notes in Other Peoples’ Myths (New York and London: Macmillan, 1988), “the desecration of the word ‘myth’ to mean ‘lie’ began with Plato.” Doniger speaks of myth as “a story that is sacred to and shared by a group of people who find their most important meanings in it . . .” Antonio De Nicolas speaks of myth as “an explanatory mode.” Antonio De Nicolas, Four Dimensional Man (Stony Brook, NY: N. Hays, 1976); Sudhir Ka142 NOTES TO INTRODUCTION [3.14.141.228...

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