Parasuramer Krsnamangala – Review

Summary

This review discusses Nalini Nath Das Gupta’s edition of Parasurama’s Bengali mangala-kavya ‘Krsnamangala’. The reviewer notes that Krsna legends evoke strong emotions and are widely popular; medieval Bengal produced many mangala-kavyas celebrating deities, providing insights into religious and social lifefile:///home/oai/share/563033-1-398-185-288.pdf#:~:text=PARASURAMER%20KRSNAMANGALA%3A%20edited%20by%20Sri,Manasi%20are%20essentially%20local%2010. While local ballads about Candi and Manasa were based on folk tales, the Krsna story drew on Puranic sources and had priestly approvalfile:///home/oai/share/563033-1-398-185-288.pdf#:~:text=with%20the%20exploits%20of%20Candi,%E0%AA%A1%E0%AB%89%20Krsna%20and%20written%20by. Authors adapted these sources with regional characteristicsfile:///home/oai/share/563033-1-398-185-288.pdf#:~:text=different%20authors%20living%20at%20different,characteristics%20and%20their%20individual%20inclinations. Parasurama’s Krsnamangala is little known; Das Gupta edited the text using two manuscripts and provided a 192-page introduction that traces the evolution of the Krsna legend from early Upanishadic and Paninian references through Jataka tales to elaborate Puranic accountsfile:///home/oai/share/563033-1-398-185-288.pdf#:~:text=111%E0%AB%AE%20Krsna%20legend%20had%20evolved,%E0%A4%A6%E0%A4%BF%E0%A4%8F%2015%20found%20in%20the. The introduction examines how Krsna evolved from historical figure to incarnate deity and assesses the reliability of Puranic sourcesfile:///home/oai/share/563033-1-398-185-288.pdf#:~:text=incroduction%2C%20covering%20192%20pages%2C%20has,has%20taken%20care%20to%20show. It also evaluates how Bengali authors preserved Bhagavata traditions and appraises Parasurama’s poetic style. The reviewer concludes that the edition will enrich studies of Bengali literature and Vaishnavismfile:///home/oai/share/563033-1-398-185-288.pdf#:~:text=ParaSurama,that%20of%20Vaisnavism%20in%20Bengal.