Bhakti and embodiment: fashioning divine bodies and devotional bodies in Kṛṣṇa Bhakti

Description

"With the emergence of bhakti (devotion) movements in the post-Vedic period, the body was re-figured to accord with the epistemological framework of the discourse of devotion. This historical shift from Vedic to bhakti traditions is characterised by various transformations which can best be understood in terms of these newly emerging discourses of the body in bhakti traditions. Bhakti and Embodiment: Fashioning Divine Bodies and Devotional Bodies in Kṛṣṇa Bhakti explores the connections between bhakti and embodiment and is concerned with constructions of divine bodies and devotional bodies in Kṛṣṇa bhakti traditions in particular. It discusses the historical shift to post-Vedic bhakti traditions and the accompanying transformations. These reflections are grounded in an analysis of two case studies: the Bhāgavata Purāṇa, one of the most important scriptures in the Vaiṣṇava bhakti canon, and the Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇava tradition, an important bhakti movement inspired by the sixteenth-century Bengali leader Caitanya. Holdrege argues that an exploration of the connections between bhakti and embodiment is critical to understanding the myriad forms that bhakti has historically assumed up to the present time. Making a significant contribution to several fields, this book is relevant to scholarship on the body in the History of Religions and in the Humanities generally. It will also be of interest to those working in the field of Asian Religions, Hindu Studies, and more specifically Bhakti Studies, Purāṇic Studies and Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇava Studies" ...;"This book explores the connections between bhakti and embodiment and is concerned more specifically with constructions of divine bodies and devotional bodies in Krishna bhakti traditions. Grounding general reflections on bhakti and embodiment in an analysis of two case studies: the Bhagavata Purana, one of the most important scriptures in the Vaisnava bhakti canon, and the Gaudiya Vaisnava tradition, an important bhakti movement inspired by the Bengali leader Caitanya in the sixteenth century that invokes the canonical authority of the Bhagavata Purana as the basis for its own distinctive teachings" ... Preface. Introduction 1. Bhakti and Divine Embodiment: Fashioning Divine Bodies 2. The Embodied Aesthetics of Bhakti: Fashioning Devotional Bodies 3. Bhagavata Purana as Text-Avatara: From Purana-Veda to Krishna-Veda to Embodiment of Bhagavan 4. Naman as Sound-Avatara: From Transcendent Vibration to Reverberating Name 5. Vraja-Dhaman as Place-Avatara: From Mythic Space to Pilgrimage Place to Transcendent Space 6: Meditation as Devotional Practice: Experiencing Krishna in His Transcendent Dhaman. Conclusion.