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http://hdl.handle.net/11375/13870
Title: | Balarāma: Change and Continuity in an Early Hindu Cult |
Authors: | Vemsani, Lavanya |
Advisor: | Granoff, Phyllis E. |
Department: | Religious Studies |
Keywords: | Religious Studies;Religion;Religion |
Publication Date: | Dec-2004 |
Abstract: | <p>This thesis studies the evolution of Balarāma in Vaişņavism through comparative analysis of Balarāma stories from selected Hindu purāņas: the Harivaṃśa (HV), the Vişņu purāņa (Vi.pu), the Brahmā purāņa (Br.pu), and the Bhāgavata purāņa (Bh.pu). Through careful analysis of Balarāma stories from these texts, I argue that Balarāma was a multifaceted deity of considerable importance in early Vaişņavism. I will also argue that the modifications introduced in the earliest stories reveal a process whereby Balarāma's popularity and status declined and he became a minor deity as Kŗșņa grew in importance. In this process his personality is modified from his association with food, abundance, fertility and protection to that of an ordinary warrior.</p> <p>I also demonstrate that the early supremacy and personality of Balarāma is reflected in the depiction of this deity in select Jain texts: the Vasudevahińḍī (VH), the Harivaṃśapurāņa (HVP), the Cauppannamahāpurisacariryaṃ (CMC), and the Triṣaṣṭiśalākāpurușacaritra (TSP). A comparison of Hindu and Jain purāņa stories of Balarāma also reveal that the Jain Balarāma stories are derived from independent sources other than the Hindu purāņas.</p> <p>My research demonstrates that it is through gradual transformation of a deity and modifications in the stories that a deity is gradually assimilated into an evolving major religious system. This process is marked by establishing different relationships and equations that reshape and redefine the existing features associated with a deity rather than complete annihilation. The analysis of Balarāma stories allows us to gain insight into such intermediary processes involved in the long process of evolution of Vaișņavism.</p> <p>A study of the Balarama stories also contributes to current scholarship on the textual history of the Hindu purāņas. In the course of this thesis I analyze the stories divided into a series of plots and compare them across the different texts. I demonstrate that changes to these basic plots indicate the evolution of the story. I therefore propose that the more different a story from the basic story the later it must be while the less the different the story the closer contemporary it must be. I take as the basic story that is the HV, which scholars agree is earlier than any of the purāņas. My working hypothesis is that the further a purāņic story diverges from the HV, the later it is in date. My comparison of the stories indicates that the HV was the source of the Vi.pu, which served as the source for the Br.pu and Bh.pu. A comparison of the latter two texts reveals that the Bh.pu is the latest of the texts while the Br.pu shows a combination of early and late stories. This pattern is consistent with what scholars working on the pural).as have described.</p> |
URI: | http://hdl.handle.net/11375/13870 |
Identifier: | opendissertations/8703 9793 4977417 |
Appears in Collections: | Open Access Dissertations and Theses |
Files in This Item:
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fulltext.pdf | 9.83 MB | Adobe PDF | View/Open |
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