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<p>This article studies the characterization of Kṛṣṇa in a fifteenth-century Odia <i>Mahābhārata</i> by focusing on two cardinal episodes from the epic. The two episodes in question include the infamous disrobing of Draupadī in the assembly hall and Kṛṣṇa’s theophany in the Kuru court prior to the war. In the Odia text, both these episodes meet a significantly different conclusion when compared to their Sanskrit counterpart. While in the Sanskrit <i>Mahābhārata</i>, the episodes emerge as opportunities to establish the divinity of Kṛṣṇa, the Odia retellings find a way to destabilize—if not overwrite—his agency. Kṛṣṇa does not directly save Draupadī from her humiliation and routes his duty to another deity, while his theophany malfunctions into a humorous conclusion in the Kuru court. Kṛṣṇa, of course, the text accepts, is a divine figure in every supreme sense of the term. Yet his divinity finds hurdles, and his designs falter, more often than not. The <i>Mahābhārata</i> in question was composed by Sāralādāsa, who self-identified as a Śūdra saint and lived in Odisha in the fifteenth century. I argue that in a largely Vaiṣṇava political landscape of early modern Odisha, the Odia epic’s complicated characterization of Kṛṣṇa sheds light into a hitherto unexplored aspect of the religious history of the region. Finally, the article aims to enhance our understanding of the regional retellings of the <i>Mahābhārata</i> in general and the Odia rendition in particular, on which there remains a paucity of scholarly literature.</p>

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Struggling with Kṛṣṇa: Alternative Imaginations in an Odia Mahābhārata

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  • 发表日期：

    2025年8月20日

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  • Ujaan Ghosh

摘要

This article studies the characterization of Kṛṣṇa in a fifteenth-century Odia Mahābhārata by focusing on two cardinal episodes from the epic. The two episodes in question include the infamous disrobing of Draupadī in the assembly hall and Kṛṣṇa’s theophany in the Kuru court prior to the war. In the Odia text, both these episodes meet a significantly different conclusion when compared to their Sanskrit counterpart. While in the Sanskrit Mahābhārata, the episodes emerge as opportunities to establish the divinity of Kṛṣṇa, the Odia retellings find a way to destabilize—if not overwrite—his agency. Kṛṣṇa does not directly save Draupadī from her humiliation and routes his duty to another deity, while his theophany malfunctions into a humorous conclusion in the Kuru court. Kṛṣṇa, of course, the text accepts, is a divine figure in every supreme sense of the term. Yet his divinity finds hurdles, and his designs falter, more often than not. The Mahābhārata in question was composed by Sāralādāsa, who self-identified as a Śūdra saint and lived in Odisha in the fifteenth century. I argue that in a largely Vaiṣṇava political landscape of early modern Odisha, the Odia epic’s complicated characterization of Kṛṣṇa sheds light into a hitherto unexplored aspect of the religious history of the region. Finally, the article aims to enhance our understanding of the regional retellings of the Mahābhārata in general and the Odia rendition in particular, on which there remains a paucity of scholarly literature.