Tales for the Dying

E. H. Rick Jarow

Description

Tales for the Dying explores the centrality of death and dying in the narrative of the Bhagavata-Purana, India's great text of devotional theism, canonized as an integral part of the Vaisnava bhakti tradition. The text grapples with death through an imaginative meditation, one that works through the presence and power of narrative. The story of the Bhagavata-Purana is spoken to a king who is about to die, and it enables him to come to terms with his own passing. The work does not isolate dying as an issue; it treats it on many levels.

This book discusses how images of dying in the Bhagavata-Purana relate to issues of language and love in the religious imagination of India. Drawing on insights from studies in myth, literary semiotics, and depth psychology, as well as from Indian commentarial and aesthetic traditions, the author examines the power of myth and narrative (storytelling or hari katha) and shows how a detailed awareness of the Puranic imagination may lead to a revisioning of some long-held presuppositions around Indian religious attitudes toward dying. By casting Vaisnava bhakti traditions and Puranic narrative in a fresh light, the mythic imagination of the Puranas takes its place on the stage of contemporary discourse on comparative mythology and literature.

Acknowledgments

A Note on Translation and Transliteration

List of Abbreviations

Introduction: Many Ways of Dying

1. Examinations of the Past

2. The Semiotics of Separation

3. Narratives of Absence

4. The Dominion of Death

5. Stri Naraka Dvara—Woman as the Gateway to Hell

6. The Rasa Dance and the Gateway to Heaven

7. Final Partings

Notes

Bibliography

Index

Sujets

• East Asian religions
• Hinduism
• India

Informations

• Publié par: State University of New York Press
• Date de parution: 01 février 2012
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9780791487457
• Langue: English

Extrait

T A L E S F O R T H E D Y I N G

SUNY series in Hindu Studies

Wendy Doniger, editor

T A L E S F O R T H E D Y I N G

The Death Narrative of the Bha \ gavataPura \ n≥a

E. H. R ICK J AROW

S T A T E U N I V E R S I T Y O F N E W Y O R K P R E S S

Published by S TATE U NIVERSITY OF N EW Y ORK P RESS A LBANY

© 2003 State University of New York

All rights reserved

Printed in the United States of America

No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission. No part of this book may be stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means including electronic, electrostatic, magnetic tape, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise without the prior permission in writing of the publisher.

For information, address State University of New York Press 90 State Street, Suite 700, Albany, NY 12207

Production by Kelli Williams Marketing by Anne M. Valentine

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Jarow, Rick. Tales for the dying : the death narrative of the Bhagavata-Purana / E.H. Rick Jarow. p. cm. — (SUNY series in Hindu studies) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0-7914-5609-9 (alk.) — ISBN 0-7914-5610-2 (alk. paper) 1. Puranas. Bha\gavatapura\ña—Criticism, interpretation, etc. 2. Death—Religious aspects—Hinduism. I. Title. II. Series.

BL1140.4.B437 J37 2003 294.5'92—dc21

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2002191120

This book is dedicated to the late Barbara Stoler Miller: master-scholar, educator, critic, and colleague. The grace she exhibited during her long battle with cancer was awe-inspiring. Indeed, she exemplified what it may mean to be taught by the wisdom one has read and written.

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A Note on Translation and Transliteration

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The Semiotics of Separation

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Final Partings

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StrêNaraka Dva\ra—Woman as the Gateway to Hell

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Narratives of Absence

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The Dominion of Death

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Introduction: Many Ways of Dying

List of Abbreviations

Examinations of the Past

Bibliography

Index

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Notes

The Ra\sa Dance and the Gateway to Heaven

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There are many faces and places that arise in association with gratitude for the growth and development of this volume: Harvard Square, where I had my first darshan of Krishna and of Vaishnava dharma from A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami; Vrindaban, where Anna McDowel and Asim Krishna Das were my first guides, where Shrivatsa Goswami engaged in endless discussions with me on Jêva Gosva\mê’s “oneness in difference,” and where Shripad Baba offered council when I felt this work was impossible to complete; Morningside Heights, where I was nurtured by the Department of Asian and Middle East Languages and Cultures at Columbia University, where Barbara Stoler Miller proposed that I work on “the theme of separation,” and where Wendy Doniger urged me to complete my work on theBha\gavata-Pura\n≥a;Vassar College, where I have received support, encouragement, and friendship from my col- leagues in the religion department, and where Deborah Dash Moore encouraged me to focus this work on “death.” Many friends and colleagues have read over this manuscript and have moved me to refine my thinking and expression. I particularly want to thank Steve Rosen and theJournal of Vais≥n≥ava Studies,Paul Sherbow, David Crismond, Cora Zoller, Nadine Berardi, and Griff Foxley in this regard. I also want to acknowledge the work of Celine Sigmen and Griff Foxley in the preparation of this manuscript and to thank Nancy Elegate and State University of New York Press for their patience and support.

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