The Archaeology of Bhakti I: Mathura and Maturai, Back and Forth.

• Author: Selby, Martha Ann
• Position: Book review

The Archaeology of Bhakti I: Mathura and Maturai, Back and Forth. Edited by EMMANUEL FRANCIS and CHARLOTTE SCHMID. Pondichery: ECOLE FRANCAISE D'EXTREME-ORIENT and INSTITUT FRANCAIS DE PONDICHERY, 2014. Pp. xiv + 366.

Based on a 2011 workshop convened by Valerie Gillet at the Ecole Francaise d'Extreme-Orient, this valuable collection of articles follows "early Bhakti threads that have linked North to South India, to and fro, in a continuous movement of exchange" (p. 17). This volume explores these threads through the consideration of various pairs--Krsna and Murukan, for instance--and doubles, as in the cities of Mathura and Maturai. In their introduction, editors Emmanuel Francis and Charlotte Schmid compare Krsna and Murukan, "the handsome young gods" who "bring joy to the women who are drawn to them" (pp. 1-2), and discuss them in light of their cities. As they state, "Maturai, where both Krsna and Skanda/Murukan were worshipped from an early period, illustrates by its name--a Tamil adaptation of Mathura, the home of Krsna in North India--the exchanges between the north and the south of the Indian subcontinent" (p. 2). Francis and Schmid also introduce us to the ranges and varieties of Bhakti, from dry "intellection" to intense love for a deity sublimated in ardent devotion. In order to get at the heart of the problems that arise in juxtaposing deities, cities, places of pilgrimage, and devotional styles and strategies, the editors posit archaeology as the problem-solver, urging us to be "attentive to material testimonies of the past." They state that "to practice the archeology of Bhakti is to study it through texts ... and through artefacts. In this approach, the focus is on sources, agencies, and layers" (p. 13).

In the lead essay, "Dharma, Yoga, and Viraha-Bhakti in Buddhacarita and Krsnacarita," Tracy Coleman begins with sets of questions centering on Krsna's relationships with women in the Harivamsa and the Bhagavatapurana: "Why ... does the author of the Bhagavatapurana situate Krsna's amorous liaisons with women within a carefully crafted context of dharma, yoga, and bhakti," while the Harivamsa does not? (p. 31). The latter is about desire and pleasure in its portrayal of a youthful Krsna's frolics in moonlit forests with nubile gopis. Coleman's answer is the figure of the Buddha. She claims that the author of the Bhagavatapurana "had the figure of the Buddha and the buddhadharma centrally in mind when he composed his ancient tale, and that Asvaghosa's kavya may have provided a model for the Bhagavata" (p. 32). Coleman examines the dramatic change in Krsna's character from his appearances in the Mahabharata and the Harivamsa to the very different Krsna of the Bhagavatapurana, "which emphasizes Krsna's yogic power and his transcendence of passions ... even amidst his affairs with women. This portrayal of Krsna as a specifically brahmanical yogi...was also modeled on Buddhist narratives and demonstrates the increasing prestige associated with yogic knowledge and attainments," leading Coleman to argue that the Krsna of this text is congruous with--and even based upon--Asvaghosa's Buddha (p. 33). I cannot agree with many of Coleman's claims--for instance, that "bhakti...is central to both Buddhist and brahmanical narratives" (p. 33), but her main argument based on literary...