Three upcoming events will spread the word of a new book by Kalamazoo College Assistant Professor of Religion and Director of Film and Media Studies Sohini Pillai titled Krishna’s Mahabharatas: Devotional Retellings of an Epic Narrative (the American Academy of Religion’s Religion in Translation Series at Oxford University Press, March 22, 2024).
The ancient Sanskrit Mahabharata is recognized as the longest poem ever composed and tells the tale of the five Pandava princes and the cataclysmic battle they wage with their 100 cousins, the Kauravas. The story is among the most widely-told narratives in South Asia, and many Mahabharatas were created in Assamese, Bengali, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Konkani, Malayalam, Marathi, Oriya, Tamil and Telugu, as well as other regional South Asian languages.
Pillai’s book is a comprehensive study of premodern regional Mahabharata retellings, which argues that devotees of the Hindu god Vishnu and his various forms throughout South Asia turned the epic about an apocalyptic, bloody war into works of devotion focused on the Hindu deity Krishna. Krishna’s Mahabharatas examines more than 40 retellings in 11 regional South Asian languages composed over a period of 900 years while focusing on two of them: Villiputturar’s 15th-century Tamil Paratam and Sabalsingh Chauhan’s 17th-century Bhasha (Old Hindi) Mahabharat.
Hear from Pillai on her book through:
- An in-person book celebration organized by K’s Department of Religion at 4 p.m. Wednesday, April 10, in the College’s Olmsted Room at Mandelle Hall.
- An online event through the Beneath the Canopy lecture and discussion series with Barkha Patel and Shachi Phene at 7 p.m. Eastern on Thursday, April 11. Aangan: South Asian Center for Art and Thought is organizing the event. Tickets are $15 and will soon be available at this link.
- A virtual book launch at 6 p.m. Eastern on Thursday, April 18, organized by University of Florida Distinguished Professor Vasudha Narayanan with Trinity University Assistant Professor of Religion Gregory Clines, University of Toronto Religion Professor Srilata Raman, and University of Chicago Associate Professor Tyler Williams. The event will be hosted by the Center for the Study of Hindu Traditions at the University of Florida. Participate in this free event through Zoom.
“I’m very excited about the publication of Krishna’s Mahabharatas,” Pillai said. “I started the research for this book as a first-year Ph.D. student at UC Berkeley in 2015, so I have been working on this project for nine years! The final avatara or ‘incarnation’ of this book came into being when I started teaching at Kalamazoo College. I am thankful for my supportive colleagues at K and for the many curious and enthusiastic K students I have had in my courses, and I hope that I have written a book that they will enjoy reading.”