(iv) The _Purana_ Re-considered


Such an account gives us what the _Mahabharata_ epic did not give--a
detailed description of Krishna's career. It confirms the epic's view of
Krishna as a hero and fills in many gaps concerning his life at Dwarka,
his relations with the Pandavas, his life as a feudal prince and finally,
his death. It makes clear that throughout the story Krishna is an
incarnation of Vishnu and that his main reason for being born is to aid
the good and kill demons. At the same time, it shows him in two important
new lights--firstly, as one whose youth was spent among cowherds, in
circumstances altogether different from those of a prince and secondly, as
a delightful lover of women, who explores to the full the joys of sexual
love. The second role characterizes him both as cowherd and prince but
with important differences of attitude and behaviour. As a prince, Krishna
is wedded first to Rukmini and then to seven other wives, observing on
each occasion the requisite formalities. Even the sixteen thousand one
hundred girls whom he rescues from imprisonment receive this formal
status. With all of them Krishna enjoys a variety of sexual pleasures and
their love is moral, respectable and approved. Krishna the prince, in
fact, is Krishna the husband. Krishna the cowherd, on the other hand, is
essentially a lover. The cowgirls whose impassioned love he inspires are
all married and in consorting with them he is breaking one of the most
solemn requirements of the moral code. The first relationship has the
secure basis of conjugal duty, the second the daring adventurousness of
romantic passion.

The same abrupt contrast appears between his character as a cowherd and
his character as a prince. As a youth he mixes freely with the cowherds,