Recounting the sacred: orality and textuality in a contemporary performance of the Sanskrit classic, the Bhāgavatapurāṇa

Abstract

The Bhāgavatapuṛāna is one of the master-texts of the Sanskritic archive and is the foundational source of narratives relating to the deity Kṛṣṇa. Since it reached its current form about a millennium ago, public ‘performances’ of the text have been sponsored as a means of accumulating religious and social capital. These week-long events are a significant aspect of contemporary religious practice in the Hindu cultural world, but have received little or no scholarly attention. What is the role of the Sanskrit text in the oral performance of the Bhāgavatapuṛāna? How does the Sanskrit text function vis-à-vis the oral vernacular commentary with accompanies it? In this paper it is argued that a spectrum of social and cultural practices—ritual, oral, textual and performative—all contribute towards the validation and empowerment of the discourse.