(Krishna Killing the Crane-Demon, Bakasura (Kalighat album, circa 1880)
San Diego Museum of Art at Flickr)
I was drawn to this picture because one of the few things I know about Indian culture/religion is Krishna. I took a non-Western dance course and a course about world religions in America and in both of those classes we briefly discussed Krishna, Vishnu, and Shiva. All three are highly worshipped and revered Gods in Indian culture and Hinduism. In those classes I had a tiny taste of the complexity that is Indian culture and I thought this class would be a great way to explore the culture more.
I am so excited you are curious about Krishna! Although Ramayana and Mahabharata are definitely the two main epics of India, some people consider the Bhagavata Purana and all the legends about Krishna to be something like a third epic. I opened the class up this past Fall so that people could choose the readings from a much wider set of selections, and lots of people worked on Krishna and really enjoyed that! Do you ever go by Bizzell? Check out the Krishna comic books that are on reserve. They are FABULOUS, and you can do them for extra credit reading any time! Also, one of the very best books I read last year is about Pradyumna, son of Krishna: it is a totally modern novel but with totally mythological contents. I thought it was amazing: Pradyumna, son of Krishna
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