A vibrant example of living literature, "The Bhagavata Purana" is a versatile
Hindu sacred text containing more than 14,000 Sanskrit verses. Finding its
present form around the tenth century C.E., the work inspired several major
north Indian devotional (bhakti) traditions as well as schools of dance and
drama, and continues to permeate popular Hindu art and ritual in both India and
the diaspora. Introducing "The Bhagavata Purana"'s key themes while also
examining its extensive influence on Hindu thought and practice, this collection
conducts the first multidimensional reading of the text's entire twelve volumes.
"The Bhagavata Purana" is a hard-to-classify embodiment of classical Indian
cultural, religious, and philosophical