Christopher R. Austin completed his BA and MA degrees in Religious Studies at Concordia University in Montreal and PhD at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario. He is presently Associate Professor of Religious Studies in the Department of Classics at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia, where he teaches widely across all major religious traditions of South and East Asia, as well as Sanskrit and South Asian History. His principal areas of research are in the Sanskrit epic Mahabharata and particularly its supplement the Harivamsa, the biographical traditions of Krishna's life and his son Pradyumna, and early Vaisnavism.
This is a beautiful book on the mythology of Krsna, written from
the point of view of Pradyumna, Krsna's oft neglected son. In
stories from classical India that have rarely been studied,
Pradyumna focuses on the dimension of desire or kama, providing a
rich understanding of masculinity, femininity and sexuality in
general.
*André Couture, Professor Emeritus, Faculté de théologie et de
sciences religieuses, Université Laval*
The Sanskrit archive is an inexhaustible mine of treasures, but we
need outstanding scholarship to bring these treasures to light.
Christopher Austin has crafted a multi-dimensional biography of
Pradyumna, a fascinating but little-known character glimpsed in
many sources. The author's frame-questions of power and desire,
divinity and humanity have implications that reach far beyond the
texts, and even have something to tell us about ourselves. An
outstanding book.
*McComas Taylor, author of Seven Days of Nectar: Contemporary Oral
Performance of the Bhagavatapurana*
In his seamless combination of close textual study and gender
analysis, Austin has given us an outstanding methodological
blueprint for studying early Indic texts. Drawing from
archeological and early textual sources, he convincingly
demonstrates that the narratives of Pradyumna articulate ways to
resolve 'deep-seated anxieties and conflicts attending the sexual
maturation of males.' A fascinating and informative read, Austin's
study is a must for scholars of the Indian epic, literary, and
religious traditions.
*Sally J. Sutherland Goldman, Senior Lecturer in Sanskrit,
University of California at Berkeley*
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