well, i am interested in books that deal with krishna's life.... have heard of the Krishnavatara series by K M Munshi. has anyone read them??? would love to hear someone's opinions on this matter...

and please suggest other books on krishna...

i have mathuram bhoothalingam's work "the Voice of Krishna" with me... tis rather good, cos it deals with krishna's perspective on his life... really liked it??? anyone aware of other books by her??

BHAGAVATHAM

I grew up reading Munshi's Krishnavatara. In fact, I read it so much that the first set of books that we had completely fell apart, and we had to buy new ones.

I wonder... Ashok? How about a Krishnavatara series after Mahabharata? Just a suggestion. I have been utterly spoiled for any other authors by your Ramayana, but I'm sure that many other people here would also enjoy a series like that.

Tapas,

If you can(and like to) read Hindi, then I would highly recommend 'Yugandhar' by Shivaji Sawant. Its 900+ pages long, beautifully written novel on Krishna. You must have listened about 'Mrityunjaya' (on Karna) by the same author, so no doubt about the writing ability of Late Shri Shivaji Sawant.

I've read Mrityunjay and it was brilliant. I don't read many Hindi novels but I was truly moved by this one.

I'm looking forward to reading Yugandhar as well. Thanks for bringing up the name and helping me remember, Banwari!

thanks a lot, all of u!!!!!!!!!

by the way, banwari, could you tell me how much does Yugandhar and mrityunjaya cost???
i'm fairly fluent with hindi, so i would love to read them... thanks once again, man!!

Tapas,

Both the titles are a bit costly but considering the number of pages, they worth. Mrityunjaya's list price is Rs.325/- and Yugandhar's Rs.500/-. Mrityunjaya is 700+ and Yugandhar is 900+ pages long epics. You can find both the titles on http://books.indiatimes.com. They have pretty good discounts

Tapas, do read both the books, start with Mrityunjaya.

That would be a wonderful idea to make the krishnavatara series by none other than the great ashok, wonderful, brilliant. kanjisheik, i have read the krishnavatara (KM Munshi's) its great, order it as soon as you can, no regrets. Not to costly either. By the way, i can't read hindi, boo...hoo.....



have a good time reading it
i loved it too

Tapas/RishiVashishta,

You guys made me think about Krishnavatara. When I googled for "krishnavatara KM Munshi's" keywords, the third link was http://www.rediff.com/news/2001/apr/17spec.htm . Title of this page was "rediff.com Special: Ashok Banker reviews Sudhir Kakar's new novel, Ecstasy".

Here are Ashok's words for Krishnavatara:

"K M Munshi's Krishnavatara series is a wonderfully re-imagined and recreated version of the life of Krishna."

So Tapas, go ahead with Krishnavatara, I too am going to read it.

Amar Chitra Katha comic books for indian history are also greatly entertaining sources for krishna stories, they have a lot of krishna stories in those, they sell those in indian bookstores practically everywhere you look (well atleast i think so) so it won't be hard to find them. try to get hold of some Krishna Amar Chitra katha's, they are great.

Hi Banwari and Ashok,

Yes, I agree totally: Yugandhar & Mrityunjaya are monumental in their scope and depth. Mrityunjaya, in particular, keeps you totally involved in the book.. I read Yugandhar much later - after coming to US - but Mrityunjaya has been my companion since my childhood.. Kanji-bhai, DO read Mrityunjaya first. Its worth all the 700+ pages

--pushpak

ashok, i'm interested in your take on Krishna... well, i'm more interested in the SF version, than the Epic version... could you outline the bare essentials in the plot?? what made you think of an SF version??? and how did you go about visualising it??

hi there

i bought the Krishnavatara series yesterday from a bookstore in thrissur... finished the first four parts already... its awesome.. no other book on krishna in english has been as detailed as this.. munshi is a fantastic author, but his language is a bit old fashioned... thats my only crib!!!

thanks to all those who told me to buy it.. its been worth every penny!!!!

I just began re-reading Munshi's work, actually. I simply adore it, to tell you the truth. I love the personalities that he attaches to each character. His Krishna is a Krishna that I can honestly believe in, as opposed to the other, sometimes flamboyantly heroic, wise, and perfect Krishnas that I've read about.

Hi Kanjishek, if you read the story of Krishna, you'll notice it involves a much larger 'universe' than, say, Ramayana. There's talk of worlds and galaxies and travel between them, whether you interpret this as being on a spiritual level (planes of existence) or literal. Something about these elements sparked the idea in my mind of the Krishna Coriolis idea. Also, in Krishna, the story is less literal about tropes of Good and Evil and more realistic--but with these oddly fantastic gods-and-universes elements mixed in. So for instance, there are no rakshasas, but it's very clear that Kamsa and the other 'bad guys' while being wholly realistic (no ten-headed Ravanas here) are also somehow representative of a continuing 'evil' or 'asura' lineage.

Now, as you know, the Coriolis effect is the naturally occurring phenomenon wherein in the Northern hemisphere water swirls down a drain in one direction and in the Southern hemisphere it swirls in the opposite direction (clockwise and anti-clockwise). I thought, what if this was the way in which forces have moved away in this age (of Krishna). Namely, some forces move in one direction, while those of their opponents in another--pitting them against one another. Hence their conflict is scientific and based on essential laws of the universe, which could be interpreted as rational, super-scientific, or as supernatural, spiritual, depending on your perception.

In this case, I chose to look at it scientifically wherein the Devas and Asuras are in fact actually beings from Earth, who have moved away to another galaxy, or even another universe, but the laws of the universe which governed them, the 'scientific' basic of 'brahman'--which produces the Coriolis effect, among many others, is still active and governs the mortals. So they can use this 'brahman' shakti to power spaceships and interstellar STL (slower than light) travel as well as many other devices, including 'dev-astra weaponry', which is like super-hightech in this world. But most people, believing such tech to be 'asura maya' prefer not to use it, and are leaning toward a more pastoral, idyllic state of being.

So the forces align themselves as the supertech users who see an opportunity to exploit this technology to control the world (Kamsa, Bana and the other power-hungry invaders and conquerors) and the peaceful pastoral people who abjure the use of such tech and prefer to use 'natural' means.

So it's a curious mix of hightech spaceships and weaponry and armour and very rural idyllic living. Someone pointed out something interesting: She said it reminded her so much of USA's so-called war against terror, with the hightech US invading countries like Afghanistan, Iraq (and in the past, Korea, Vietnam, South American countries, etc) which all happen to be extremely lowtech nations and seeking world domination through the power of their tech and weaponry. Well, that was definitely not on my mind when I came up with my interpretation, but I won't argue against anyone who sees it that way as well!

Also, my Krishna Coriolis interpretation does lead to certain connections in my other stories, like the Ganesa Palindrome, Indus series, and of course, my Mba. In short, there is an over-arching 'world view' and uber-history which becomes clearer the more you read. So there is a very strong justification why all that 'brahman tech' (or 'asura maya' as the good guys regard it) is jettisoned and discarded at the end of the Krishna age and why we don't see it in the Mba or thereafter. Until it resurfaces in the Indus story and Ganesa Palindrome again.

Hope that makes sense--the whole concept is too involved and complicated to explain simply. And I'm still working at it. It also involves demonstrating how ancient Sanskrit mantras could be interpreted as quantum mechanical theorem, and how all the so-called 'spiritual' wisdom or smriti and sruti can also be viewed in scientific terms, depending entirely on one's point of view. As could be charaka, ayurveda, vedic mathematics, etc.

Still very much a work in progress, and ultimately, it makes a lot more sense when viewed in story form. I am, after all, a storyteller, not a theoretical scientist!