Co(s)mic Vision

Humour in the Bhagavata Purana

Bibliographic Data

ID12908576
AuthorsSiegfried J Babajee (University of Edinburgh, corresponding author)
Year2021
Volume14
Issue3
Publication date2021-08-04
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueReligions of South Asia (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1751-2689 • E-ISSN: 1751-2697
PublisherEquinox Publishing (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1558/rosa.19325
OpenAlexW3190849963
LanguageEN
Citations received1
References cited18

The Bhagavata Purana (BhP) is a popular sacred Sanskrit text characterized by its devotion for Krsna and the many narratives concerning him and his incarnations. These narratives have an edifying quality. A great number of them bring their point across through the use of humour. Though the comic tradition of India has been covered by scholars, such studies primarily discuss the performing arts. I argue that there is a strong presence of humour in the BhP, and that this humour communicates a playful attitude which has a prominent place in the overall religiosity of the BhP, thus communicating a worldview I term the co(s)mic vision. This study contributes to the discussion on the ludic dimensions of religious traditions and indicates how religious discourse is established through the entertaining and edifying effects of humour. Narrative is used as an entertaining alternative to religious instruction as exhortation, theological assertion, or propositional excursuses

Aesthetics · Art · Assertion · Comics · Literature · Narrative · Religiosity · Sanskrit · The arts · Theology · Visual arts · Humor Studies and Applications · Language, Metaphor, and Cognition · Media Influence and Health · Philosophy

Tools

Open DOI