Harivamsa
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The Harivamsha (also Harivamsa; Sanskrit harivaṃśa हरिवंश "the lineage of Hari (Vishnu)") is an important work of Sanskrit literature, containing 16,375 verses. The text is complex, containing layers that may go back to the 1st or 2nd centuries CE. The bulk of the text is derived from two traditions, the pañcalakṣaṇa tradition, that is, the "five marks" of the Purana corpus one of which is vaṃśa "genealogy", and stories about the life of Krishna as a herdsman. The latter portion presents the earliest source of Krishna's early life and his affairs with the gopis, presenting him as a tribal hero.
There have been translations of the Harivamsa in many Indian vernacular languages, English (M. N. Dutt, 1897), French (M. A. Langlois, Paris, 1834-35), and other languages. [1]
There are also Jain Harivamsas in various langauges that present Jain traditions of the Krishna story.
[edit] References
- Bowker, John, The Oxford Dictionary of World Religions, New York, Oxford University Press, 1997, p. 410
