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Krishna: The God Who Lived As Man
By: Kajal Oza Vaidya
Krishna is probably the most popular deity in Hinduism. One of the two great epics , the ‘Mahabharata’, is centred around his personality. The Krishna of the ‘Mahabharata’ is the supreme politician, the Krishna of the ‘Gita’ is the supreme preceptor and the Krishna of the ‘Bhagavat Purana’ is the supreme lord.
Because of his multi-faceted personality, Krishna has inspired many authors and poets to write about him. There have been several novels on the life of lord Krishna; right from KM Munshi’s ‘Krishnavatar’ to Bhagavatisharan Mishra’s ‘Pratham Purush’ and ‘Purushottam’, to Ramkumar Bhramar’s ‘Krishnakatha’, Shivaji Savant’s ‘Yugandhar’ and the finest of them all - Manu Sharma’s ‘Krishna ki Atmakatha’. But none has approached Krishna in quite the same manner as Kaajal Oza-Vaidya.
Kaajal Oza-Vaidya’s Krishna is quite literally, the god who lived as man. She relates to him as a human being. She admires his platonic friendship with Draupadi, his loving and respectful relationship with Rukmini, his wife, and his enduring love for Radha, his consort.
The book is not based on the scriptures and nor does it claim to be historically accurate. It is a work of the author’s imagination and her perception of Krishna’s life. She has wondered at his innermost psyche and explores his mindset. Her portrayal of the kaleidoscope of images and thoughts that flit across Krishna’s mind as he breathes his last forms the basis of this novel. ‘Krishnaayan’ is Krishna’s introspection during his last moments.
The river was in high tide and the footprints of the Yadavas were more or less washed away. Big waves came rushing to the shore and wiped away some more footprints.
Suddenly Rukmini discovered a familiar footprint and sat beside it. Her eyes brimmed over with tears. These were the footprints her hair locks drooped over when she knelt at her Lord's feet every morning. These were the footprints she worshipped with chandan. The footprints of her Lord of Sri Krishna They were deeply immersed in the sand. The impression engraved in the sand was filled with water.
Rukmini's streaming tears were making an offering in the water-filled footprints.Daruk arrived and stood beside her.
He looked startled. He could not believe how the footprints filled to the brim with water could contain Rukmini's tears without spilling over. What was further surprising was that not a single tear had dropped out of the carved footprint.
It was not just Krishna even his footprints were accepting of everyone.
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