Includes bibliographical references and index.

Introduction -- Part I. 1. Setting the Scene: Interpretations of Krishna in the Sanskrit Mahābhārata -- 2. Many (Krishna-Centric) Mahabharatas: An Overview of Premodern Regional Retellings -- Part II. 3. Commencing and Concluding the Carita of Krishna: The First and Final Books of Villi's Pāratam and Chauhan's Mahābhārat -- 4. Prayers and Protection: Draupadi's Disrobing and the Book of Effort in Villi's Pāratam and Chauhan's Mahābhārat -- Part III. 5. Beginning with Bhakti: Invocations and the Shrivaishnava Tradition in Villi's Pāratam -- 6. Remembering Rama: The Role of Tulsidas's Ramayanas in Chauhan's Mahābhārat -- Conclusion -- Appendix: Glossary of Characters -- Bibliography -- Index.

"Recognized as the longest poem ever composed, the ancient Sanskrit Mahābhārata epic tells the tale of the five Pandava princes and the cataclysmic battle they wage with their one hundred cousins known as the Kauravas. This story of the Pandavas and the Kauravas is one of the most popular and widely-told narratives in South Asia (let alone the world). Between 800 and 1700 CE, a plethora of Mahabharatas were created in Assamese, Bengali, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Konkani, Malayalam, Marathi, Oriya, Tamil, Telugu, and several other regional South Asian languages. Krishna's Mahabharatas: Devotional Retellings of an Epic Narrative is a comprehensive study of premodern regional Mahabharata retellings. This book argues that Vaishnavas (devotees of the Hindu god Vishnu and his various forms) throughout South Asia turned this epic about an apocalyptic, bloody war into works of ardent bhakti or "devotion" focused on the beloved Hindu deity Krishna. While Krishna's Mahabharatas examines over forty retellings in eleven different regional languages that were composed over a period of nine hundred years, it focuses on two particular Mahabharatas: Villiputturar's fifteenth-century Tamil Pāratam and Sabalsingh Chauhan's seventeenth-century Bhasha (Old Hindi) Mahābhārat. Through close comparative readings, this book reveals the similar ways in which poets from opposite ends of the Indian sub-continent transform the story of the Sanskrit Mahābhārata into devotional narratives centered on Krishna. At the same time, it also shows how these Mahabharatas are each unique pieces of religious literature anchored in bhakti cultures that speak to different local audiences in premodern South Asia"-- Provided by publisher.