No abstract

Chapter 4 documents Pradyumna’s changing identity and significance in the context of the evolving Vaiṣṇava tradition, chiefly through an analysis of the abduction narrative as it is retold in the Viṣṇu, Bhāgavata, and Brahmavaivarta Purāṇas. Without radically changing the original Harivaṃśa scene, the sources reveal that three characteristics of Pradyumna have begun to emerge through a process of mutual fertilization: he is Kāmadeva, the handsome God of Love incarnate; he is a master of māyā or illusion; and he is a double of his father Kṛṣṇa. Important shifts in the meaning and role of bhakti (devotion) in Kṛṣṇa worship between the fifth and tenth centuries CE are identified as key factors underlying these developments. Particularly, Pradyumna’s identity as both the God of Love reborn and the double of Kṛṣṇa becomes hugely significant for the Bhāgavata Purāṇa, which is deeply invested in a theology of Kṛṣṇa as a magnetic object of desire.

Chapter 1 establishes the earliest evidence of Pradyumna’s presence and importance in the South Asian landscape, largely on the basis of physical materials from the period of circa 300 BCE–300 CE. These materials reveal a cult of devotion to certain heroes of the Vṛṣṇi clan—that is, the larger family group of Vāsudeva Kṛṣṇa associated with the Mathurā area in North-Central India. Those who venerated the Vṛṣṇi heroes referred to themselves as the Bhāgavatas, and the objects of their devotion included Vāsudeva (Kṛṣṇa), his brother Saṃkarṣaṇa, Vāsudeva's son Pradyumna, as well as other Vṛṣṇi figures. While a later sectarian development would fix upon a set of four particular Vṛṣṇi names, it is noted here that a number of figures appear in various configurations in the earliest phase of Bhāgavata devotion.

Augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) technology are increasingly used for the analysis and visualisation of geospatial data. It has become simple to create an immersive three-dimensional AR or VR map with a combination of game engines (e.g., Unity), software development kits for streaming and rendering geospatial data (e.g., Mapbox), and affordable hardware (e.g., HTC Vive). However, it is not clear how to best interact with geospatial visualisations in AR and VR. For example, there are no established standards to efficiently zoom and pan, select map features, or place markers on AR and VR maps. In this paper, we explore interaction with AR and VR maps using gestures and handheld controllers.

The Pradyumnābhyudaya—a thirteenth-century Sanskrit play by King Ravivarman—is the focus of Chapter 7. This work, based directly on the Prabhāvatī episode of the late Harivaṃśa, appears to be the first Brahminical kāvya or courtly belles-lettristic work to make Pradyumna its protagonist. Of central importance is Ravivarman’s molding of the story into conformity with common standards and expectations for poetic expression in courtly writing. In particular it is argued that two conventions of the Sanskrit drama, the garbhāṅka or nested play, and the śleṣa or double-meaning verse form, become the means for an underscoring and sharpening the signature double love-and-war geste of Kṛṣṇa’s son. As such, the chapter argues that the recasting of the Prabhāvatī romance into belles-lettristic form, far from hijacking the figure of Pradyumna for new purposes, in fact powerfully restates the persisting appeal of the masculine sex-and-violence triumphalism fundamental to his mythic persona.