the god Krishnaas the single Supreme
Being. Internal evidence hints that it was
written in southern India in the ninth or
tenth century, making it much later than
many of the other puranas. The bulk of
the text focuses on Krishna’s early life in
the village of Brindavan—infancy, child-
hood, and adolescence—but gives little
attention to his later exploits as a king
and hero. This purana’s best-known sec-
tion is the tenth book, which describes
Krishna’s amorous exploits with the local
herd girls (gopis) as they pass the nights
in a circle dance(ras lila) on the shores of
the Yamuna River. The image of Krishna
throughout the text is that of a god in
constant play with the world. For
Krishna’s devotees (bhakta), the supreme
felicity comes with the opportunity to
take part in that divine play (lila).
Bhagirath
In Hindu mythology, the single person
most responsible for bringing the celes-
tial Gangesdown to earth. The river
Ganges and the goddessGanges are the
same, hence the river is considered holy.
Bhagirath is the great-great-grandson of
King Sagar, whose 60,000 sons have
been burned to ash by the sage Kapila’s
magic power when they erroneously
accuse Kapila of being a thief. The sage
later tells Anshuman, King Sagar’s
grandson and sole surviving descen-
dant, that the only way to bring peace to
their souls is to bring the Ganges from
heaven down to earth. Anshuman
strives to do this for the rest of his life, as
does his son Dilipafter him, but both
are unsuccessful. Dilip’s son Bhagirath
takes their efforts to heart and retires to
the Himalayas, where he performs
asceticismuntil the gods finally agree to
send the Ganges down to earth. Yet
Bhagirath’s efforts are not over. He next
has to appease the god Shivaso that the
deity will agree to take the shock of the
falling river on his head, since its force
will otherwise destroy the earth. When
all is finally in place, the Ganges falls to
earth onto the head of Shiva. From there
Bhagirath leads the river out of the
mountains to the sea, where she touches
his ancestors’ ashes, after which they
find peace at last.Bhagirathi
Epithet for the Gangesas both river and
goddess. The word Bhagirathiis derived
from the name Bhagirath, the single
person most responsible for bringing
the Ganges to earth. Bhagirathi is also
the name for a Himalayan tributary of
the river; the Ganges itself is formed
when the Bhagirathi unites with the
Alakananda River at Devaprayag.
Although the Alakananda is longer and
wider, the Bhagirathi flows through
Gangotri, the sacred site (tirtha) cele-
brated as the source of the Ganges. As
with all the Himalayan tributaries of the
Ganges, the Bhagirathi is consideredBhagirathiAs a tributary of the Ganges, the waters of the
Bhagirathi River are considered sacred and its
banks contain several pilgrimage sites.