34 h 55 minAudiobook6 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at costPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
Before Krishna becomes the Mahabharata’s friend and guide, what stories shape his world?
The Harivamsha turns toward the life the Mahabharata leaves largely untold: Krishna’s birth, his boyhood among cowherds, and the city he founds. Traditionally attributed to Vyasa, this epic supplement brings gods and demons, kings and herdsmen into a story where divine power appears amid childhood games and royal conflict.
Its first section moves from creation to royal lineages. The Vishnu Parva follows Krishna into a world burdened by proud kings, described as demons in human form. The Bhavishya Parva widens the view to Vishnu’s other forms and the ages to come. Together, these sections connect family histories, sacred stories, and the text’s vision of divine action.
What you’ll discover
- Creation and royal roots Explore a world’s beginnings and the long family lines that lead toward Krishna.
- Childhood beside the river Meet Krishna and Balarama among cows, forests, and herdsmen, where games share space with power.
- A dangerous invitation Follow the tension as Kamsa plans a festival that conceals a trap for the brothers.
- Beyond a single lifetime Discover how the Bhavishya Parva turns from Krishna’s story toward Vishnu’s other forms.
- Stories that nourish devotion Encounter tales that devotees of Vishnu read as a sacred record of the god’s life.
Who will love it
For readers who love Indian myth, students of religion and devotional literature, and anyone who has read the Mahabharata and wants Krishna's story, from his boyhood among cowherds to the city he founded.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A supplement that grew beside the epic
- The world begins and Vishnu stands behind it
- Royal lines carry the story to Krishna
- The earth is burdened and Vishnu agrees to be born
- A boyhood among cowherds is play and power
- Kamsa falls and the Yadavas flee to the sea
- Marriages, rivals and a war with Shiva's champion
- Vishnu's other forms and a view of the future
- How the poem has been read and why it lasts
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Traduction anglaise en prose du Harivamsha in 25 languages, side by side, paragraph by paragraph, once the book texts are online: the way to learn a language with a book you love.
Traduction anglaise en prose du Harivamsha
Meet Krishna among the cowherds in a sacred history where Vishnu enters the world to restore order.
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In short
Where did Krishna come from? The Mahabharata shows him as friend and guide in a great war, yet it says little of his birth, his boyhood or the city he founded.
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
A supplement that grew beside the epic
The Harivamsha is counted as a khila, a supplement, to the Mahabharata. Many manuscripts of the epic list it as the closing book. The two works share a world, a style and many characters.
The frame is a familiar one. The sage Vaishampayana tells the story to King Janamejaya, a descendant of the Pandavas. The king wants to know where the heroes came from, and above all he wants to hear of Krishna.
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What is the Harivamsha about?
It tells of the creation, the royal dynasties of ancient India and above all the life of Krishna, from his birth in Mathura to his rule at Dwaraka. It ends with Vishnu's other forms and the coming ages.
Is the Harivamsha part of the Mahabharata?
It is treated as a supplement to the Mahabharata and often listed as its final book. Many scholars think it began as a separate poem. It shares the epic's world, characters and verse style.
What does Harivamsha mean?
The name means the lineage of Hari. Hari is a title of the god Vishnu, and in this work it points especially to Krishna and the family into which he is born.
The author
Manmatha Nath Dutt
1855–1912 · Bengali Sanskrit scholar and translator
Manmatha Nath Dutt (1855–1912) was a Bengali writer and scholar of Sanskrit and Pali. He worked in Calcutta, India. In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, he produced English translations of Sanskrit works, including the Harivamsha, the Mahabharata and the Ramayana.
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