• ISBN13: 9788126901692
• Binding: Hardcover
• Subject: Religion and Philosophy
• Publisher: Atlantic Publishers & Distributors (P) Ltd
• Publisher Imprint:
• Publication Date: April 21, 2002
• Pages: 312
• Original Price: 595.0 INR
• Language: English
• Edition: N/A
• Item Weight: 330 grams

The present book is a comprehensive and comparative study of the origin and development of the concept of AvatÈra in the theological and biographical literature of India: Vedic, Sanskrit, Pali and Bengali. It seeks to understand the incarnated divinity of Chaitanya (1486Å1533) and the socio-religious and psychological factors responsible for his apotheosis during his life-time. The study also shows how the concept of AvatÈra, though un-Vedic in origin, has absorbed many Vedic elements of solar myth and natural allegory, has synthesized various elements from the epico-purȇic tradition and has ultimately blossomed forth as an eclectic theory in the Bengal school of Vai†‡avism. It further shows that both Vai†‡avism and the concept of AvatÈra owe their origin to K‚†‡a VÈsudeva, the great synthesizer of the Aryan and non-Aryan cultures in ancient India and ascribes the theoretical development of the concept of AvatÈra in the medieval period to various attempts of interpreting Chaitanya’s life and personality. In this study, AvatÈravÈda does not merely remain to be a theological doctrine, but turns out, on in-depth scrutiny, to be also a method of analysis and interpretation of both history and its maker with stress on synthesis and syncretism.
The study dwells upon many relevant topics like relationship between AvatÈravÈda and VyÊhavÈda, psychosomatic symptoms of AvatÈrahood, zoomorphism and mythic elements in the stories of the ten incarnations of Vi†‡u, historical significance of the episode of Kalki and chronology of the mytho-historic AvatÈras with the help of the purȇic calendar of the four ages.

Janmajit Roy received his Ph.D. degree from the Gauhati University in 1989. A poet and essayist apart, he has been a keen researcher since his joining Karimganj College, his Alma Mater as a lecturer in the department of Bengali, which he now heads. His researches cover a wide range of subjects like the RÈmÈya‡a, ancient Indian chronology, historiography of Bengali literature in south Assam, modern Bengali poetry, Bengali orthography and astrology.