kArSNeya and kRSNau

[Guest guest]

Is it possible to check thru' paintings,

May be there, Krishna is black and Arjuna white

as their names suggest.

 

Regards,

SM

 

INDOLOGY, Georg von Simson <georg@v...> wrote:

> Jim Fitzgerald wrote:

>

> (snip)

> > But most of the MBh lies somewhere between "clearly early"

> >and "clearly late."

>

> Certainly. My only point was to claim that Arjuna's blackness

probably does

> not belong to the original plot of the epic.

>

> > but the

> >kRSNatva of Draupadi and Vyasa seems earlier than that of Arjuna.

>

> Yes, most probably. But I am not convinced that the meaning

(symbolic or

> otherwise) of blackness has to be the same in each of the cases of

> Draupadi, Vyasa, Krsna and (later) Arjuna. In the case of Draupadi,

I would

> see the blackness of the earth as background (in contrast with the

light of

> the sky - dyu). Another possibility would be the blackness of the

burnt

> spots of the vedI, from which she is born. In contrast, her brother

> Dhrstadyumna is born from the sacrifical fire and thus seems to

represent

> Agni.

> I am not so sure about Vyasa's blackness. In this case you might be

right

> suggesting obscurity or opacity (he is all the time lurking in the

> background) or similar conceptions.

>

> >And the kRSNatva of VAsudeva?

>

> The dark moon, of course :-) (what did I say for the last 17 years?)

I am

> glad you mentioned that concept, too!

>

> (snip)

> > the elements of the

> >intervening narrative that seem deliberately composed after the

> > paradigm

> >of the old Indra-VRtra battle--the see-sawing back and forth of the

> >narrative, with the heroes alternate waxing and waning, from

> >Yudhisthira's temporary waxing at his RAjasUya to his waning during

the

> >exile, his disappearance during the incognito, and his re-emergence

at the

> >end of VirATa, setting the stage for the see-sawing of the battle

until the

> >slaying of Karna--

>

> I would see this as a reflection of an ancient year myth (see my

article in

> R. Sternemann (ed.), Bopp-Symposium 1992 ..., Heidelberg 1994. p.

230-247).

> That means that in addition to the Indra-Vrtra paradigm you mention,

other

> mythical images may have been at work, too.

> Thank you for communicating your interesting reflections on the Mbh.

to us!

>

> Best wishes,

> Georg v. Simson