Article Title：Krsna the Magician: metapoesis and ambivalence in Faidi's Mahabharat
Abstract：In this article, I discuss the vilification of Krsna as a deceitful sorcerer in the Mughal poet-laureate Shaikh Abu'l Faid bin Mubarak, or 'Faidi's Mahabharat and his correspondent apotheosis as the 'essence of the True God' in the Shariq al-marifat, a treatise also ascribed to Faidi. As I argue, this inconsistency, or ambivalence, is a common and overlooked facet of the elite Islamicate engagement with religious diversity and difference in early modern Hindustan. In the case of the Mahabharat, however, Faidi's portrayal of Krsna as a deceitful illusionist reflects not only an Islamic discomfort with Vaishnavite theology, but Faidi's own performative insecurities as a Hindustani writer of Persian poetry and literary prose. Krsna's so-called 'magic' lies in large part in his way with words: the verbal and social manipulation he uses to stoke the flames of conflict. The character thus becomes a kind of shadow or double of Faidi himself-a demiurgic author of the Mahabharat upon which the poet can displace the classical Islamicate association of poetry with sorcery and deceit.
Keywords: metapoesis; occult sciences; Persian literature; political theology; South Asian religions; translation
DOI: 10.1017/S1356186323000639
Source：JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL ASIATIC SOCIETY
Welcome to correct the error, please contact email: humanisticspider@gmail.com
