Finished reading Kamala Subramaniam's Srimad Bhagavatam (Bhagavat Purana) (1979)

Last updated on 31st March 2023

I started reading the lengthy book in Oct. 2022. See the posts:

1. Procured Srimad Bhagavatam (Bhagavata Purana) book (in English) by Kamala Subramaniam; Srimad Bhagavatam online links, https://ravisiyer.blogspot.com/2022/10/procured-srimad-bhagavatam-bhagavata.html , 4 Oct. 2022
2. G.D.Birla wrote the foreword for Kamala Subramaniam's Srimad Bhagavatam (Bhagavat Purana) (1979); Birla industrial family have been patrons and supporters of Hindu religion, https://ravisiyer.blogspot.com/2022/10/gdbirla-wrote-foreword-for-kamala.html , 17 Oct. 2022

This Srimad Bhagavatam (in English) by Kamala Subramaniam book is a great one for English readers interested in such topics. The book does not provide verse-by-verse English translation and is a condensed version. But its coverage is still good (the book is around 800 pages) and I was happy to know some details which I had either not read in my earlier more-condensed Srimad Bhagavatam book (in English) readings or had forgotten about.

The latter part of the book deals with Krishna avatar and the author has given that in great detail.

But the author does use some liberty at times to modify the text to suit her narrative and style. Perhaps that makes the book more readable to many readers. However, it did trip me up at times. I would confirm some important parts of the book by referring to verse-by-verse English translation published and made available on Internet for free by ISKCON, https://vedabase.io/en/library/sb/ , and also check out the Sanskrit verses, which I can read but can make out the meaning of only few words, by visiting this link: https://sanskritdocuments.org/itrans/shrimadbhagavatam/ .

As an example of such variation in this book, in the part dealing with Lord Krishna leaving this world (bodily death), Kamala Subrmaniam writes that Krishna "winced with pain" and told his charioteer Daruka, "Just pull out this arrow which is hurting me". Daruka then did that and Krishna "cried out in pain and then he took the arrow in his hand". These sentences are on page 701 in the chapter "THE FINAL HOUR".

The passages related to Daruka searching for, locating and then interacting with Lord Krishna at the time of Krishna leaving this world (bodily death) in ISKCON English text are: Text 41 to 50 in https://vedabase.io/en/library/sb/11/30/ (Canto 11, Chapter 30). This has no mention of Krishna wincing in pain or asking Daruka to remove the arrow from his foot!

I also looked up the Sanskrit verses corresponding to above (verses) text 41 to 50 here:  https://sanskritdocuments.org/doc_purana/bhagpur-11.html (॥ त्रिंशोऽध्यायः - ३० ॥, (verses) ४१ to ५०) (towards the bottom of the long webpage). As mentioned earlier, while I don't understand Sanskrit, I can read the script and make out the meaning of few words. It seems to me that the ISKCON English text verses correspond to the Sanskrit verses in above link. Further, the English translation seems to match the Sanskrit verse but I am not sure as I don't understand Sanskrit. However I think it is clear that there is no mention of Krishna wincing in pain and asking Daruka to remove the arrow from his foot, in the above page's 41 to 50 Sanskrit verses.

I did not recall reading about Krishna wincing in pain and asking Daruka to remove the arrow from his foot in my previous readings of more condensed versions of Srimad Bhagavatam in English (last reading before the current one was many years ago, perhaps over two decades back). So when I came across Kamala Subramaniam's book mentioning it, I was somewhat surprised. Reading the above ISKCON verse-by-verse English translation gives me the impression that Kamala Subramaniam has added some colour of her own in this description of Lord Krishna leaving this world. 

I should also mention that in the Preface of the book, author Kamala Subramanian writes, "It goes without saying that this is not a literal translation but an attempt to relate the story of the Lord, of Narayana, and the many forms he donned to establish Dharma on the earth."

So the author clearly states that it is not a literal translation. But she does not mention further that she has made some additions to the original in her narration (for whatever reason, like satisfying her writer's urge or to simply make it more readable to modern day English readers).

Now there is also a possibility that Kamala Subramaniam used a different version (different from above links) of original Srimad Bhagavatam scripture which has verses about Krishna wincing in pain and asking Daruka to remove the arrow from his foot. But I think that possibility is quite remote.

To conclude, I recommend this book to English readers interested in such topics. But the readers should know that this book has, at times, some variations from original verses of Srimad Bhagavatam/Bhagavat Purana scripture.