Materials for the Study of the Early History of the Vaishnava Sect c8.252

c8.252

“The narrators give expression to what they know about them (Kaṁsa and Kṛiṣṇa) from their birth to their death, and thus externally manifest what at the time exists internally, and that the things do exist internally or in the mind is shown in this way. They (the narrators) are of various kinds, some are adherents or devotees of Kaṁsa and some of Vāsudeva. Their countenances assume different colours; the faces of some (whose favourite hero is defeated) become dark, the faces of others red.'' Mr. R. P. Chanda points out¹ that according to several Indian interpreters of Patañjali it was not the *granthikas* or narrators who divided themselves into the parties, but the audience, some of whom sided with Kaṁsa and some others with Kṛiṣṇa, '' the partisans of the former becoming pale with grief and the partisans of the latter becoming red with joy on the triumph of their hero.'' There is no reason to believe with Keith² that the Hindu audience consisted only of pious adorers of Kṛiṣṇa and therefore could not have included any who favoured Kaṁsa. The great epic testifies to the existence of men who were hostile to Kṛiṣṇa and spoke in terms of sympathy about Kaṁsa.³ The pity excited in a section of the audience by the fate of Kaṁsa is probably reflected in the following passage of the *Viṣṇu Purāṇa*:⁴