Vedanta Desika’s Yadavabhyudaya has for its theme the story of Lord Krishna, starting from his birth, said S. Rajagopal in a discourse. The narration of Krishna’s life begins with a dramatic description of the night, leaving the reader in no doubt that the arrival of Krishna signals the dawn of good days for the virtuous. The lamps in Kamsa’s palace are extinguished and Kamsa’s mind is in a state of agitation. It is as if all the anxieties of everyone have got together like gushing rivers and have entered Kamsa’s mind. So restless is the mind of the evil Kamsa.
The mood of excitement is sustained when Krishna is taken by Vasudeva to Gokula. The baby Krishna grows up in Gokula, the darling of all the Gopikas. Describing the baby’s crawling, Desika says that His body gets covered with dust. But it is not a bland observation, for Desika, being the lion among poets (kavitarkika simham), very imaginatively says that Bhu Devi is trying to embrace Krishna, thereby covering Him with dust!
Kavyas are of two types — drishya kavya — one that is witnessed and sravya kavya — one that is heard. Desika’s Yadavabhyudaya belongs to the second category. A kavya should depict rasas like vira, sringara, adbhuta etc, and we find these rasas in Yadavabhyudaya. In the Rukmini, Jambavati, Satyabhama episodes, we find sringara rasa. In killing of Kamsa and Bana, we find vira rasa. The vira rasa is nicely blended with adbhuta rasa — a sense of wonder at the Lord’s astounding actions. . Krishna is the hero of the Yadvabhyudaya, and there can be no doubt that He possess these traits.
Yadavabhyudaya abounds in rich descriptions. With utpreksha alankara, sleshas and chitra sarga, Desika’s work reveals his genius.
