I'm starting a new week of tricksters this week, and I'll be focusing on Krishna, a central figure in the stories of India. Krishna plays many roles in these ancient stories, and one of those roles is as a trickster-hero-savior, much like the Algonquian trickster-hero Glooscap that was the focus of last week's posts.
I'll start with a collection of comic books from Amar Chitra Katha, the Indian comic book publication founded by Anant Pai in order to bring the ancient stories to life for young reader in India. You can read more about Anant Pai at Wikipedia, and here is a compendium of five different Krishna comic books in one volume: Stories of Krishna.
For example of Krishna's heroic adventures, while still a young boy he was able to rescue the people in his village from the anger of the storm-god Indra, lifting up a mountain so they could take shelter:
One of the most famous "trickster" incidents in the life of Krishna is the story of his stealing the butter, and that story is this focus of this book: The Butter Thief by Chris Murray.
The lovely illustrations are by Kim Waters Murray.
Krishna's life story is full of fabulous adventures from the moment of his birth until the moment of his death. I'll be back with more Krishna books every day for this coming week. If you are new to the ancient stories of India, learning about Krishna is a great place to start.
Amar Chitra Katha Comic Books
by Chris Murray
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