Dashavatara Stotra

(“Hymn to the Ten Avatars”) The opening canto of the Gitagovinda, a twelfthcentury lyric poem written by the poet
Jayadeva. The Gitagovinda is an allegory
of the union of the human soul with the
divine, described through the story of
the god Krishna and his human lover
Radha. At the narrative level, this tale
describes the couple’s initial passionate
lovemaking, followed by jealousy, anger,
and estrangement. It concludes with
their reconciliation and an even more
passionate reunion.
Although it is preceded by a short
introduction, the Dashavatara Stotra
is the text’s true beginning. The
Dashavatara Stotra is a hymn paying
homage to the ten avatars or earthly
incarnations of the god Krishna, each
of whom has been responsible for preserving the cosmos in a time of crisis.
Jayadeva uses this opening hymn to
remind his readers that the Krishna of
his story is no mere mortal lover—
even though the story employs the
language and images commonly
found in Sanskrit love poetry—but
rather the lord and master of the universe, who has saved it from destruction again and again. The context
supplied by the images in this opening
hymn alert the reader that this text is
not merely a love story.
Jayadeva is unusual in describing the
god Krishna as the source of the ten
avatars, since Krishna is more commonly
considered an avatar of the god Vishnu.
This theological difference stems from
Jayadeva’s connection with the
Jagannath temple in the city of Puri.
Jagannath is said to be a form of
Krishna, but it is generally accepted that
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Dashavatara Stotra
The Dashavatara Stotra is the opening song
in the Gitagovinda, a twelfth-century
lyrical poem that tells the story of the god
Krishna and his human lover Radha.
Jagannath was originally an autochthonous (“of the land”) deity who happened to be Puri’s local deity. Identifying
him with Krishna was a way to assimilate Jagannath into the Hindu pantheon.
For Jayadeva, Jagannath-Krishna is thus
the supreme deity, not an avatar, and the
place usually occupied by Krishna in
Jayadeva’s enumeration of the avatars is
taken by Krishna’s brother, Balarama.
For the text of the Dashavatara Stotra
and the Gitagovinda, see Barbara Stoller
Miller (ed. and trans.), The Love Song of
the Dark Lord, 1977.