Kristubhagavatam

Kristubhagavatam: A Mahakavya in Sanskrit based on the life of Jesus Christ (Sanskrit: क्रिस्तुभागवतम्; Kristubhāgavatam or Kristu-Bhāgavatam) is a Sanskrit epic poem on the life of Jesus Christ composed by P. C. Devassia (1906–2006), a Sanskrit scholar and poet from Kerala, India. For composing the Kristubhagavatam, Devassia won several awards, including the Sahitya Akademi Award for Sanskrit (1980). Composed in 1976 and first published in 1977, the poem consists of 33 cantos and over 1600 verses. As a mahakavya, it represents the most prestigious genre of Sanskrit epic poetry, characterized by ornate and elaborate descriptions.

The 1977 published version of the Kristubhagavatam contains over 1600 Sanskrit verses divided into 33 cantos, perhaps corresponding to the number of years lived by Jesus. Each Sanskrit verse is accompanied by an English translation. The poem and the translation comprise 434 pages. Titles of selected cantos, in both English and Sanskrit, are listed in the table at right.

The published poem contains a 3-page preface by the author, in which he described the process by which he composed the poem over approximately 5 years. He wrote that "I had to face a difficult problem":

On the one hand, Christ is a historical figure, and I must narrate his life objectively; on the other hand, a Sanskrit Mahakavya must conform to certain norms laid down by Sanskrit rhetoricians. These norms require free play of the imagination. This is often incompatible with objective narrative. I did not fancy the idea of translating the Bible into Sanskrit. I wanted my work to be really a Mahakavya, a literary piece, which anyone conversant with Sanskrit language should be able to read and enjoy. I have taken as my guide Fulton Oursler, who, in his "The Greatest Story Ever Told", tells the story of Christ and fills in the details left out in the gospels by means of his fertile imagination.

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