God at Play: Volume 1

The oldest extant Marathi work, a medieval chronicle of Chakradhars divine life on earth, in a new English translation.

God at Play, or Lcaritra, is a remarkable biography of the medieval religious figure Chakradhar Svami. His followers, called Mahanubhavs, understand him to be a divine incarnation of Parameshvar. Mhaimbhat, a Brahmin goldsmith who became one of Chakradhars most important followers, compiled this astonishingly down-to-earth religious text around 1278. It records not only Chakradhars ethical and theological teachings, but also his everyday activities, including the foods he ate and the people he met. This rich, detailed account provides insights into economic conditions, political history, and society in medieval India. Manuscripts of the work were carefully preserved within the Mahanubhav community and were not known to outsiders until the early twentieth century.

The first volume of God at Play describes Chakradhars early life, his wanderings as a lone ascetic, and the gathering of the disciples who later accompany him on his travels.

This new English translation of Lcaritra is accompanied by an emended Marathi text, based on Hari Narayan Nenes edition, in the Devanagari script.