BoundBefore the seven days
BHAGAVATA CHRONICLES
BOOK ZERO
SRIMAD BHAGAVATA
MAHATMYA
श्रीमद् भागवत माहात्म्य
This is where the Bhagavata explains itself.
Srimad Bhagavata Mahatmya
सच्चिदानन्दरूपाय विश्वोत्पत्त्यादिहेतवे ।
तापत्रयविनाशाय श्रीकृष्णाय वयं नुमः ॥sac-cid-ānanda-rūpāya viśvotpatty-ādi-hetave
tāpa-traya-vināśāya śrī-kṛṣṇāya vayaṃ numaḥTo the one whose form is being, awareness and bliss; the cause of the world’s arising and all that follows; the destroyer of the three sorrows — to Shri Krshn we bow.
Before the Bhagavata can be told, it has to be asked for.
On the bank of the Yamuna, Narada finds a young woman weeping between two old men who will not wake. She is Bhakti — devotion herself. Born in Dravida, grown in Karnataka, honoured here and there in Maharashtra, worn thin in Gujarat. The sleepers are her sons: Jnana and Vairagya, aged past rousing.
The Vedas are recited over them. The Upanishads. The Gita. Nothing moves. What follows is a sage’s search — from this riverbank to Vaikunth, to Goloka and back — for the one remedy that will work in an age built to defeat it.
The answer, when it comes, is a reading — seven days of the Bhagavata on the sand at Haridwar. And because that is a large claim, the book proves it on the hardest case it can find: a murdered wastrel with no rite left untried, listening from inside a length of bamboo while his brother reads.
Book Zero opens the Bhagavata Chronicles: the whole Srimad Bhagavata, twelve skandhas, rendered as a cinematic graphic novel.
The Mahatmya is not a summary of the epic and not a preface to it. It is the frame story — the account, given in the Padma Purana, of how the recitation came to be needed, who asked for it, and what had gone wrong on the earth that nothing else could put right.
The Bhagavata Mahatmya is the natural door into the series, and it can be read on its own.
Contents
Parts, episodes, chapters
147 pages · 4 episodes
- Free — Read the opening free
- All-Access
EPISODE ONE Narada Meets Bhakti Page 1–34 · 7 chapters
- Preamble The Turning of the Age Free · 9 pages
- Chapter One Arrival and Discovery Free · 5 pages
- Chapter Two What He Has Seen All-Access · 4 pages
- Chapter Three Bhakti's Story All-Access · 4 pages
- Chapter Four The Answer All-Access · 3 pages
- Chapter Five The King Who Spared It All-Access · 6 pages
- Chapter Six What She Asked Of Him All-Access · 3 pages
EPISODE TWO The Awakening of Bhakti Page 35–54 · 2 chapters
- Chapter One Look After My Devotees All-Access · 7 pages
- Chapter Two Bhakti's Revival and Transformation All-Access · 13 pages
EPISODE THREE Narada Looks for a Solution Page 55–81 · 3 chapters
- Chapter One The Voice in the Storm All-Access · 6 pages
- Chapter Two Narada Meets the Sanat Kumaras All-Access · 12 pages
- Chapter Three The Importance of Srimad Bhagavata All-Access · 9 pages
EPISODE FOUR The Cessation of Bhakti's Suffering Page 82–147 · 6 chapters
- Chapter One Onto Haridwar All-Access · 5 pages
- Chapter Two The Gathering All-Access · 10 pages
- Chapter Three The Two Sons All-Access · 15 pages
- Chapter Four The Seven Knots All-Access · 20 pages
- Chapter Five A Request and A Promise All-Access · 8 pages
- Chapter Six Yuge Yuge All-Access · 8 pages
Plates from the book
Srimad Bhagavata Mahatmya
-
Bhakti by the river -
Narada on the path -
Eighteen thousand verses -
The turning of the age
THE SERIES
The Bhagavata Chronicles sets out to render the complete Srimad Bhagavata — all twelve skandhas — as a single continuous work, in graphic novel form in Hindi, Marathi and English.
THIS EDITION
A4 · Smyth-sewn hardcover · full colour throughout · printed at 400 dpi on coated art paper. Also available in Hindi and Marathi.
A NOTE ON THIS TELLING
While we have made every attempt to stay true to the Srimad Bhagavata as written by Ved Vyasa and currently published by Gita Press, Gorakhpur, a few liberties have been taken to bring it into the present age. Our story opens with the immortal Vyasa — now known as Parasharya — reciting the Srimad Bhagavata to a group of children in a temple, in what would be modern-day Bharata.
Editions
Every way to hold Book Zero — and the one way to read all of it.
- Image to follow Kartik Edition · slipcase
Kartik Edition · Render — not a photograph -
Trade hardcover · Render — not a photograph -
India edition · Render — not a photograph
| Edition | What it is | Price (US) | Price (India) | ISBN | Where |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kartik Edition The collector’s printing. Numbered 1–1,008. |
| $108 | ₹4,500 | 978-X-XXXXXX-XX-X · to be assigned | |
| Trade hardcover The book as the jacket describes it. |
| $59.99 | — | 978-X-XXXXXX-XX-X · to be assigned | |
| India edition The trade hardcover, printed in India, published by our Indian associate. |
| — | ₹1,999 | 978-93-XXXXX-XX-X · to be assigned | |
| Ebook Fixed-layout, from the store you already use. |
| $14.99 | ₹499 | 978-X-XXXXXX-XX-X · to be assigned | |
| DRM-free PDF The print file, yours to keep. |
| $24.99 | ₹999 | — | |
| All-Access The app. Every project, three languages, one subscription. |
| $9.99 per year | ₹499 per year | — |
$108 / ₹4,500; $59.99; ₹1,999; $14.99 / ₹499; $24.99 / ₹999; $9.99 / ₹499 per year
ISBN — to be assigned.
Read in the app
The opening of every book is free, in the app and on this site.