• FrontMatter,
• Contents,
• List of Illustrations,
• List of Tables,
• Acknowledgments,
• Transliteration,
• List of Abbreviations,
• List of Poems Translated from the Sur Sagar,
• Introduction. The Butter and the Thief,
• Chapter 1. The Tradition in Literature,
• Chapter 2. The Tradition in Sculpture,
• Chapter 3. Sur's Butter Thief Poems: Two Types,
• Chapter 4. The Butter Thief in Context,
• Chapter 5. The Legacy of Sur's Butter Thief,
• Chapter 6. The Butter Thief Lila,
• Chapter 7. Variations on the Butter Theme,
• Chapter 8. The Unbounded Economy of Love,
• Chapter 9. Other Boundaries: An Outsider's View,
• Appendix A. Tables of K¿¿¿acarita Sculptures to 1500 A.D.,
• Appendix B. Index of K¿¿¿acarita Sculptures To 1500 A.D.,
• Glossary,
• Bibliography,
• Index,

The author traces the development of the theme of Krishna as butter thief from its earliest appearance in literature and art until the present. He focuses on the dramas (ras lilas) of Krishna's native Braj and on the Sur Sagar, a collection of verse attributed to the sixteenth-century poet Sur Das that is as familiar to Hindi speakers as Mother Goose is to us.
Originally published in 1983.
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