Department of Religious Studies

16^th century Hindu theologian Rupa Gosvamin established a technique by which, in imitating significant figures in Krsna's dramatic world, a devotee might actually come to inhabit the world of the character. This book shows that the Hindu view of reality accepts such role playing, called Raganuga Bhakti Sadhana as a natural part of the human experience. The author explores Indian dramatic theory, Rupa's unique application of that theory to devotionalism, developments in the practice of this technique, its contemporary manifestations and, finally, the technique's significance to religious experience in general.