Howard Resnick – författare

The Vaikhānasas are mentioned in many Vedic texts, and they maintain a close affiliation with the Taittirīya school of the Kṛṣṇa Yajur Veda. Yet they are Vaiṣṇavas, monotheistic worshipers of Viṣṇu. Generally, Vaiṣnavism is held to be a post-Vedic development. Thus, the Vaikhānasas bridge two key ages in the history of South Asian religion. This text contains many quotations from ancient Vedic literature, and probably some other older original material, as well as architectural and iconographical data of the later first millennium CE. The Vaikhānasas remain relevant today. They are the chief priests (arcakas) in more than half of the Viṣṇu temples in the South Indian states of Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, and Karnataka—including the renowned Hindu pilgrimage center Tirupati in Andhra Pradesh.

Justin Davis is a brilliant but greatly troubled West Virginia teen, struggling with his father’s brutal murder and his once wealthy family’s loss of money, status, dignity, and hope. Broken, angry, and bitter, Justin has all but given up on life. But then, on his fifteenth birthday, his mother presents him with a mysterious gift: a copy of The First Avatāra, a lush, beautifully illustrated book relating the immemorial legend of Krṣṇa. When evil Asura forces attacked the idyllic planet of Bhū-loka and threatened to enslave its inhabitants, Krṣṇa, the first Avatāra, descended to that world in its darkest hour and fought to save its people and preserve its way of life. Enthralled by the tale, Justin enters the story as much more than just a reader, and is challenged to undertake a hero’s journey of his own, not just through time, but also into the depths of his own soul. In the process, he will experience love, loss, courage, and sacrifice that compel him to cast aside a life of self-pity and indulgence, and heroically confront a startling evil that threatens his family, and the world.