58 SOCIAL SCIENTIST the microcosm or the mocrocosm is an illusion; only the self-knowing atman truly exists, free of cycle or sequence.'^ This still fails to explain why such a long-winded exercise is needed to incorporate the Yadu-hero Krishna into the pantheon at a level higher even than Rama, who becomes Arjuna at the tail end of the Parana. D.D. Kosambi, over twenty years ago, in 1964, dealt with this question quite differently when he explained thepuranas as the basis of primitive class, and state formation among people who had previously been independent,^ egalitarian tribes legitimised by a priestly class, very often at the cost of' independent Kshatriya republics. Krishna's genesis is seen in the same perspective; he notes how ^a great deal of doctrine later palmed off in Krishna's name was surreptitiously borrowed from Buddhism; as for that matter were some epithets [Bhagavata, Narottama, Purushottama). Where the Buddha was an historical figure, it is difficult to find anything historical about any of the numerous Krishnas whose myths ad legends coalesced to form the dark What, fundamentally, was the social role of Buddhism now borrowed by the Krishna cult ? It developed out of a crumbling society : "The Buddha accepted the new social requirement in which debtors and slaves could not run away from their obligations, animals could no longer be killed indiscriminately, and private property could not be appropriated. Ability to ^>ay taxes was considered by the Buddha as one of the five fruits of wealth... And at the same time he offered to the oppressed peoples of his times a suitable illusion of ancient tribal communism which was already trampled and undermined in reality. In fact, the Buddha had to act as an unconscious tool of history, and it was not possible for him, though he understood the problem fully well, to change the course of historical transformation and re-establish the pre-class society once again. Class Society, inspire of all its ugliness was a historical necessity, and what the Buddha could do under such a condition was to boost up some of its progressive features in public life and to rescue some of the beneficial aspects of tribal life in a class society."10 In fact, this is precisely what the Krishna legend does, and his multiple affairs with thegopis and encounters with tribal mother-goddesses are loved by the general public as it offers them an illusion of the easy interpersonal relations obtaining in egalitarian societies. But this is only one aspect of the question. The other aspect is that through the association with this egalitarian ideal, an individual relation of submission is built-up, which is described by Kakar in his paper. Erotic Fantasy : the Secret Passion ofRadha and Krishna, as ! follows : "Krishna's erode homage to Radha conveys something of the aching quality of man's fantasy of surrender at the height of sexual excitement."11 But there is more than mere fantasy to it, for we are told : "In the bhakti cults, where the worshipper must create an erode relationship with