The Beautiful Legend of God is the tenth and most significant book in the popular Indian epic Srimad Bhagavata Purana, which is the principal source for the story of Krishna, worshipped in Hinduism as the Supreme Being. Devoted to Krishna's miraculous incarnation, it recounts his childhood and adolescence in the forests of Vrindavan: playing with his friends, dallying amorously with cowherd maidens and stealing butter to feed the monkeys. Krishna emerges from these episodes as an immediately engaging figure, and the stories have inspired generations of artists, musicians, poets, sculptors and dramatists. They also contain invaluable insights into Hindu views on such matters as creation, cosmology, cosmography and the history of the subcontinent. This new translation by Edwin F. Bryant is both faithful to the original Sanskrit text and accessible for contemporary readers. The introduction provides a detailed background to Hinduism and places the work in its philosophical and theological context. There are also notes and a glossary.