Contested genealogies and cross-cultural dynamics in the Hare Krishna movement

When and where to begin the story of Hare Krishna? I could begin by tracing the genealogy of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON, or the Hare Krishna movement) back to the long established tradition of Krishna devotionalism to which its founding leader, the Bengali Vaisnava renunciate A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada (1896–1977), belonged in India. ISKCON devotees themselves trace their sacred genealogy, through Prabhupada and the Bengali Vaisnava tradition, all the way back to Lord Krishna (God) Himself. As an outside observer, I can tentatively concede there is a historical Indian tradition which Prabhupada represented.