Srimad Bhagavata an Introduction

By Swami Tapasyananda

Srimad Bhagavata occupies a central place for all followers of bhakti (devotion). It deals with the various aspects of bhakti in detail and illustrates the ideal and the way to supreme bhakti through the life and teachings of Sri Krishna, the Godhead personified. Its sublime spiritual beauty, graceful literary style and poetic appeal have no parallels in the Puranic literature. No wonder, it is highly revered and widely read by all those who seek God through the path of love and devotion. Besides giving all relevant details about the historicity and origin of Srimad Bhagavata and its philosophy, it serves as a good appetizer for undertaking a complete study of this scripture.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu.com
• Release date: Dec 18, 2013
• ISBN: 9781304708298

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Puranas

1. Origin of the Puranas

Srimad Bhagavata, belongs to the class of Hindu religious literature known as the Puranas. The word Purana literally means ‘narratives of ancient times’. Though the Puranic literature began to take its present shape only from the 5th century B.C., the nucleus from which it developed existed much earlier, and was as old as the Vedic Samhitas themselves. The earliest mention of Purana is in the Atharva Veda (XI. 7.24), where it is said to have originated from the residue (Ucchishta) of sacrifice along with Riks (verses). Samans (songs) and Chandas (metres). Satapatha Brahmana, Gopatha Brahmana and Brihadaranyaka Upanishad mention this, the last of them stating it to have sprung, along with the Vedas and the Itihasas, from the breath of the Mahabhuta (Paramatman).

It is, however, to be noted that only the singular noun Purana is used in all these references. We have to infer from this that the Purana was a branch of Vedic learning and not a separate and diversified religious literature that it came to be in later days. The recital of the Purana, consisting of traditional lore about creation, ancient histories and anecdotes, proverbial sayings and genealogies of kings and Rishis, traditions about the origin of Vedic Mantras and sacrifices, etc., was a regular practice during periods of interval between the rites and ceremonies of protracted Vedic sacrifices. Especially at the royal sacrifices like Aswamedha and Rajasuya, the recitals of what are called Pāriplava Ākhyānas or recurring narrations, commemorating the genealogies of great kingly lines and their pious liberality towards the sacrificial cult formed an important part of the rites. The earliest beginnings of the Purana literature are to be traced to these narrative portions (Ākhyāna-bhāga) of Vedic rites.

Purana-samhita separates from the Veda

In the earliest stages, the recital of the Purana at the sacrificial rites must have been the function of the Brahmana priests themselves; but as time went on, it gradually came to be relegated to a mixed caste called the Suta, probably because its relation with the sacrificial rite was not integral. This bifurcation is indicated by the tradition supported in common by the Vayu, Brahmanda and Vishnu Puranas, that the great sage Vyasa, after compiling the original Purana-samhita, entrusted it to his Suta disciple, Lomaharshana, who, in turn, made it into six versions and taught them to his six disciples. Of these disciples, three made separate Samhitas, and these together with the original of Lomaharshana became the source for all the Purana literature.

This tradition helps us to understand many of the important features of the Purana literature. It proves that there was an original Purana prevalent and that it was very closely associated with Vedic rites under the custody of Brahmana priests. Vyasa, to whom the codification of the Veda is attributed, systematised the original Purana-samhita also, separated it from its identification with Vedic rites, entrusted it to Sutas, who were not Brahmanas, and authorised its elaboration for catering to the changing needs of man from age to age. By the time of the Āpastambha Dharma Sutras (600-300 B.C.), Puranas had become a specialised literature, as we find Āpastambha citing three passages from an unspecified Purana and one passage from a Bhavishya Purana. So the Vedic revelation remained fixed and unalterable, while the Puranas, which embody the philosophy of the Veda cast in a form and against a background that are their own, multiplied into a vast body of literature during a period extending at least from the 6th century B.C. to the 12th century A.D., embodying the devotional teachings of numerous cults and saintly teachers that arose from time to time, as also much available information on a variety of scientific, occult, social and historical themes.

Maha-puranas and Upa-puranas

The Puranas recognised as ancient and comprehensive, and distinguished therefore as Maha-puranas, are eighteen in number. The order in which these eighteen Puranas are listed is as follows: Brāhma, Padma, Vishnu, Vāyu, Bhāgavata, Nāradiya, Mārkandeya, Varāha, Agni, Bhavishya, Brahma-vaivarta, Linga, Skānda, Vāmana, Kūrma, Matsya, Garuda and Brahmānda. The order, however, does not indicate antiquity or importance. The number eighteen got fixed rigidly by the 7th century A.D., probably because this number was considered sacred and because the names of the Puranas included in the list were cited in most of the older works. But the tendency to multiply the Puranas did not stop with this. Revelation had to be an ever-renewing process, as the needs and ideas of new cults and of new peoples, consisting both of foreign invaders and indigenous aboriginals, pressed for accommodation within the pale of the unalterable Vedic revelation, until another eighteen Texts classed as Upa-puranas came to be formed between 650 and 800 A.D.

If a Maha-purana can be described as a ‘Major Purana’, an Upa-purana may, in contrast to it, be described as a ‘Subsidiary Purana’. Though many of these texts do not