Skandha 1 - Yajur Veda Australasia - Resources

5 Purāṇa, thus relegating the Viṣṇu Bhāgavata to the position ofan Upa-Purāṇa. According toProf. Hazra (Cultural Heritage of India, Vol. 11, p. 281) the Devi Bhāgavata is only a verylate production of the 12th century and it has carefully incorporated the features of thedescription of the Bhāgavata as found in the Matvya, Skanda and Agni Purāṇas in order toclaim itself to be the Bhāgavata, and thus gain the required prestige for infusing its Saktaideas among men. If for any reason the claim of the Devi Bhāgavata is accepted, then theplace of the Viṣṇu Bhāgavata can only be that of a Super-Purāṇa and not that of an Upa-Purāṇa. For its excellences are of such a transcending nature that it has practicallyeliminated all the other Purāṇas from the minds of men and become the one book of itskind that is widely studied by all devotees, commented upon by scholars of all schools ofthought, and translated into several Indian languages, besides English. Though it isVaishnava, and therefore sectarian in a way, its sectarianism is not one of narrowness andexclusion but only its way of eliciting the undivided attention and devotion of men to theDeity of their choice. In the sublimity, fervour and comprehensiveness of the pattern ofdevotion it inculcates, in the dignity, elevation and terseness of its Sanskrit diction, and inthe lyrical beauty and wealth of imagery of its poetry, there is no Purāṇa that comesanywhere near it. It is undoubtedly one of the greatest productions of the literary andspiritual genius of India.IIIThe Date of the BhāgavataOn the date and the present textual form of the Bhāgavata, modern scholarship is not yet ina position to give a firm answer. According to Prof. Hazra the present text of the Bhāgavatamust have taken shape in the early half of the 6th century A.D. It is, however, admitted byhim that there was an earlier text of it differing very much from the present, as could befound from the description of it given in the Matsya Purāṇa (of early 4th century A.D.). Inthe Introduction to his exhaustive research work entitled the Philosophy of the BhāgavataVol. 1, Prof. Siddheswara Bhattacharya writes:–"The conclusion therefore seems to emerge that Srimad Bhāgavata has threephases of development. In its earliest form it consists of very old material; itwas given the shape of a Mahā-Purāṇa, and this is the second phase, in theearly Christian era; and its last and final phase represents the contribution ofthe Tamil saints. Viewed from this point of view, the extant Srimad Bhāgavatamay be said to be contemporaneous with the Tamil saints (the Alvars)."It may be noted that this theory of a three-phase development finds support from theinternal evidence gathered from the text of the Bhāgavata, which we have treatedelaborately in the Prologues to the second and third Skandhas of the Text. There is mentionof the Bhāgavata transmitted by the Lord to Brahma and by him to Nārada, with permissionto elaborate it as he found necessary, in Sk. 11.9. In Sk. III it is mentioned that theBhāgavata was revealed by Sankarshana to Sanatkumara, from whom it came to Vidurathrough Sānkhyāyana, Parāsara and Maitreya. And in Sk. I it is claimed that Vyāsa got itby meditation, and spread it through his son Suka. This can very well be a refererce to thethree phases of the development of the Text.The theory of the close connection of our present Bhāgavata Text with the Alwarmovement is supported by the highly complementary reference of Srimad Bhāgavata tothat great Bhakti movement associated with them in the following passage (XI.5.38-40):–