Hinduism: A Short History (26 page)
Read Hinduism: A Short History Online
Authors: Klaus K. Klostermaier
(Bhāgavata Purāṇa
X, 6, 35).
44.
Anuśānaparvan, chap. 126 (Critical Ed. XIII, Appendix I, 14).
45.
Sabhāparvan, chap. 35;
Viṣṇu-dharmottara
I, 15; Gajendra-mokṣa-dana:
Vāmana Purāṇa
85.
46.
Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa
XII, 3, 4. Also the
Mahābhārata
knows a
ṛṣi
Nārāyaṇa, who in the company of Nārā does
tapasya
in the Himālayas.
47.
L. B. Keny, “The Origin of Nārāyaṇa,”
ABORI
, XXIII (1942), pp. 250–256.
48.
Mahābhārata
, Vanaparvan, 187, 3 (Critical Ed.).
49.
R. G. Bhandarkar,
Vaiṣṇavism
, p. 30, referring to
Mahābhārata
Śāntiparvan, 341 (Critical Ed., 328).
50.
Ibid. Cf.
Manusmṛti
I, 10. According to
Mahābhārata
, Karṇaparvan, chap. 34, Nārāyaṇa is issuing out of the shaft of Śiva’s weapon.
51.
Mahābhārata
, Śāntiparvan, chap. 321ff (Critical Ed.).
52.
Cf. Bhandarkar,
Vaiṣṇavism
, p. 32. See also: B. N. Seal,
Comparative Studies in Vaishnavism and Christianity with an Examination of the Mahabharata Legend about Narada’s Pilgrimage to Svetadvipa and an Introduction on the Histonco-Comparative Method
. Private Publication. Calcutta, 1899.
53.
Śāntiparvan, chap. 326.
54.
From the root
tr-+ava-
. to come down, to descend (for the purpose of salvation).
55.
Bhagavadgītā
IV, 7f.;
Bhāgavata Purāṇa
III, 242ff.
56.
Mahābhārata
, Śāntiparvan, chap. 335. H. Glasenapp,
Heilige Stätten
shows (plate 9) a figure of “Damon Hayagriva – Schutzgott der Pferde”.
57.
Hopkins,
The Great Epic
, p. 97.
58.
Bhāgavata Purāṇa
III, 24ff.
59.
Ibid., V, 3ff.
60.
Bhāgavata Purāṇa
V, 4
61.
Ibid., VI, 8.
62.
Kṛṣṇa is the central figure in the most authoritative scriptures of the Vaiṣṇavas: The
Mahābhārata, Bhagavadgītā, Viṣṇu Purāṇa, Bhāgavata Purāṇa
, etc. Also
liṅga Purāṇa
I,
69; Devī Bhāgavata TV
, 25. Kṛṣṇa is mentioned several times in the
Ṛgveda
, but it is highly doubtful whether he is in any way associated with the Kṛṣṇa-Vāsudeva of the
Bhāgavata. RV VIII
, 74: a Kṛṣṇa invites the gods with songs to drink Soma.
RV
VIII, 85: a Kṛṣṇa-
asura
is mentioned whom Indra defeated. Sāyana apparently identifies him with the Purāṇic Kṛṣṇa.
RV I
, 116: again a Kṛṣṇa-singer is mentioned.
63.
The usual definition of an
avatāra
is
kapaṭamānuṣa
, a “sham man,” while Kṛṣṇa is
svayam bhagavān
, the apparition of the Lord himself in His proper form.
64.
Cf. A. D. Pusalker,
Epics and Purāṇas
, chap. V, “Historicity of Kṛṣṇa,” with copious notes and references to literature.
65.
Cf. D. C. Sircar,
Early History
, pp. 115ff
(HCIP
, vol. I, 302: Deification of Kṛṣṇa before second century B.C.E.).
66.
G. Bhandarkar,
Vaiṣṇavism
, pp. 35ff. M. M. Chandham, “The Indian Cowherd-god,” in
Journal of the Bihar and Orissa Research Society
, 28 (December 1942).
67.
The chief sources for this are the
Harivaṃśa
and the
Bhāgavata Purāṇa
, the former being not earlier than third century C.E. – the latter sixth to tenth century C.E. M. S. Randhawa,
Kangra Paintings of the Bhāgavata Purāṇa
, (Delhi, 1960), Introduction, p. 22: According to M. R. Iyengar “the Bhāgavata was the ripe fruit of the Āḷvār-Vaiṣṇava renaissance and bears the indelible impress of the living mystical experience of the Āḷvārs ...” According to South Indian tradition the
Bhāgavata Purāṇa
was composed in the city of Kāñcī, an ancient seat of Sanskrit learning in the country of the Pāndyas in Tamil Nādu. Thus the
Bhāgavata Purāṇa
is a synthesis of Āryan and Dravidian traditions and ideas and provided a link which forged the unity of Hindu India.
68.
Cf. J. Gonda,
Die Reltgtonen Indtens
, vol. II, pp. 150ff.
69.
Kṛṣṇa is worshiped as
Madan Mohan
, the charmer of the God of Love, outdoing him. S. K. Chaterji,
HCIP
, vol. I, p. 165: “Kṛṣṇa (in Prākṛt Kaṇha, in Tamil Kannan) is a demon opposed to Indra in the
Ṛgveda;
according to P. T. Śrīnivasa Aiyangar, he represents, partially at least, a Dravidian God of Youth, who has later been identified with Viṣṇu as an incarnation of his.”
70.
A. D. Pusalker,
Studies in Epics and Purāṇas
, p. 56: “Kṛṣṇa ... was originally a real man as evidenced by the pre-epic literature and the earliest parts of the Mahābhārata itself.” Rādhākamal Mukherji,
The Culture and Art of India
, p. 67: Kṛṣṇa the statesman and builder of united India: “Vāsudeva Kṛṣṇa is not a legendary but a historical figure who flourished about 1000 B.C. and was one of India’s greatest warriors and sages ... Vyāsa, alias Kṛṣṇa-Dvaipāyana, as the author of the core of the
Mahābhārata
and
Bhagavadgītā
justly deserves honour.” The great Bengali writer Bankim Chandra Chatterjee’s
Kṛṣṇacantra
is a “biography” of Kṛṣṇa as founder of India’s principal religion.
71.
For example, the apparition of Kṛṣṇa in the
Virāṭ
form
(Bhagavadgītā
XII) which is a cosmic, a-historical element; repeatedly mentioned in
Bhāgavata Purāṇa
.
72.
Cf. J. Gonda,
Die Reltgtonen Indtens
, vol. II, pp. 150ff. In some Purāṇas Rādhā appears as a goddess. In poetry she is mentioned from the eighth century onwards. Rādhā is identified with Laksmī by Jayadeva in
Gītāgovinda
(twelfth century C.E.). Vidyāpati composed poems in Maithilī about the love of Kṛṣṇa and Rādhā (fifteenth century), Chandī Dās wrote
Śrī Kṛṣṇa Kīrtana
(c.1420 C.E.). The Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇavas consider the
Gītāgovinda
as literary sequel to the
Bhāgavata Purāṇa
. Mīrābāī wrote a commentary on
Gītā Govtnda
. Vallabha, Sūr Dās, Bihāri Lāl are poets of Kṛṣṇa’s love for Rādhā. The last great poet of Kṛṣṇa-Rādhā love was Guru Gobind Singh (1675–1758). He wrote
Kṛṣṇa Āvatāra
(in Brajbhāṣa).
73.
Cif. V. Ranghacharya, “Historical Evolution of Śrī-Vaiṣṇavas in South India,” in
CHI
, vol. IV, pp. 163ff. See also Sanjukta Gupta “The Pāñcharātra Attitude to Mantra,” in H. P. Alper (ed.),
Mantra
, Albany: SUNY Press, 1987, pp. 224–248.
74.
Bhāgavata Purāṇa
III, 24–33.
75.
Viṣṇu purāṇa
i, 2,.
76.
Lokācārya,
Tattvatraya
, p. 138.
77.
Rāmānuja,
Śrībhāṣya
, I, 1 explains that he is going to give the views of these former teachers who had abridged the lengthy
vṛtti
of Bodhāyana.
78.
About the Āḷvārs: cf. V. Ranghacharya, “Historical Evolution of Śrīvaiṣṇavism in South India,” in
CHI
, vol. IV, pp. 166ff. A. Hooper,
Hymns from the Āḷvārs
. S. N. Dasgupta,
HIPh
, vol. Ill, pp. 63ff. K. V Varadachari,
Āḷvārs of South India
.
79.
Śrīcatusśloki, Stotraratna, Siddhitraya, Āgama prāmānya
.
80.
V. Ranghacharya,
CHI
, vol. IV, pp. 174ff.
;
S. N. Dasgupta,
HIPh
, vol. II, pp. lOOff. J. Sinha,
Indian Philosophy
, vol. II, pp. 653ff. See J. B. Carman,
The Theology of Rāmānuja
. New Haven & London: Yale University Press, 1974. J. Lipner,
The Face of God
, SUNY Press, 1986.
81.
According to a legend Yāmunācārya kept in his death three fingers bent. Rāmānuja inferred that he had died with three unfulfilled wishes which he was going to redeem: to give to the Vaiṣṇavas a
Brahmasūtrabhāṣya
, to perpetuate the memory of Parāśara (the author of the
Viṣṇu Purāṇa)
, and to spread the glory of Nammālvār.
82.
Gītābhāṣya
VII, 18.
83.
These form the central theme of J. B. Carman’s masterly study
The Theology of Rāmānuja. An Essay in Interreligious Understanding
. New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1974.
84.
GĪtābhāṣya
VII, 18.
85.
Śrībhāṣya
II, 3, 41.
86.
Ibid.
87.
Taittirīya Upaniṣad
II, 7.
88.
Vaikuṇṭhagadya 4
.
89.
Vedārthasaṁgraha
, No. 217 (referring to
Viṣṇu Purāṇa
VII, 70).
90.
Śrībhāṣya
I, 1, 4.
91.
Rāmānuja,
Vedāntasāra
I, 1, 1.
92.
Tattvatraya
.
93.
Śrībhāṣya
IV, 4, 5.
94.
The development and the substance of the controversy is analyzed in P. Y Mumme,
The Śrīvaiṣṇava Theological Dispute
. Madras: New Era Publications, 1988.
95.
In matrimonials the Vadagalai or Tengalai affiliation of a bride or bridegroom is always mentioned.
96.
B. N. K. Sharma,
A History of the Dvaita School of Vedānta and its Literature
, 2 vols.
Philosophy of Śrī Madhvācārya
, Bombay 1962; S. Siauve,
La doctrine de Madhva
, Pondicherry, 1968.
97.
Hari is one of the most frequently used names of Viṣṇu; Hara is a name of Śiva.
98.
B. N. K. Sharma,
Philosophy of Śrī Madhvācārya
, pp. 218ff.
99.
Aṇuvyākhyāna
1 (translation: B. N. K. Sarma), p. 89.
100.
Mahābhārata Tātparya Nirṇāya
I, 86.
101.
B. N. K. Sharma,
Philosophy of Śrī Madhvācārya
, p. 140. For Madhva the instruction and guidance by a competent
guru
and his
prasāda
are absolutely necessary for
śravana
and
manana
to bear fruit. The grace of the
guru
is more powerful for release than one’s own effort. He proves his view by commenting on
Brahma sūtras
III, 3, 44–46.
102.
Brahmasūtrabhāsya
IV, 4, 6: “The released have their own separate body consisting of simple intelligence and by that they enjoy their blessings.”
103.
Aṇuvyākhyāna
III, 3.
104.
Brahmasūtrabhāsya
IV, 4, 19;
Aṇuvyākhyāna
III, 3.
105.
Ibid., IV, 4, 5.
106.
2 vols., B. N. K. Sharma,
History of Dvaita Vedānta
, Bombay: Booksellers Publishing Co., 1960–61
107.
Cf. Roma Bose,
Vedānta Panjāta Saurabha
, 3 vols.; R. G. Bhandarkar,
Vaiṣṇaism
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