HISTORY OF VAISHNAVISM

Lectures by
A W. Entwistle & Prof Hans T .Bakker

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 Vaishnavism up to A.D.1000
Lecture 17/2/81, A W. Entwistle

Vishnu in the Vedic Period

Neither Vishnu nor Siva, the two major gods of modern Hinduism, occupied a particularly prominent
position in the Vedic pantheon. Siva has inherited the characteristics of Rudra, a dangerous and
unpredictable figure who was to be feared on account of his association with the power of the
uncultivated and unconquered. Since he features less in early epigraphy than other deities it has been
suggested that Rudra-Siva remained a deity of the lower classes during this early period. He is always
more readily associated with aspects of religious practice which are referred to as autochthonous or
non-Aryan and was to become the god resorted to by followers of 'left-hand' Tantra and the more
unconventional ascetic orders.

Although Siva also became the object of a more devotional style of worship (bhakti), it was Vishnu, the
only Vedic god who survives in name to the present time as a popular deity, who assimilated the more
benevolent, urbane and conventional elements of early religious practice. His name appears about a
hundred times in the Rig veda and only five hymns are dedicated to him (whereas Indra has about two
hundred and fifty), but later mythology which depicts him as a compassionate god assuming various
incarnations in order to help mankind can be related to his character and role as. they were regarded in
the Vedic period. The central Vedic myth concerning Vishnu describes him as a god who takes three
strides (Trivikrama) which are seen as both an heroic feat of manly strength and an example of his
protectiveness. One hymn (RV 1.154) says that with his three steps he measured out the broad expanse
of the earth, wherein all worlds and beings dwell, and propped up the heavens. His third or highest
footstep (paramam padam) is visualised as a source of honey, the resort of devoted men and a place of
many-horned and swiftly moving cattle. Through his three steps Vishnu is able to manifest himself on
all levels, linking heaven and the world of men and preparing for them a heavenly abode.

The Vedas, however, deal with a basically sacrificial kind of religion in which Vishnu was initially of
only secondary importance. Although, like other Vedic deities, he was associated with cattle,
mountains and soma, the divine elixir, Vishnu was at first a mare assistant or companion of Indra (cf.
RV 1.22.19). Nevertheless there is a possibility that he might have been more important for members
of society whose interests are not expressed in the Vedas, such as women or those concerned with
agriculture, crafts and trade.

As time went by Vishnu began to occupy a more central position in the Scriptures and to acquire a
sacrificial function. He was mentioned once in the Rig veda as the "germ" or 'order' of the sacrifice
(rtasya garbhah, 1.156-3), but later Vedic literature (the Brahmanas) constantly identifies him with
sacrifice as a key figure in renewal rites and one who protects the sacrificer from his errors. The
Trivikrama myth, in which Vishnu appears to represent the axis mundi, led to an association with the
sacrificial -post (yupa) which helped to sustain the components of the universe and served as a means
of attaining the abode of the gods. Rituals involving the axis mundi display a rebirth character,
especially when the sacrificer climbs the yupa and proclaims his arrival in heaven when he sees over
the top. The sacrificer who takes the three strides becomes like Vishnu and encompasses the three
worlds. The Satapatha Brahmana (1-9-3.8ff ) gives a version of the Trivikrama. myth which explains

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that Vishnu truly is the sacrifice and by striding (vi-kram) obtained for the gods that all pervading
power (vikranti) which now belongs to them and which the sacrificer may also acquire through his
strides.

There are other myths in the Brahmanas which deal with Vishnu's role in the sacrifice. One of the most
significant of these is the story of Vamana (SBr 1.2-5), a miraculous dwarf (a common figure in the
folklore of India and elsewhere) who is the only one of the later incarnations of Vishnu to be positively
identified with him at this stage. When the gods and the demons were contending for a place in the
sacrifice the latter agreed that they would be happy to let the gods have as much ground as could be
covered by Vamana. When he lay down on the earth Vamana expanded to encompass the whole
universe and thus won for the gods their supremacy. A later version of this myth, the one usually told
of Vamana as an avatar ('descent, or incarnation) of Vishnu, describes how he defeated Bali, a king of
the demons in a similar way by, taking three expanding strides. Besides representing a mythological
elaboration of the Vedic Trivikrama myth the story of Vamana offers a parable for the relationship
between microcosm and macrocosm, the belief that Vishnu as the supreme soul (purushottama)
corresponds to the thumb-like soul (Purusha) dwelling in the heart of man.

Some myths reveal Vishnu as having something of a solar character, the encompassing the three worlds
by his strides being related to the diurnal course of the sun. A story in the Satapatha Brahmana ( XIV.
1. 1f f ) describes how Vishnu was once sleeping with his head resting on a bow string. The other gods,
jealous of his superiority, sent an army of ants to gnaw through the string which, as it snapped, out
through Vishnu’s neck and sent his head soaring up into the sky to take the place of the sun. The discus
(cakra) which in later iconography was to become one of the attributes used by Vishnu as a weapon,
against demons and opponents, is also considered by some to be associated with the sun.

Vishnu’s emergence from relative obscurity in the Rgveda may be attributed to changes in society
towards a more settled pattern of life for which the older deities, such as Indra the destroyer of cities
who inspired the conquering and nomadic Aryans, became gradually less and less relevant. Eventually
the rise of Buddhism and Jainism were to challenge traditional brahmanical religion and lead to a
revaluation of its concepts regarding the nature of divinity. Vishnu was able to survive partly because
his initial character was vague enough to allow scope for modification of his function and for accretion
of suitable mythological details from other deities, and partly because he had always been an all-
pervasive and benevolent figure who could, for example, assume Agni's sacrificial function of linking
the human and divine worlds but, unlike Agni, was not limited to a particular phenomenon which was
to become of lesser theological importance. He was able to assume Varuna's protective role towards
mankind, a capacity which was eventually to make him a suitable object of devotion and a dispenser of
salvation through his appearances on Earth as an avatara. Vishnu and his avataras assimilated themes
from Vedic mythology, such as Indra's conquest of the serpent Vrtra which was to reappear much later
in the context of Krsna subduing the serpent Kaliya.

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Prajapati, Purusa and Narayana
Towards the end of the Vedic period Vishnu became identified with other divine entities which
brahmanical texts had begun to discuss in more theological or philosophical terms than was usually the
case with the gods of Vedic mythology. One of these was Prajapati, seen as a kind of creator god or
creative principle, who appeared first as a fish, boar and -tortoise (or turtle) and then became identified
with the sacrifice. The interests which Vishnu and Prajapati had in common were to be intensified,
since both were associated with creation and protection. The concept of Purusa as a supreme soul
seems to have been based on the Purusa-sukta, a hymn from the Rig Veda (X.90) which states that the
gods performed a sacrifice at which Purusha was divided up in order to produce the Vedas, wild and
tame animals, the four castes of man, the sun and moon, Indra, Agni, Vayu, the sky and the earth.
Purusa thus came to be regarded as a transcendent soul which, by limiting itself, formed the realm of
our experience. Vedic texts describe a purusa-medha as being a five-day sacrifice which allowed the
performer to surpass all beings and become the totality of existence — a ritual act which was seen as a
disintegration and reintegration resulting in the rebirth of the Cosmic Man.

This Purusa was said to be or to become Prajapati and was synonymous with Narayana. The discussion
of these three concepts or personalities in the Brahmanas represents an attempt to conceive of a
macrocosmic figure which becomes manifest as phenomenal plurality and into whose identity all other
gods merge. The stories concerning Narayana (SBr XII 3.4.1ff., xiii 6.1 ff.) describe how he gained
superiority over all beings by performing a five-day sacrifice and managed to place himself in all the
worlds, gods, Vedas, vital airs etc. and at the same time contain them all within himself.

There is confusion over the etymology of the name Narayana, both in ancient Sanskrit texts as well as
among scholars of the present day. The idea that the name means “lying on the waters” a rather
fanciful etymology suggested in the Mahabharata, gained general acceptance among Hindus and
accords with the way Narayana is depicted both in mythology and iconography of a later period.
Narayana became a name applied to Vishnu when, containing all creation he lies on a serpent upon the
cosmic waters, a concept which first appears in a story told about the sage Markandeya in the
Mahabharata (111.186;188) While wandering through the world Markandeya happened to fall out of
the mouth of Vishnu-Narayana and into the dark ocean, slipping out of existence into the great
nothingness. Vishnu explained that Markandeya was seeing him in the form of Narayana, the source of
the universe, cosmic magician, divine yogi, cycle of the seasons etc., a cosmic vortex which draws
everything back into itself at the time of the dissolution of the universe (pralaya ). The fully developed
concept of Visnu-Narayana, widely accepted in the time of the Puranas, sees him as reclining on the
many-headed serpent Shesha (alias Ananta), with his consorts massaging his feet and Brahma emerging
from a lotus which grows from his navel. Precedents for Vishnu-Narayana as a primordial being resting
on the primeval waters and closely associated with seasonal phenomena may be found in the
Rgveda (X.121 and the following passage,X.82.5-6):

Prior to the sky, prior to the earth, prior to the living gods, what is that embryo which the waters
held first and in which all the gods existed? The waters held that same embryo in which all the
gods exist and find themselves; on the navel of the unborn stood something in which all beings
stood...

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Vasudeva
The grammarian Panini, who lived in the fourth century BC., refers to a group of Vasudevakas who
worshipped Vasudeva and Arjuna, either separately or together, as “an object of bhakti” (Astadhyayi
IV 3.95-98). It is not certain that he was using the term bhakti to refer to a devotional religious cult nor
is it clear whether he is talking about a single sect or two separate ones. In the course of the following
centuries Vasudeva emerged as the chief divinity of the Bhagavatas, predecessors of a form of religion
which later came to be called Vaishnavism. Vasudeva appears to have been originally a chief or tribal
hero of a clan called Sattvata or Vrsni, whose cult was initially confined to the Mathura area but later
spread westwards to Saurashtra when members of the clan migrated. By the second century BC. Arjuna
had disappeared and Vasudeva alone was recognised as a supreme deity who was identified with
Vishnu-Narayana. His name is interpreted to mean “he who pervades all” — one who resides in all
beings and in whom all beings reside.

Evidence for the spread of a Vasudeva cult and for his identification with Vishnu is provided by
various inscriptions dating from the second century BC. to the first century of the Christian era. The
earliest of these found at Besnagar in Madhya Pradesh, records the dedication of a Garuda column or
flagstaff in honour of Vasudeva 'the god of gods' by Heliodorus, Greek ambassador at the court of
Kasiputra Bhagabhadra, ruler of Vidisa. The existence of this column and others like it implies that
Vasudeva was recognised by members of the ruling class who erected in his honour these equivalents
of the Vedic sacrificial yupa. Another inscription from Ghosundi in south-western Rajasthan records
the erection of a wall around a place of worship for the divinities Vasudeva and Samkarsana which is
called Narayana-vataka. An indication that these two deities were recognised in the Poona region
during the first century B.C. is given in an inscription found at Nanaghat which includes their names in
a list of brahmanical deities, a sign that traditional religion was prepared to acknowledge and
incorporate the cult of the Bhagavatas. Another inscription dating from the first century after Christ and
found at the Mora well near Mathura records the establishment of images of the five heroes (pancavira)
of the Vrsnis in a stone shrine. These five heroes were Vasudeva, Samkarsana, Pradyumna, Aniruddha
and Samba, of whom the first two were to retain their status as divine figures while the others were to
appear in the Puranas as subsidiary characters in Krsna mythology or as names of various kinds of
emanation (vyuha) of the supreme being in later theology.

It has been suggested that the rise of Buddhism and Jainism encouraged brahmins of the Vedic tradition
to associate Vasudeva with Vishnu-Narayana in order to win over followers of the popular Bhagavata
cult. There is nothing in early inscriptions which shows that such an association of their deity with
Vishnu was accepted by the Bhagavatas themselves and references in several texts imply that the
ksatriya Satvatas had a somewhat irreverent attitude to Vedic culture. The unanimity of Hindu, Jaina,
Buddhist and Greek (viz. Megasthenes) tradition indicates that Vasudeva was a member of the
Vrsni/Satvata/Yadava clan originally centered around Mathura and that it was in later mythology that
he was presented as being identical with Krsna whose half-brother Balarama was none other than
Samkarsana.

In the Mathura region Balarama is still worshipped by certain people as an independent deity and there
is some indication that initially Samkarsana was regarded, at least by some of their worshippers as the
foremost of the Vasudeva/Samkarsana pair. Stories in the Mahabharata and Puranas and the earliest
iconographical representations of Samkarsana-Balarama reveal his origins as an agricultural or fertility
deity (he holds a plough) who was also associated with snakes (iconography depicts him with a canopy
of serpent hoods, MBh XIII 132.8-11 refers to him as foremost of the Nagas and in mythology he came

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to be recognised as an incarnation of the serpent Shesha) and with intoxicating liquor ( he often holds a
cup and some stories tell how he became drunk with toddy made from the palmyra). Megasthenes says
that the Indians speak of three individuals called Dionysos who appeared in different ages, namely
Indra, Siva and Samkarsana, while Kautilya suggests that a spy should disguise himself as an ascetic
worshipper of Samkarshana, with shaven head or matted hair, and outwit his opponents by giving them
a stupefying drink (Artha-shastra-.XIII-3-67)- His incorporation into the Vaishnava pantheon must
have helped to bring people of the agricultural and lower classes into the Vaisnava fold.

Although he was of supreme importance for the early Bhagavatas and at one time Vishnu worship
gained much ground by assimilating him, Vasudeva is no longer worshipped as a deity, though his
name is still invoked in the widely used mantra: om namo bhagavate vasudevaya. Whatever
independent characteristics Vasudeva might have had as a divine figure were to become incorporated
into the personality of Krsna.

Krsna and Vasudeva

The exact connection between Vasudeva and Krsna, and how they came to be associated with each
other if indeed they were ever completely separate personalities, is a matter of considerable obscurity.
Later mythology states that Krsna was the son of Vasudeva (presumably derived in retrospect from the
supposedly patronymic Vasudeva) and Devaki (given as the name of the mother of an apparently
different Krsna in Chandogya Upanishad 111 17.6). He and Balarama were said to have been
conceived when Vishnu placed a black and a white hair from his head in the wombs of Devaki and
Rohini respectively. Theories -out forward by earlier scholars that Krsna had a solar origin (Barth) or
was originally a vegetational deity (Keith) or that some of his mythology derived from Christian
accounts of the birth of Jesus no longer find support, nor are attempts to relate Krsna to characters of
the same name mentioned in the Rig Veda and Chandogya Upanisad very convincing, although such
references were taken up by later writers of mythology and scriptural commentaries. Arjuna, for
example, is used in the Rig Veda as an epithet of Indra, and Krsna and Arjuna are used in the sense of
“black” and “white” (RV VI 9.1, X 21.3). In the search for precedents for Krsna as a cowherd (Gopala,
Govinda, Gopendra etc.) much has been made of the fact that the epithet gopa is applied to Vishnu in
the Rig Veda (1 22.18, 111 55.10), though the term is applied to other Vedic gods as well, most of
whom were somehow associated with cattle. There is also a reference to cows in connection with the
area along the banks of the Yamuna (RV V.52.17)and the Brahmanas refer to a certain Gobala Varsna
(Taittiriya Samhita 111 11.93 and Jaiminiya Br.I.6.1 ). At best such references might be held to
endorse the idea that Krsna was an ancient, sectarian, tribal or 'folk' deity who, before he became
identified with Vishnu, may have been synonymous with Vasudeva and whose worship may have been
related to that of the agricultural deity Sankarsana.

Krsna as he appears in the earliest texts which narrate stories about him is not a deity, whatever might
be said about Vasudeva. Buddhist and Jaina literature preserve references to Krsna-Vasudeva as a
human hero and the Mahabharata shows traces of Krsna having been initially regarded as a mortal
human being. Krsna and/or Vasudeva, like Gautama Buddha and Mahavira, thus appear to have been
men who became deified after their death. In the fourth century B.C. Megasthenes, and later Arrian,
referred to the worship of Herakles by the Sourasenoi (Saurasenas) of Methora (Mathura) and an
unidentified place called Kleisobora (= Krsna-pura ?). Two centuries later Patanjali (Maha-bhashya on
sutra, IV 3.98) says that the Vasudeva mentioned earlier by Panini is the name of the 'worshipful one',
He also says that Krsna slew Kamsa 'a long time ago', and states elsewhere that it was Vasudeva who

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killed him, implying that the two were identified with each other in his time. He mentions the
performance of plays dealing with the slaying of Kamsa and says that music was played in gatherings
at temples of Rama (a name frequently used for Balarama in early texts) and Kesava (ibid. on sutra 11
2.34). The Bodhayana Dharma Sutra (11 5.24) says that the epithet Kesava applies to Vishnu,
suggesting that Vasudeva-Krsna was already associated with Vishnu-Narayana.

Patanjali refers only to Krsna’s overthrow of Kamsa, a tyrannical usurper of the throne of Mathura. An
extensive account of his background, heroic feats and of his eventual identification with Visnu-
Narayana was compiled over a long period in the Mahabharata.

The Mahabharata and the Bhagavad Gita

The gradual transition of Krsna from human to divine status may be traced in the different stages of the
Mahabharata, an epic which, in its basic form and outline, may date back as far as the fifth century BC.
but which was modified and enlarged over several centuries, acquiring the form in which we know it
today by about A.D.400. The main thread of the story deals with rivalry between the Kurus and
Pancalas (Kauravas and Pandavas) in the Punjab region which culminated in the battle of Kuruksetra. it
was originally told by charioteers who also functioned as bards (sutas) in a style which could readily
accommodate digressions and sub-plots. Krsna appears as a Yadava chief, based in Dwarka after
having spent his youth in Mathura, who fought on the side of the Pandavas and who, just before the
great battle was about to commence, delivered a sermon to the despondent Arjuna in the form of the
Bhagavad-gita in which he revealed his identity as the supreme being.

It seems that somewhere around 300 BC. the Brahmins began to elaborate this originally ksatriya epic,
inserting stories about the gods, long discourses on dharma and promoting the idea that the hero Krsna
is a manifestation of Vishnu. It is generally thought that the Bhagavad-gita was originally a separate
text which was incorporated into the epic when it became more Vaishnava in orientation. Most scholars
assign the Bhagavad-gita to the period between the 5th and 2nd centuries BC, the majority favouring
the second century but some suggesting that an older version of the text was adapted for inclusion in
the epic. Those who say that it was originally a separate text are inclined to regard it as a kind of
Upanishad used by the Bhagavatas which was incorporated into the Mahabharata once the
identification of Vasudeva with Vishnu had become accepted.

The Bhagavad-Gita is a dialogue cast in the traditional Upanishadic question and answer form,
affording Krsna an opportunity of explaining to Arjuna a series of principles regarding man's fate and
duty. He encourages Arjuna, who is reluctant to take part in an internecine battle, to re-evaluate death
and killing by considering life from the point of view that the body belongs to a transient world of
phenomena. Arjuna repeatedly asks for further explanation and justifications, but Krsna gradually
manages to dispel his doubts by trying different lines of argument, eventually transcending all his
reasoning by a stunning revelation of his cosmic form. This finally convinces Arjuna who duly takes
part in the battle, reassured by the conviction that the warriors are fulfilling the demands of the dharma
which regulates the universe.

The Bhagavad-Gita appears to be the product of a more 'orthodox' phase or form of Vasudeva worship
which blended the devotional religion of the Bhagavatas with a philosophical outlook based on the
widely accented Samkhya and yoga systems. Its basic aim is to explain how the soul can attain
Godhead and to demonstrate that dharma-consists in fulfilling one’s obligations to society and to god
by acting without desire for personal benefit or reward. In the course of his exposition Krsna deals with

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three possible approaches; the way of study, meditation and intellectual apprehension (jnana-yoga), the
way of actions, especially ritual actions (karma-yoga)and the way of devotion and surrender to a
personal god (bhakti-yoga). The lines of argument Krsna uses incorporate the monism of the early
Upanishads and the theistic tendency of the later ones with the dualistic explanation offered by
Samkhya of the relationship between soul (Purusha) and matter (Prakrti). Upanisadic monism provides
the overall metaphysical foundation, Samkhya supplies the ontological and meta-psychological
framework and yoga an ethical substance and some basic praxis.

Samkhya ontology is employed in the Bhagavad-gita to explain the process by which the One becomes
manifold, purusa and prakrti being viewed not as distinct entities but rather as two poles of the same
Being experiencing itself as separate only on a spatio-temporal level. Krsna steers clear of any atheistic
tendency in the system and says that the self is a fragment (amsha) of the supreme being, whereas
traditionally Samkhya postulated a plurality of transcendent selves. Yoga offered a praxis using
Samkhya theory and adding the concept of a theistic Isvara. In his exposition of yoga Krsna
recommends a path of renunciation in action rather than from action, stressing the need to participate in
society rather than seek a solipsistic withdrawl thus regarding one’s actions in the world as a better test
of one’s inner achievements. True renunciation consists in acting disinterestedly and dedicating the
fruits of one’s actions to god, not in cultivating yogic absorption (samadhi) or miraculous power
(siddhi).

The most significant teaching of the Bhagavad-gita for later Hinduism is the supremacy given to bhakti
as an approach to the divine. The root bhaj in the Vedas has the meaning of 'divide', ‘share’,’partake
of'’, with the derivatives bhakti meaning 'a share' or 'portion', bhakta 'that which is allotted' or ‘one who
receives a share', and bhagavat 'one who is possessed of shares or wealth'. The use of the term bhakti to
refer to a participation of the soul in the divine (encountered perhaps for the first time in Svetasvatara
Upanisad VI.23) came to be used increasingly in a religious context in which the semantic sphere of
bhakti encompassed worship and devotion with respect to a personal god. The idea of humble, loving
and devoted service required the existence of a god with an adorable physical form with whom the
devotee could experience an intimate and personal bond. Vasudeva-Krsna revealed himself to be just
such an approachable manifestation of the supreme being, fulfilling a messianic role well suited to a
period in Indian history when old notions of tribal solidarity became less influential as the Mauryas
established a stable state and more centralised system of government.

While Buddhism, Jainism and the Upanisads taught that man should renounce worldly life in order to
realise his essential identity with the universal self, since the phenomenal world is in some sense
unreal, the Bhagavad-gita declared that man has a duty to promote stability, solidarity and the common
good (loka-sangraha). It offered a spiritual life in which all could participate, recommending that
bhaktas should meet together for communal worship. Although the older sacrificial type of religion is
not explicitly condemned in the Bhagavad-gita the concept of sacrifice is redefined metaphorically as
disinterested performance of one's duty as a 'sacrifice in the fire of restraint'. one verse indicates the
possibility of a form of worship which was open to all, not merely to those who could afford to sponsor
brahminical rituals:

patram puspam phalam toyam yo me bhaktya prayacchati

tad aham bhakty-upahrtamasnami prayatatmanah (IX.26)

This statement that a leaf, flower, fruit or water serves as an acceptable offering of devotion when
presented by one with a devout soul indicates the recognition of a more popular, democratic and non-
Vedic form of worship — the kind of puja which was to become so characteristic of Vaisnavism.
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Although Vasudeva-Krsna declared himself to be the source of all creation and a personification of
Brahman, he does not state explicitly that he is an incarnation of Vishnu-Narayana. He does not
propagate any avatara theory although, when talking about his having appeared in the past to teach
yoga to Vivasvan, he refers to different births (in terms of sambhava, and srjana) of his eternal self
when he became manifest through his magic power Once the avatara had become accepted later
Vaisnavas referred back to the following Slokas as being an announcement of Vishnu’s purpose in
descending to earth in different forms:

yada yada hi dharmasya glanir bhavati bharata

abhyutthanam adharmasya tadaatma-nam.srjamy aham
paritranamca sadhunam vinasaya ca duskrtim
dharma-samsthapanarthaya sambhavami yuge-yuge(IV-7-8)

These slokas are often quoted to explain that in every age, whenever there is a decline in dharma and
upsurge of adharma, Vishnu assumes the form of an avatara in order to protect the righteous, destroy
the wicked and establish dharma once again. In the Bhagavad-gita Vasudeva-Krsna, no longer simply a
tribal hero, is presented as a Bhagavan who is identical with the Brahman of the Upanisads as well as
an embodiment of divine grace and love, showing concern for the welfare of mankind but still not
specifically identified as a manifestation of Vishnu-Narayana.

The Bhagavatas and Pancharatra

Later portions of the Mahabharata reveal a growing acceptance of the notion that Vasudeva-Krsna and
Vishnu-Narayana are different manifestations of the same godhead. This assimilation of the gods and
religious practices of the Bhagavatas into the orthodox brahminical tradition is reflected both in
adaptation and conflation of mythology and in changes in the style of worship and ritual. The term
‘Vaisnava’ appeared for the first time with reference to one who adores Vishnu as supreme being (cf.
MBH XVIII 6.97). Previously, and for some time after-wards, the generally accepted term for one who
followed the religion expounded in the Bhagavad-gita was ‘Bhagavata’. The later Narayaniya section
of the Mahabharata (XII 12-321 ff.) refers to the religion of the Bhagavatas as being also termed
Satvata, Ekantin or Pancharatra and that it was revealed to the sage Narada by Narayana and was also
expounded by Krsna in his address to Arjuna on the battlefield.

Neither the Bhagavad-gita nor the Mahabharata appear to present the doctrines of the Bhagavatas in
their original or unalloyed form. The Bhagavad-gita presented their doctrines in a traditionally
acceptable framework of Samkhya, Yoga, Dharma etc. , whereas later more independent Bhagavata
texts reveal that some of them retained their older metaphysical and theological ideas. A fundamental
concept in their system of belief was the idea that Vasudeva as supreme soul transposed or distributed
aspects of himself in a series of emanations which were termed vyuhas and which were named after
Samkarsana, Pradyumna and Aniruddha. These vyuhas were phases of conditioned spirit from which
individual souls, minds and the physical elements came into being. They are not mentioned in the
Bhagavad-gita but, in the account of the Bhagavata religion given in the Narayaniya section they are
represented as being part of the same religion taught to Arjuna by Krsna.

The religion presented in the Narayaniya section emphasises the idea that god is not to be perceived by
ane who follows a sacrificial mode of worship or practises austerity, but by one who cultivates loving

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devotion. Vasudeva is identified with Narayana who by now was visualised as a cosmic deity resting
upon Sesa and containing all the universe within him. Narayana is described as being the eternal Soul-
of-the-universe who, having four forms called Nara, Narayana, Hari and Krsna was born as the son of
Dharma with Ahimsa as mother.

Although the Bhagavatas and followers of Pancaratra worshipped the same supreme god Vasudeva
they are enumerated separately in various lists of different sects. It seems that- they were different
schools of thought within the same cult, the Bhagavatas being more inclined to accept the brahminical
social order while the followers of Pancaratra were indifferent or even opposed to it. While the
Bhagavatas participated with the traditional brahmins in the development of a Vaisnava religion which
was accepted by the ruling classes during the Gupta period, the Pancaratra school continued to exist as
a distinct group which retained its original doctrines and followed a different style of worship.
Eventually, however, the distinction between the two schools disappeared and Pancharatra texts
became used as ritual manuals for Vaisnavism in general.

The origin of the Pancharatra school and its relationship to the Bhagavatas is obscure. They were all
monotheists and devotees of Vishnu (once he had become accented as supreme deity), but the
Pancharatra school appears to have had additional or supplementary literature and ritual.. They
emphasised the vyuha doctrine and tried for as long as possible to reconcile it with the avatara doctrine
which was eventually to prevail. They were less inclined to present their doctrines in a samkhya
framework and their later ritual texts show that they favoured practices of a tantric nature which were
probably widespread but were not initially acceptable in the more brahminical style of Vaishnavism.
As an aspect of or cult within Vaishnavism they survived right through the Gupta period and around
the eigthth or ninth century were attacked by Sankara for being heterodox or non-Vedic, though they
themselves claimed that their practices and beliefs were based on Sruti. By this time the South of India
had become a stronghold of Vaishnavism and there were Vaishnava Pancharatra schools over a wide
area.

Although it is uncertain when and where it began, Pancharatra must have been active since the early
centuries B.C. Members of the cult even seem to have forgotten the origin of the name of their school,
since their texts offer a variety of etymologies based on any acceptable pentad and various
interpretations of the obscure term ratra. The bulk of their surviving literature was composed during
the Gupta period and the centuries which followed (the earliest perhaps dating from the fifth century),
thus their tradition is much older than any of their extant works. Different Pancharatra schools
compiled enormous samhitas (traditionally a hundred and eight in number, though only a few survive,
many only in a fragmentary form) which dealt with ritual and liturgy and, apart from differences in
nuance or detail, were largely homogeneous. Few of them received any form of commentary by later
Vaisnavas, but a large number of shorter manuals, digests and breviaries were derived from them
which were widely circulated in -the medieval period and are still referred to by devotees today (the
sort of doctrinal and ritual texts which include in their titles -sara, -sangraha, -prayoga, -vidhi. -nirnaya,
-pradipa, -paddhati, -candrika etc.).

The Pancharatra Samhitas dealt with a wide range of topics, including philosophy, theories of mantra,
yantra and yoga, the construction of temples, iconography and the manufacture and dedication of idols,
domestic observances, social rules and festivals, always insisting on communal worship with other
Vaishnavas. The chronology of the literature is uncertain, but generally the later samhitas show an
atrophy of philosophy and more elaborate description of rituals and esoteric practices. They are usually
in question and answer form, introducing digressions, stories, hymns of praise and authoritative
citations and are always assertive and dogmatic in tone. Their authors had a strong tendency towards
10
gratuitous systematisation, correlating and enumerating various categories of things according to
numerological schema. The mythical tales usually illustrate how Vishnu, through grace, the
intercession of sages or through ritual devices, helps his worshipper in overcoming opponents and
difficulties. They also retained the vyuha doctrine which, in the Vaishnava Puranas, yielded to the
belief in avataras. They adapted the avatara theory to the vyuha doctrine and said that along with these
emanations of Vishnu there arose Visnu’s heaven of Vaikuntha, a manifestation of his transcendent
power where he resides in his highest form. Once freed from the limitations Of existence in the
phenomenal world the soul enters into the heaven of Vaikuntha, also called Visnuloka or Paramapada.

Two later texts (post A.D.900) which deal specifically with bhakti and became widely studied are the
Naradiya bhakti sutras and Sandilya bhakti sutras, the former being used exclusively by southern
Indian Vaisnavas. Although their philosophical importance is small they had a considerable influence
on popular religion as a result of the emphasis they placed on bhakti as a kind of intense love,
cultivation of which was open to all and superseded all other approaches to god.

During a period of over a thousand years following the composition of the Bhagavad-gita the religion
of the Bhagavatas and Pancharatra blended with traditional Hinduism to form a sectarian Vaisnava
pattern of worship. Epigraphic and other sources of this period indicate that Vaisnavism enjoyed the
patronage of many rulers and wealthy citizens and spread over most of India, often becoming
associated with local or rcgional cults. The Pancharatra samhitas .represent a brahminical formulation
of a system of non-Vedic rites which eventually became accepted as being orthodox. The acceptance
of popular idols by the brahmins brought about a harmonisation of idolatry with Vedic tradition in
which Vedic mantras were superimposed on forms of ritual with which they originally had no
connection. Worship of Siva also underwent similar changes and was adopted by several rulers, though
in general a non-sectarian smarta attitude prevailed and there was no basic conflict between Saivas and
Vaisnavas during this period. A new form of Hinduism evolved in which the rich could earn merit by
building temples and the poor and uneducated could hope to improve their position, at least in their
next birth, by simple devotion and observance of the social obligations imposed upon them by the
priesthood and rulers. The emphasis was on faith rather than logic and learning, and all kinds of
popular beliefs, superstitions and stories could be assimilated into an overall Sanskritic religious
framework.

The Vaisnava Puranas

By the time it had attained its final extensive form the Mahabharata had incorporated many accounts of
episodes of Krsna’s life which it is difficult to place alongside older legends to produce a consistent
and chronological biography. Additional stories dealing with Krsna’s early years in and around
Mathura were to acquire greater religious significance, while the narratives describing his years in
Dwarka and the conflicts between different branches of the Yadava clan attracted less attention from
Vaishnava devotees. The Mahabharata does allude to some of Krsna's childhood feats (such as in a
diatribe against him delivered by a rival Yadava chieftain called Sisupala, 2:38), but the first extended
account of his early years appeared in the Harivamsa, a supplement to the Mahabharata written in about
the fourth century of the Christian era, and the more or less contemporary Vishnu-Purana. A play by
Bhasa entitled Balacarita appeared in the same period featuring the exploits of the child Damodara
(‘having a cord around the waist’, an epithet of Krsna) and his brother/friend Samkarsana. These texts
brought out new elements in the Krsna story which had probably been long current in folk tradition.

11
The next few centuries witnessed the compilation of other Puranas, often identical for pages, which
incorporated a large amount of mythological and didactic material. The basic repertoire of Vaishnava
Purana material was consolidated during the fourth to the ninth centuries, though passages continued to
be interpolated and new Puranas were written right through the medieval period, usually of a distinctly
sectarian nature. Mythological and theological notions from older Scriptures were reinterpreted and
combined with later ideas and evolutionary theories while genealogical legends were included to give
the narrative some vague kind of historical context.

The Vishnu Purana introduced a version of the story of Prahlada, whose love for Vishnu was so strong
that he was able to resist the persecution he suffered at the hands of his father. Prahlada was regarded
as an exemplary bhakta who experienced devotional ecstasy, enjoying god's love as others enjoy the
pleasures of the senses. The Matsya Purana is a notable example of how theories of the cosmic nature
of Vishnu were developed in this period, while the ninth century Bhagavata Purana imbued with
devotional significance the early pastoral life of Krsna and his amorous encounters with the girls who
tended the cows (gopis). Buddhist and Jaina literature also referred to Krsna, Vasudeva or Dgmodara,
indicating the widespread currency of the legends, but often showing him in a rather unfavourable
light, perhaps indicative of the fact that his cult was being adopted by the brahmins.

This same period also produced the earliest extant Vaishnava iconography, including the depiction of
Vishnu lying on the serpent (ananta-sayana or sesa-sayana). Episodes from Krsna’s early life were
also popular, particularly his holding up of the Govardhana mountain in order to protect the inhabitants
of Braj from torrential rain inflicted upon them by a jealous Indra. An important monument is the sixth
century Dasa-avatara temple at Deogarh (near Jhansi)' which had a number of sculptural panels
depicting all the ten avataras of Vishnu, indicating that by then the ten incarnations had become
recognised.

From a mythological point of view the idea of avataras is one of the most significant aspects of
Vaishnavism to develop during this period. It meant that different kinds and modes of worship could be
brought within the general domain of Vaishnavism, and seems to have begun to evolve with the
identification of Krsna as a human incarnation of Vishnu-Narayana who came to Earth with the
specific purpose of destroying evil and maintaining dharma. It is a concept different from the Vedic
idea that gods were capable of assuming different forms and may be related to the Buddhist and Jaina
notion of previous compassionate bodhisattvas or tirthankaras.

The Narayaniya section of the Mahabharata contains lists of four and six manifestations including
Hayasirsa and Hamsa who had recovered the Vedas from the ocean. They both disappeared from later
lists which present a standard number of ten avataras, namely Matsya, Kurma, Varaha, Vamana,
Narasimha, Parasu-rama, Rama, Krsna, Buddha and Kalki. Some-later texts produced lists of twenty-
four and twenty-nine avataras which included several mythological and semi-human characters but
which never became popularly accepted. The first four avataras appeared in older texts but were not
initially associated with Vishnu. The three theriomorphic avataras, although they can be traced back to
Vedic literature where they are said to dive under water and bring things up, are regarded by some to
have been incorporated into Vaishnavism because they were once tribal deities or totems. The
anthropomorphic avataras were added later when Vishnu came to be regarded as a god who intercedes
in human form.

Matsya, the fish avatara, appeared in the Brahmanas as a saviour of Manu,(SBr.I.8.1 ff.). The fish was
cared for by Manu when it was tiny and was released into the ocean by him once it had grown large
enough, in return for which it towed Manu's boat to safety when the waters inundated the earth. It was
12
perhaps the expansion in Matsya’s size which led to its association with the all-pervasive Vishnu. In
the Matsya Purana’s retelling of the story the fish grows to an enormous and terrifying size, and when
Manu declares that he recognises it to be Vishnu it promises to rescue him from the flood along with
other creatures placed in the boat. Kurma, the turtle became identified with Vishnu perhaps because it
was a form assumed by Prajapati and was a creature upon which the world rests and allowed its back to
be used as the pivot for the axis mundi when the ocean was churned by the mods in competition with
the demons. In the Brahmanas Varaha was a boar form, of Praja-pati which kept the earth afloat by
spreading it out on the surface of the waters, a protective and expansive action which could readily be
associated with Vishnu. The boar was also a sacrificial animal which was associated with fertility
because it produced large litters and because its tusk (potra),with which it dug up the earth, was
associated with the plough. As an independent cult the worship of Varaha may be traced to the Vindhya
region on the evidence of texts, inscriptions and a temple in Saugor district (Madhya Pradesh) dated
around AD 500.

The later version of the Vamana story (mentioned above with the introduction of the demon king Bali
as his opponent, appeared as part of the avatara cycle during this period.

Vishnu assumed the form of Narasimha (or Nrsimha, the man-lion) in order to slay a demon name
Hiranyakahipu who had gained a boon that he could be slain by neither man nor beast, neither by night
or day. Narasimha burst out of a pillar at sunset and ripped Hiranyakasipu apart with his claws. With
the exception of a late passage added to the Taittiriya Aranyaka (X .1.6) Narasimha is not mentioned in
Vedic literature. He might have been a wrathful deity worshipped in central Punjab by the Madrakas
who had their capital at Sialkot (as suggested in the Visnu-dharmottar-purana) an area where his
worship is still popular. Parasurama, called Rama Bhargava because he belonged to the clan of Bhrgu,
was present at the Kuruksetra battle, annihilated the ksatriyas twenty-one times and, on the command
of his father killed his mother because of her unlawful desires, though later prayed for her to be
restored to life. There is no evidence of his having had any independent cult following and so his
apotheosis was probably the work of Bhargava brahmin redactors of the Mahabharata whose inclusion
of him in the list of avataras somehow became generally accepted.

The Ramayana story was in existence long before Rama, son of Dasaratha, became recognised as an
avatara. The Ramayana , like the Mahabharata, was originally a secular heroic epic and it was only in
the first and last books, added in the third or fourth century, that he is declared to be a manifestation of
Vishnu. Krsna, the first anthropomorphic figure to appear in the earliest lists of avataras, had a broad
base in popular tradition and, since he was also the enunciator of the Bhagavad Gita, enjoyed a
remarkable growth in popularity during the Gupta period. Gautama Buddha first appeared as an
avatara in the Visnu Purna, but not as an attempt to incorporate Buddhism into Vaishnavism since
Vishnu’s purpose was to destroy the demons by uttering anti-Vedic statements, thereby corrupting and
misleading them with an evil doctrine. Kalki, the avatara who will appear as a horseman at the end of
Kaliyuga to uproot the heathens and re-establish the true dharma, may owe something to the Buddhist
concept of Maitreya

The avatara doctrine helped Vaishnavism to acquire a cultural unity throughout the area in which it
spread, helped the orthodoxy to accommodate regional religious traditions and enabled rulers to
promote the idea that they were themselves some form of avatara. In older mythology the early
avataras had no moral purpose of helping man but did so only indirectly by subduing demons or
rescuing the earth. The Puranas adapted the older stories to show how Vishnu was a compassionate god
who intervened to promote the welfare of man and show him a path to salvation.

13
In the same period Garuda, the solar bird and enemy of the serpent whose history dated back several
hundred years and has parallels in Mesopotamian legends, was given the role of Vishnu’s vehicle
(vahana) while Lakshmi was presented as his consort.

Lakhsmi, whose name means ‘mark’, ‘sign, or ‘token’, may formerly have been a goddess of
prognostications before she became associated with good luck or fortune, while her other name, Sri
may have been that of a separate goddess of well-being and prosperity. Her association with water and
lotuses perhaps indicates her origins as a fertility goddess, as does her representation as.Gaja-lakshmi
in which she is bathed by elephants as she rises out of the water during the churning of the ocean. As a
promoter of wealth and prosperity she was adopted by the merchant classes as a patron goddess and
was among the earliest figures to be depicted on coins. She had been associated with Indra and Kubera
before she was given the role of Vishnu’s consort and is nowadays the principal deity worshipped at
the Divali festival, an occasion primarily associated with the merchant classes and formerly a festival in
which Kubera was prominent. She first appears in association with Vishnu in later passages added to
the Mahabharata, though it was Tantric influence in the Pancharatra samhitas which brought her into
prominence. She was presented as Visnu’s Sakti, a dynamic power active in the world to carry out the
will of her transcendent consort, the two of them being visualised as a divine couple referred to as
Laksmi-narayana. The Pancharatra school produced many theories about her role and status, explained
in fullest detail in the Laksmi Tantra, written in about the ninth or tenth century and the only
Pancharatra work exclusively devoted to Lakshmi in which she was established as a creative principle
at least equal to Vishnu.

Of all the divine figures who became associated with Vishnu it was Krsna who was best suited to the
bhakti approach, and so his mythology was elaborated accordingly in order to emphasise themes which
could evoke a strong emotional response and personal identification with him or with episodes in his
earthly life. This led to an expansion of the myths about his early life as an adorable child and amorous
youth, and a waning of interest in his later heroic period. A problem for scholars is the identification of
the different groups of legends which coalesced to form the Krsna known to us from the Puranas. He
was a miraculous infant who was fostered by a pastoral community of cattle owners, an amorous gopa
who flirted with the gopis, a slayer of Kamsa a Yadava chieftain, who became the king of Dwarka with
sixteen thousand wives, and a participant in the Kuruksetra battle as well as the expounder of the
Bhagavad Gita. Some claim that there need be no inconsistency, that all the legends relate to a single
person who was initially an historical figure. They point out that there need be no contradiction
between a pastoral childhood and eventual emergence as a prophet and hero, citing Moses,.
Mohammed and Rama as other examples of religious leaders who first spent several years in exile. It is
also difficult to find convincing evidence for the existence among the nomadic Abhira tribe of a child-
god cult which became incorporated into Vaishnavism through identification with the infant Krsna.
There is, however, a marked contrast between Gopala-Krsna, the just defeater of demons and protector
of the country folk of Braj, and the later Krsna of Dwarka who appears as a much more political and
opportunistic figure who, at Kuruksetra, encouraged the Pandavas to defeat their opponents by deceit
and justified such actions by referring to the theory of karma and the demands of expediency in the
interests of dharma.

The Bhagavata Purana is concerned primarily with Krsna’s years in Braj, culminating in the slaying of
Kamsa and dealing with other, parts of his biography in a rather perfunctory manner. It was written in
consciously archaic Sanskrit somewhere in the south of India where stories about the young Krsna
were popular and had featured in popular songs by a series of saints called the Alvars. The Bhagavata
Purana became the most important scripture and source book for later Vaishnava bhakti sects,
particularly those chapters dealing with his dalliance with the gopis which culminated in a round dance
14
(maharasa, an elaboration of a hallisaka dance mentioned in the Harivamsa and Balacarita) which was
interpreted as a communion between god and the individual souls and contrasted with periods when
Krsna was absent, during which the gopis experienced intense pangs of love in separation
(viraha/viyoga) comparable to the yearning of a bereft soul for union with the Godhead.

The Alvars
The Alvar saints of Tamil. Nadu are India’s earielst devotional poets in a vernacular language. They
flourished from the 7th to the 9th centuries, but their biographies were not recorded until the 13th
century and so contain largely miraculous hagiographical stories with little or no historical information.
It was a period when Buddhism and Jainism were in decline and when Vaishnavism and Saivism were
developing characteristic modes of worship. The Saiva counterparts to the Alvars were the Nayanmars,
both of them being groups of inspired poets who expressed their divine revelations in a personal and
intensely emotional way.

Antecedents for their style of poetry may be found in earlier Tamil literary traditions, particularly a
form of song composed by bards in praise of feudal patrons as a request for some kind of gift. The
Alvars adapted the form to a personal appeal to god for the gift of grace and deliverance rather than for
material reward. Their use of the vernacular allowed them to convey bhakti in a popular and homely
style , and their simplicity is emphasised in their biographies which point out their devotion and
sincerity rather than their social status and formal learning. Of the twelve Alvars one was a woman
(Andal) and another an untouchable (Tiruppan Alvar), while all of them are celebrated for their
humility and wholehearted devotion.

Their songs or hymns are collected in the 'Nalayira-Divya-prabandham’ (the four thousand divine
works'), a compilation traditionally attributed to Nathamuni who lived in the 10th century and is said to
have arranged the hymns and set them to music. They are sung daily in Tamil Vaishnava temples, some
of them being used for specific ceremonies or festivals, and at the great temple of Srirangam they are
recited annually in their entirety for a period of ten days. In processions the songs of the Alvars,
referred to often as the Tamil Veda, are recited in front of the deity while the Sanskrit Vedas are recited
by priests following behind. Later the custom arose of reciting them in temples in a more 'Vedic’ style
in which they are sung antiphonally by groups of brahmins.

The Alvars sang of an intensely personal and emotional type of devotion which transcended caste
barriers. They often compare themselves to a woman yearning for her absent lover, or identify with a
participant in one of the Krsna stories (such as his mother Devaki) employing a style and imagery
derived from earlier traditions of Tamil erotic poetry. God is described as having transcendent beauty
and charm and is the object of yearning by the female soul which suffers the different mental and
physiological symptoms of love sickness. They describe how the female soul lies awake all night in
expectation of him, waiting to experience the joy of his embrace, but the general tone is restrained and
does not develop such extreme erotic overtones as became characteristic of some later bhakti poetry.
Their type of devotion was expressed most systematically by Nammalvar, one of the last of the Alvars,
who deals with the cultivation of certain kinds of feeling (bhava) for the Lord, the foremost being that
of adopting the attitude of a servant (dasya bhava), while others are that of parental affection (vatsalya-
bhava) and the emotion shared between lovers lie also emphasises the need for submission (prapatti) a
passive state of dependence on the Lord for the bestowal of his grace. A. Govindacarya. says of
Nammalvar that:

15
 He declares that when one is overcome by bhakti exaltation, trembling in every cell of
his being, he must freely and passively allow this influence to penetrate his being and
carry him beyond all known states of consciousness never from fear or shame that
bystanders may take him for a madman ought the exhibition of his bhakti rapture that
deluges his being be suppressed. The very madness is the means of distinguishing him
from the ordinary mortals to whom such beatific vision is denied. The very madness is
the bhakta’s pride. In that very madness the saint exhorts ‘run, jump, cry, laugh and sing,
and let every man witness it’. (from The Holy Lives Of the Alvars)

Krsna, especially as an infant and youth, is the most frequently mentioned divine personage in the
songs of the Alvars, and there Are also some songs featuring Rama, especially those of Kulasekara .
The main places of pilgrimage mentioned by the Alvars are the temples of Kanchipuram, Shrirangam
and Tirupati, some of them being closely associated with certain temples and having shrines dedicated
to them in the temple precincts. Although they wrote only in Tamil their message was carried
throughout India by means of the Bhagavat Purana which conveyed aspects of their devotion, in a
Sanskritic mythological context . It emphasised those episodes in the life of Krsna which had special
emotional and sentimental appeal for the passionate devotee. Krsna was now considered to have come
down among mankind to establish prema (love) rather than dharma and it is largely thanks to the
Alvars that terms such as prema, bhava, rasa, sringara, vatsalya and madhurya were to become so
important in later bhakti sects.

16
 Vaishnavism since A.D.1,000
Lecture 24/2/1981
A.W.Entwistle
By the beginning of what might loosely be termed the 'medieval'' period (10th to 16th centuries)
Vaishnavism had acquired a standard body of mythology, narrated in the Puranas, and a pattern or style
of ritual which was expounded in the Pancharatra texts. The majority of modern Vaishnavas still
acknowledge this overall mythology and follow common forms of temple worship and religious
practice, each group or sect worshipping a particular manifestation of Vishnu as its chosen deity,
revering its special saints and sometimes adopting its own philosophical interpretation of the
Scriptures, but otherwise differing only in such details as the use of a particular kind of rosary or
forehead mark. The different sectarian traditions are handed down among groups of Vaishnavas which
are referred to by the term sampradaya and are traditionally held to be four in number:

sampradaya founder/acarya type of philosophy

Sri Ramanuja visishthadvaita
Brahma Madhva dvaita
Sanakadi Nimbarka dvaitadvaita
Rudra Vishnusvami Suddhadvaita

Apart from the Sri Vaishnavas these sampradayas are generally referred to by the name of their founder
rather than by the name derived from their divine inceptor. Their philosophies were framed as attempts
to challenge Sankara, champion of Saiva monism, by rejecting his doctrine that the phenomenal world
is an illusory product of Maya, that the supreme being is without attributes (nirguna) and that the only
path to ultimate liberation was that of intellectual realisation (jñana). The Vaishnava sampradayas
differed among themselves in their explanations of the exact relationship between god as supreme soul
and the phenomenal world, the Madhva sampradaya being distinctive for its thorough-going dualism.
They are called Vedanta schools because they were concerned with interpretation of the Vedas,
Upanisads and, in particular, the Brahma-sutras of Badarayana. Some sampradayas produced
commentaries on the Bhagavad Gita and for many later commentators the Bhagavata-purana was
acceptable as a canonical text. The Vaishnava schools agree that Brahman is the supreme cause of the
universe which, possessed of an infinite number of attributes, appears as isvara. They held that
individual souls and the inanimate world are both as real as Brahman and that their individual
distinctions can never be completely lost. Individual souls are believed to be atomic and infinite in
number and possessed of knowledge and activity, their deliverance from samsara being their ultimate
goal. This release from an endless cycle of rebirths is, they believe, only attainable through bhakti, to
which ritual actions and intellectual apprehension are subordinate.

Philosophy, however, remained a pursuit of Vaishnava scholars and intellectuals. The masses were
inspired by songs in the vernacular languages by various 'poet-saints', the first of whom were the
Alvars who were adopted by the Sri Vaishnavas as forerunners of their sampradaya. Other
sampradayas also had groups of poet-saints associated with them, while some independent and popular
movements grew up around ' individual saints without feeling the necessity of declaring an affiliation
with any of the four major schools. Any significant religious developments during the early medieval

17
period took place in South India, Vaishnava. expansion being hindered in the north by the effects of
Muslim incursion and domination.

1. Ramanuja and the Sri Sampradaya

Although Ramanuja is regarded as the founder of the Sri sampradaya, its origins are traced back to
earlier teachers, and beyond them to Narayana, Laksmi and Visvaksena. Nathamuni was believed to
have inherited all the doctrines of the Alvars through Nammalvar, who had given a unified and
systematic presentation of their form of bhakti.

From references to works that are no longer extant it appears that Nathamuni, the earliest of the line of
acharyas associated with the temple of Ranganatha at Srirangam, was eventually succeeded by his
grandson Yamuna who provided further philosophical justification for bhakti and the practice of
prapatti (submission or self-surrender). He also defended Pancharatra ritual and the Bhagavatas,
claiming that they were authentic Vedic and brahmanical traditions. It was the need to substantiate
these claims that must have motivated the construction of a philosophy based on Vedanta and the
production, in the form of the Bhagavata-purana, of a Sanskrit version of myths popularized by the
Alvars. This soi-disant orthodoxy became allied to popular religion through the incorporation of Tamil
hymns into the rituals connected with the deity of the Ranga-natha temple. Ramanuja strengthened the
philosophical basis by providing appropriate commentaries on the Brahma-sutras and Bhagavad Gita.

Ramanuja was active in the latter part of the 11th century, a time when a large part of South India was
enjoying economic prosperity under the rule of the Colas. These rulers were generally Saiva, but
contributed liberally to the establishment of Vaishnava, temples as well. Although he is said to have
been initially a disciple of the monist teacher Yadava-praksha, Ramanuja was designated by Yamuna
as successor to the post of acharya at Srirangam. He seems to have reorganised the temple
administration, coming into conflict with the hereditary priests over the appointment of other
Brahmins, or perhaps even non-Brahmins, to various positions in the temple service. According to his
traditional biography he was obliged to spend some years in exile in the neighbouring Hoysala
kingdom as a result of conflict with Saivas who were favoured by the Cholas. He is said to have
converted the Hoysala king from the Jaina faith and, with his support, founded a Vaishnava temple at
Melkote.

Although Ramanuja was not the originator of the Sri Vaishnava school he helped to articulate its
traditions and must have persuaded many Brahmins to join the sampradaya who would formerly have
adhered to a more Vedic type of orthodoxy. The philosophy which he expounded is termed
visishtadvaita meaning either 'monism of the differentiated’ or ‘qualified or modified non-dualism’,
though it is not a term which Ramanuja himself used. It is basically a philosophy which seeks to
establish a unity between the spiritual and material substances which comprise the universe by seeing
the material world as constituting the body of god. Earlier philosophers, such as Bodhayana, had
viewed the relationship between god and the universe as being one of both difference and non-
difference (bhedabheda) . Ramanuja asserts that knowledge of Brahman is obtained by religious
practices (upasana), bhakti and grace, which supersede the orthodox path of Vedic ritual as well as
yoga and any inferences drawn from perception. and experience.

His metaphysical doctrines are derived from the Upanishads and Brahma-sutras and his explanation of
the production of the external world is based on the Samkhya system as it appears in the Puranas. He

18
refers to Vasudeva and the vyuha theory, but the most common name given to Vishnu is Narayana. The
Bhagavata-purana, a modern work in the time of Ramanuja, is not cited, nor is there any reference to
the Alvars or Gopala-Krsna and the gopis.

In contrast to Sankara’s view that jñana ultimately supersedes bhakti and leads to a state of liberation
(moksa) in which the soul realises its essential and absolute unity with Brahman, Ramanuja propounds
the Vaishnava view that the soul becomes god-like but remains different from god, thus there remains
the possibility of a relationship of bhakti based on love and piety which was denied by Sankara’s
undifferentiated monism. Although Sankara’s monism was more thoroughly logical, Ramanuja’s
theism was more in accord with the basic doctrines of the works which he commented upon and
allowed him to accept the concepts of the incarnations and divine grace of Vishnu. He was able to offer
an effective compromise between monistic and dualistic passages in the Scriptures which do not
support Sankara’s interpretation of maya and the relationship between the soul and Brahman. Although
his reliance on Scriptures as an infallible authority in metaphysical matters and his anthropomorphic
conception of god are hardly acceptable in philosophical terms, Ramanuja admitted the possibility of
an emotional and intuitional knowledge of god which was attainable through bhakti. God, who is both
material and efficient cause, uses his maya (in the sense of magic power) to create the world in order to
enact his divine play (lila), dwelling in the world yet remaining free from its limitations. He is the inner
controller (antaryamin) of both individual souls (comprising cit) and the external material worlds (acit)
which are regarded as his attributes. Just as a soul (jiva) and a body constitute an individual human
being, so cit and acit on a universal scale constitute Isvara, the Lord who is eternal Brahman and pure
bliss (ananda).

Themes found in Pancharatra literature and in the songs of the Alvars which were not taken up by
Ramanuja himself were elaborated in the context of visisthadvaita by later scholars of the Sri
Sampradaya. They emphasised the role of Sri as an immanent power in nature which helps the soul to
obtain grace (purusakara), whereas neither Yamuna nor Ramanuja seem to have wanted to divide god's
functions in such a manner. They gave a more schematic presentation of his teachings in which they
incorporated theories on the role of the avataras and the function of idol worship and explained how
bhakti can be cultivated through various religious disciplines and observances. This gives the
impression that Nathamuni, Yamuna and Ramanuja were pure philosophers who were appropriated in
retrospect by later Sri Vaishnavas, unless one wishes to argue that they were primarily 'academic'
philosophers who tolerated popular worship and elaborate ritual even if they did not wholeheartedly
endorse them. Ramanuja would then appear to be a philosopher who wished to confine himself to
theoretical discussion on traditional commentarial lines rather than become involved in the justification
of sectarian practices and doctrines. It is only in 8r! Vaishnava sources that he is said to have been an
acharya of the sampradaya and nowhere in his commentaries does he declare any sectarian affiliation.
It was his successors, and not Ramanuja himself, who blended the religious approaches of the Vedas,
Vedanta, Pancharatra and the Alvars.

Within two centuries of the death of Ramanuja there arose a schism in the Sri Sampradaya which
centred around the question of prapatti in relation to divine grace. Ramanuja used the term to refer to
taking refuge in god, implying that it can induce god’s grace but is not in itself sufficient. The two sub-
sects which resulted from this schism were the Vatakalai, or northern group, based at the Varada-raja-
svami temple at Kanchipuram, and the Tenkalai, or southern group, based at the temple of Ranganatha
at Shrirangam. The Vatakalai maintained that man must actively cooperate in order to receive grace,
just as a baby monkey has to cling to its mother in order to be taken to a place of safety, while the
Tenkalai held that no self-effort was necessary, interpreting prapatti as complete surrender, just as a
kitten is picked up by its mother. This difference of opinion arose within two centuries of the death of
19
Ramanuja and resulted in a division along sectarian lines between followers of Vedanta-Desika
(Vatakalai) and Pillai Lokacarya (Tenkalai), each of them thenceforth maintaining a separate acharya
lineage. The Vatakalai minimised references to Ramanuja’s supposed liberalism in caste matters and
regarded Sri as being infinite like the Lord himself. The Tenkalai emphasised references to Ramanuja
‘s liberalism and regarded Sri as the foremost of finite spirits.
Although there are Sri Sampradaya temples at places of pilgrimage all over India, it has remained
predominant only in the Tamil speaking area of South India (in the north the Sampradaya is said to be
represented by followers of Ramananda). The most important temples are those of Varada-raja-svami,
Ranga-natha and Venkatesvara (above Tirupati on the Tirumalai hills). They are all built according to
the typical southern plan which has a central shrine surrounded by rectangular boundary walls with
elaborate gateways (called gopura and a series of concentric enclosures (called Prakaram) along which
are found shrines of various Vaishnava deities, acharyas and Alvar saints. In the medieval period they
became centres of cultural and economic activity employing a large number of hereditary priests,
artisans and labourers and financed by donations from pilgrims and grants of land, revenue and wealth
from the rulers. The influence of the Tenkalai school has been more widespread since they were always
more closely associated with popular worship, the Vatakalai remaining more exclusive and elitist in
their centre at Kanchipuram. All three temples must be originally over a thousand years old since they
are mentioned in the songs of the Alvars. The temple of Ranganatha has retained historical importance
because of its association with Ramanuja and became a model temple for Sri Vaishnavas in matters of
ritual and doctrine. Inscriptions show that these temples began to receive grants from the Cholas as
early as the 9th century, but they reached their zenith in the 15th and 16th centuries when the buildings
and festival activity were elaborated.

The temple of Venkatesvara., today one of the wealthiest and most popular temples in India, is visited
by pilgrims of all denominations. Some elements in the myth of the sacred hill and the foundation of
the temple imply that it was not originally a Vaishnava site but had been a centre of ascetics and a
religious cult of a perhaps more Saiva nature in the remote past. The other two temples, though they are
widely regarded as centres of pilgrimage, have a somewhat less universal appeal due to their more
sectarian association with the Sri Sampradaya.

2. Madhva and the Haridasas

Scholars place Madhva's lifetime in the 13th century, a view endorsed by the existence of inscriptions
found in Orissa relating to a disciple whom he sent there named Nara-hari-tirtha. He refers to himself
as an avatara of Vayu (like Hanuman, the devoted servant of Rama) and seems to have had a messianic
idea of himself as a servant of Hari (Vishnu) whose role was to propagate the doctrine of Dvaita
(dualism). He often refers to his teaching as tattva-vada, as opposed to the maya-vada advocated by
Sankara. Sectarian biographies say that his father was from Udipi, on the coast of southern Karnataka,
and that he was born in a village nearby. His family appears to have been smarta Brahmins without any
strong sectarian leanings who were associated with the worship of two temples at Udipi named
Anantesvara and Candramaulisvara, both of which seem to have been places where a 'Vaishnavised'
linga cult was carried on with rituals more allied to Saiva Agama than to Pancharatra. A smarta attitude
was perhaps prevalent in this region of India and there is evidence there for the popularity of the
worship of Hari-hara or Sankara-narayana, composite deities with elements of both Visnu and Siva.

Madhva was strongly influenced by the Bhagavata Purana and founded a Krsna temple at Udipi. He
eventually placed eight of his disciples as heads of monastic communities around the town which

20
continue to share the temple service. Madhva himself prescribed the form of ritual (cf. Tantra-sara-
sangraha and Krsna-jayanti) in which Siva was allotted a subsidiary place in the divine hierarchy but
may be worshipped as long as one bears in mind his dependence on Vishnu (in contrast to the Sri
Vaishnavas who exclude worship of Siva from their temples). Madhva thus appears to have orientated
the worship of his community along more purely Vaishnava lines, though accepting the status of other
deities as subordinate members of the pantheon.

The thirty-seven works attributed to Madhva take the form of bhasya (commentaries on Scriptures
employing citations and etymological explanations), tatparya (a freer kind of commentary allowing
scope for digressions from the basic text), prakarana (treatises) and texts on ritual and devotion. The
fundamental dualism of his philosophy makes him the most opposed to Sankara of all the Vaishnava
schools. He enumerated five basic distinctions (Panca-bheda) namely between god and matter (on the
lines of Prakrti and purusha of samkhya), god and individual souls (paramatman/jivatman), individual
souls and matter, individual souls and other individual souls and, finally, between material objects and
other material objects. Matter and spirit exist eternally in separation and both are equally real though
their mode of existence is different. Individual souls and matter are dependent on god, the only real
agent from whom all things derive. He is independent (svatantra) and his relationship to the world is
one of grace. The world is not an illusion but a place in which god and the soul can meet, a field of
action for divine grace and lila. Bhakti is the recognition of our dependence on him. Madhva believes
that only such a dualistic attitude allows one to postulate the reality of the world and the transcendence
of god, any suggestion that god is somehow incorporated in the substance of the universe involves him
in the process of becoming and so diminishes his status. Madhva thus rejects the idea of god being a
material cause in favour of the view that he is only the efficient cause and is ontologically different
from the effects produced.

There is no obvious source for Madhva’s version of Vedanta and he himself cites no guru tradition
which he inherited. Although it is dualistic his system is as theocentric as those of other Vaishnavas.
The individual souls are entirely dependent on Vishnu and may gain salvation through recognition of
this fact and, the realisation of god by divine grace through the practice of meditation. Religious
observances will not automatically save anybody, but bhakti will save even the greatest sinner. He
supports his position with citations drawn largely from the Puranas (especially the Bhagavata-purana)
and the Pancharatra samhitas, but has a hard time finding endorsement in the Upanishads and Brahma-
Sutras. He persistently tries to make monistic passages yield a dualistic interpretation, and in doing so
cites many passages from 'revealed Scripture' (Sruti) which no one else has cited before or since. This
has led later authors to accuse him of forgery, though if one is inclined to be generous one may argue
that he was quoting from obscure Pancharatra texts which he believed to be Sruti, or that he had access
to literature no longer extant.

Despite his fondness for the Bhagavata-purana, Gopala-Krsna and the Gopis are absent from his
system. Rama and Krsna are adored, as well as Vishnu, and Laksmi is regarded as being distinct from
the supreme soul but dependent on him.

As is the case with other acharyas his followers commented upon his works and elaborated the
philosophy of the sampradaya, the foremost among them being Jayatirtha (14th century?) and Vyasa-
tirtha (late 15th /early 16th century). The sampradaya has a large following in Karnataka, but there are
only scattered adherents elsewhere in India, usually based at small communities established in the
major pilgrimage centres. The popularity of the sampradaya in Karnataka may be attributed partly to
the fact that it had the allegiance of a series of poets who wrote songs in the Kannada vernacular.

21
Bhakti was expressed in Kannada by both Saiva and Vaishnava poets, the former being represented by
the Saranas of whom the most celebrated is Basavanna. The Haridasas, who emerged somewhat later,
acknowledged the Dvaita philosophy and fell into two groups, the Vyasa-kuta, required to be learned in
the Vedas, and the Dasa-kuta who were concerned to convey the teaching of Madhva and his message
of love for Krsna to those for whom the Scriptures were incomprehensible. They were not markedly
sectarian and aimed to dispel the superstitions and ignorance of the lower classes. Their songs,
describing personal experiences on the path to salvation through dreary samsara, reflect the grim
realities of social life and attempt to prepare the individual for release through bhakti. They stress a life
of morality, condemning mere maintenance of outward appearances, and hoped to gain strength
through devotion to Hari, some of them, like Purandaradasa, speaking of the supreme importance of
repeating his name. Besides worshipping Krsna at Udipi and Venkatesvara of Tirupati they were also
fervent devotees of Vithoba of Pandharpur.

The earliest writer in Kannada to deal with a Vaishnava theme was Rudra-bhatta who composed
Jagannatha-vijay in the late 12th or early 13th century. He was followed by Nara-hari-tirtha who
succeeded to Madhva’s gaddi and left two songs in the vernacular. The first of the Haridasa poets, Sri-
pada-raya, introduced Kannada into the religious life of the matha (scholarly/monastic establishment)
of which he became the head. During the 15th and 16th centuries many other poets followed his
example, among them Vyasaraya, founder of the Dasa-kuta, who became associated with the rulers of
Vijaya-nagara as a kind of spiritual advisor and initiated many subsequent Haridasa poets. The most
popular of them are Purandara-dasa, Kanaka-dasa (from a low caste but initiated by Vyasaraya in the
face of opposition from Brahmins) , Vadirajatirtha and Vaikunthadasa. The poetic tradition was carried
on into the 18th century by Vijayadasa and Jagannatha-dasa. Some of them were occupants of gaddis
of mathas belonging to the Madhva sampradaya. and composed works in Sanskrit as well as in the
vernacular.

A recurrent theme in their poetry is, to use a term applied to medieval Christian mystics, 'the dark night
of the soul, when one experiences extremes of despair and disillusionment before being granted a
glorious revelation which dispels all one's despair and gloom. As dualists they sing rather of a
continuous state of self-surrender and rapture than of blissful union with the absolute.

Their poems abound in homely similes and allegories drawn from daily life and they composed many
songs on the theme of Krsna and his beloved Radha, though without the pronounced erotic element of
other bhakti poets of northern and eastern India. They remain at some distance from god and regard
him more as a father, brother or mother than a lover.

3. Vithoba and the Varkari Panth

The Varkari Panth arose as a Marathi phenomenon in the 12th and 13th centuries in the form of a body
of devotees who participated in regular pilgrimages to the shrine of Vithoba, or Vitthala, at Pandharpur
in southern Maharashtra. Before Pandharpur became part of Maharashtra it was a predominantly
Kannada speaking area, thus the cult of Vithobi has many followers in Karnataka, but the Varkari
Panth is confined to the deity's Marathi speaking. devotees. Vithoba’s origins are obscure, particularly
the etymology of either of his names but it is possible that he developed either from the cult of a hill
god or from the worship of a stone set up to commemorate a local hero who sacrificed his life for the
protection or rescue of cattle. He is regarded as a manifestation of Visnu or Krsna who came and stayed
at Pandharpur because he was impressed by the devotion a certain Pundalika showed to his elderly

22
parents. In some lists he appears as the ninth avatara of Vishnu. The earliest record of the temple at
Pandharpur is an inscription of AD 1189 which records the donation by Yadava rulers of land to a
group of devotees of Vitthala and assistance to build a temple. There are many other shrines of
Vithoba/Vitthala in Karnataka and Maharashtra and all the images share common characteristics
namely standing posture with hands on hips and elbows sticking out usually carved in a crude and
rough-hewn manner. The tall crown on the head of Vithoba is likened to a linga and the existence of
old Saiva temples in Pandharpur and the etymology of the name of the town (Pandu,- having Saiva
associations) all point to a non-Vaishnava origin of the cult. Iconographically the image is reminiscent
of figures of Harihara, Surya or men depicted on memorial stones erected for fallen heroes. His
identification with Visnu, however, was accepted at an early period and he is worshipped and referred
to by poets as a child or youthful manifestation.

The oldest of the Varkari saints is Jñanadeva who, in 1290 wrote an extended vernacular interpretation
of the Bhagavadgita entitled Jñanesvari. Legends say that he and his family suffered persecution from
the brahmin community because his father had broken a vow of samnyasa and returned to his home.
Similar stories are told about the other Maratha saints and their struggles against social injustice. Along
with his brothers and sister he helped to popularise the worship of Vithoba as a bhakti cult and gave it a
philosophical background derived from Sanskrit Scriptures with some advaita influence. The other
great Varkari saint of this period was Namadeva, a tailor whose date of birth is normally given as 1270.
He wrote a biography of Jñanadeva after his untimely death, and is reputed to have travelled widely
and to have spent several years in the Panjab (some of his hymns appear in the Adigrantha of the
Sikhs). He preached purity of mind, speech and deed and showed utter disregard for caste distinction.
Like other Varkari saints who followed him, he leaned towards a more nirguna type of devotion in
which god is thought of as being present everywhere and idols are seen as simply a token of his
presence rather than being imbued with any divine essence. Thus, from the beginning, the power of the
name of god and its repetition was extolled in the Varkari Panth.

As a result of the incursion of Ala’uddin Khilji the deity of Vithoba was removed from Pandharpur and
the temple was destroyed. The deity was probably taken to Vijayanagar and did not return to
Pandharpur until the beginning of the 16th century. The Varkari Panth somehow survived during the
intervening centuries and was given a new impetus in the time of Ekanatha (dates traditionally given as
1533-99). He edited and restored the Jñanesvari, translated Sanskrit works into Marathi, wrote
commentaries on part of the Bhagavata-purana and Ramayana, as well as many short poems in a folk
style. The other popular saint of this period was Tukarama (1598-1649), a Sudra whose abhangas (the
name of the type of song composed by the Maratha saints) reflected his struggle with his soul,
overcoming his doubts to attain eventual revelation. He was a harsh critic of social hypocrisy and
advocated worship free from all sectarian, ritualistic and learned influences.

During the 17th century the Marathas rose up against Muslim domination and gained control over a
large area of India. Although the Varkari Panth was never officially patronised by the state many
nobles and wealthy pilgrims founded temples and other establishments at Pandharpur, thus making the
17th and 18th centuries something of a golden age for the town.

The Varkari Panth is basically a saint cult, its followers venerating their gurus and singing their
abhangas, the main means by which their traditions are transmitted. They are a non-sectarian band of
devotees gathered around gurus without any special rituals, mantras or elaborate initiation ceremony.
They make a pledge to lead a straightforward life and to observe the regular pilgrimages which are the
only outward manifestation of the cult. They have no centralised organisation and are mainly farmers,
craftsmen, traders and brahmin landlords from the rural areas. The pilgrimages culminate on the
23
eleventh day (ekadasi) of the bright halves of the months of Ashadha and Karttika (the beginning and
end of the four month period when the gods are asleep). various processions come from all corners of
Maharashtra and are each termed palkhi, the term used for the kind of palanquin carried in the
procession which contains the sandals (paduka) of each group's most revered saint. About forty palkhis
converge at Pandharpur, the oldest being that of Jñanesvara which is carried from near Poona some two
hundred and fifty kilometres away. Each palkhi, which grows larger as it passes through different
towns and villages on the route, is comprised of caste or communal groups called dindis, each of them
singing abhangas of the saints as they move along throughout the whole period of the pilgrimage. The
palkhis assemble near Pandharpur and enter the town together, there being currently over a hundred
thousand devotees present. The pilgrims have darshana at the rather plain and simple temple of
Vithoba, worship the memorial, (samadhi) of their patron saint and then usually make a
circumambulation (parikrami/pradaksina) of Pandharpur.

4. Nimbarka and his sampradaya

While various developments in Vaishnavism were taking place in southern India the north was
experiencing a period of political instability under a succession of Muslim dynasties while the Saiva
cult of the Natha Yogis acquired widespread popularity, particularly among the lower classes. Not until
the 16th century was there any significant growth in Vaishnavism in North India, although Nimbarka, a
Tailanga brahmin from Bellary District, had travelled from the south and settled near Mathura some
centuries previously. Mathura had long been recognised as the birthplace of Krsna and a major centre
of pilgrimage and so we must assume that there were some Vaishnava sacred sites in the
neighbourhood and that Vaishnava pilgrims from other parts of India passed through. It is likely that
the nearby hill of Govardhan had already been identified as being the one which had been held up by
Krsna and that there were some small communities of Vaishnava devotees in or around the town. One
such group would have been that of the followers of Nimbarka who is believed to have settled in a
village near Govardhan. Although many of the local inhabitants are traditionally members of the
Nimbarka sampradaya, there is no evidence of the sect having had a wide influence until it participated
in the general upsurge of Vaishnava bhakti in the area during the 16th century.

Most scholars agree that Nimbarka was active before 1300, the majority placing him in the 12th
century, others in the 10th or 11th , while sectarian scholars try to argue that he lived as early as the 6th
century. Despite the fact that his is one of the four classic Vaishnava sampradayas, now well
established in North India, very little has been written about Nimbarka and his philosophy. His system
is referred to as Dvaita-advaita or Bheda-abheda and, like that of Ramanuja, was another attempt to
explain how god is distinct from matter but ultimately has some connection with the world and
individual souls. Nimbarka wrote a short commentary on the Brahma-sutras (entitled Vedanta-parijata-
saurabha) and a short work of ten Slokas (Siddhanta-ratna) which is commonly referred to as Dasa-
sloki. Srinivasacarya, his successor, wrote a commentary on Vedanta-parijata-saurabha, while other
doctrinal texts were produced by such later acharyas as Kesava Kashmiri, Devacarya and Hari-vyasa-
deva. The later philosophers in the sampradaya appear to have modified its original philosophy or
theology under the influence of the rasa-siddhanta introduced by the Bengali Vaishnavas.

Their general approach to the problem of reconciling monism and pluralism has much in common with
that of Ramanuja, but whereas he used the analogy of soul and body (sariri/sarira) to explain the
relationship between god and the world, seeing him as a personal pantheos who pervades all things,
Nimbarka saw the relationship in terms of cause and effect rather than of substance and attribute. For

24
Nimbarka difference and non-difference co-exist on the same level whereas Ramanuja saw non-
difference as a principle which is qualified, by the subordinate factor of difference, plurality being
comprised of all the attributes of fundamental unity. The individual soul (jiva) is the same as Brahman,
but different in so far it is atomic while Brahman is all pervasive and the creator and supporter of the
universe. This highest Brahman is identical with Krsna who has a celestial body and attributes such as
beauty, charm, tenderness and sweetness. This Parabrahman/Sri Krsna is the material cause in the sense
that it enables the eternal and subtle forms of mind and matter (cit and acit) to become manifest in
gross form. The Jiva is ignorant of its true nature owing to contact with karma and can only be released
through bhakti,— the first stage of which is complete surrender (prapatti), combined with the grace of
Krsna.

The main deities worshipped in the sampradaya are Krsna and Radha in a combined form (yugala-
svarupa). If the Dasa-sloki is a genuine work of Nimbarka, then it provides us with perhaps the earliest
reference to the worship of Krsna alongside Radha — 'the daughter of Vrsabhanu who shines on
Krsna’s left side with corresponding beauty'. Together they comprise the highest form of existence
(parama-tattva), Krsna being the embodiment of bliss (ananda-svarupa) and Radha the embodiment of
delight or ecstasy (ahlada-svarupini)- The worship of the divine couple on equal terms, as a god
engaged in eternal love play with his female Sakti, is characteristic of the sampradaya, most other
Vaishnavas showing a tendency to stress one or the other of the divine pair.

The theme of the love play between Krsna and Radha was elaborated by later writers of the
sampradaya, including those who wrote in Braj Bhasa, notably Sribhatta (whose Yugala-sataka is
among the first Krsna bhakti works in this vernacular) and Harivyasadeva (a leader of the sampradaya
in the 16th century whose Mahavani is now sung virtually as a liturgical text).

Members of the Nimbarka sampradaya are nowadays found all over North India including even Bengal
and Nepal. There are many followers in the area around Mathura, Braj being the spiritual centre of the
sampradaya, while the chief religious authority of the sampradaya, known as Braj Maha-raj, has his
headquarters at Salemabad near Jaipur (often referred to in the sampradaya as Parashurampur, a name
derived from its founder). The sampradaya consists of both householders, including the families of
gosvamis who are custodians of various temple deities, and of ascetics, called vairagis, who are
organised into groups called dvara or akhara each having its elected mahanta Twelve dvara-s were
established by pupils of Hari-vyasa-deva, the senior of them Parasurama being given custody of a
Salagrama which is highly revered in the sampradaya, while later in the 18th century some vairagis
organised themselves into militant groups called ani or akhara as did many Ramanandi ascetics, in
order to oppose certain groups of Saiva Samnaysis.

5. Caitanya and the Gaudiya Sampradaya

In view of the predominance of Tantra and Sakta cults in Bengal it is not surprising that Vaishnavism
in this-area is centred around Krsna and Radha as a divine couple. The most influential literary
composition in the development of Vaishnavism in eastern India was Jayadeva’s Gita-govinda, written
in the 12th century, which, by describing the union of the divine pair in terms of human erotic passion,
helped to promote the concept of Radha being representative of Sakti in the Tantric sense of the term.
The idea that the love of Krsna and Radha is a kind of cosmic Lila arose from the way in which the
relationship between the creator and the universe was envisaged in Tantrism. Precedents for the use of
sexual and erotic symbolism with a mystic intent may be found in songs (caryapadas) written in early

25
Bengali by Buddhist siddhas. The Bengali Sahajiya cult came to regard Jayadeva as their first guru
(adiguru) since his depiction of Krsna and Radha could be interpreted so as to support their idea that
they represent male and female principles whose union might be emulated by men and women.
Jayadeva, adapting the vernacular pada song form into melodious Sanskrit, described the couple's
divine love entirely in human terms with language, imagery and situations borrowed from classical
love poetry. Krsna, for example, becomes in turn each of the four types of lover (nayaka) which were
enumerated in secular poetry and treatises on erotics. He appears to have been the first poet to
introduce the theme of the lovers' quarrel and temporary estrangement (maana) into the context of
divine love, an episode in which Krsna himself suffers from separation to such an extent that he
becomes subservient and has to beg for Radha’s forgiveness.

Jayadeva’s poem became immensely popular and helped to establish Radha as the consort of Krsna —
hitherto she had been absent from the Puranas and other sources of Krsna mythology, though is perhaps
alluded to in Hala's Gaha-sattasai and may be connected with Nappinai, a favourite gopi of Krsna who
is mentioned by the Alvars. Jayadeva was followed by Candidasa, the first poet in Bengali to deal with
Krsna and Radha and whose concept of the latter as being representative of Sakti may be related to the
ideology of the Sahajiyas.

Vidyapati, writing around 1400 in the Maithili dialect, composed lyrics dealing with specific incidents
in the emotional relationship of Krsna and Radha, showing marked sympathy for the latter. His songs,
composed under court patronage, thus reflecting the concerns of earlier Sanskrit erotic poetry, were
given a more devotional interpretation by subsequent Vaishnavas who adapted them as hymns for use
in worship.

Although these poets had made Krsna and Radha popular in eastern India it was not until the early 16th
century that their worship became the focus of a widespread religious movement. The inspiration for
this movement came from Caitanya, whose lifespan is traditionally held to date from 1486 until 1533.
He was born in the town of Nabadwip (West Bengal) and started out as a promising scholar ) but
decided to give up everything and immerse himself totally in an emotional and ecstatic style of
devotion which aimed at experiencing the Godhead through singing and chanting the names of the
Lord ('Hare Krsna’) Several scholars, in search of precedents for this style of worship, have pointed
out similarities between Caitanya’s approach and that of the Muslim Sufi saints who also tried to
immerse themselves in divine love (‘ishq) and had developed the practice of singing and recitation of
divine names (sama and Zikr). Caitanya’s ecstatic devotion was such an inspiration to others that he
soon attracted a number of followers who expressed their devotional fervour through group
participation in processions (samkirtana) which featured singing; chanting, dancing and the beating of
drums and cymbals.

He made a tour of South India and, in his later years, became particularly devoted to the deity
Jagannatha at Puri in Orissa. Swooning, tears of joy, states of trance and ecstasy are recurrent elements
in stories told about Caitanya and his total absorption in love for Krsna and Radha. He developed a
strong desire to visit Braj and see for himself the places associated with the lilas of the divine couple.
He is said to have made the pilgrimage in 1516 and to have visited Mathura and Govardhan, among
other sites, and to have rediscovered the original Vrindaban on the banks of the Yamuna as well as a
sacred pond called Radha-kunda. His visit was brief, but on his return to Bengal he instructed two
disciples, officials at the Muslim court of Gauda named Rupa and Sanatana, to settle in Braj and
complete the rediscovery and identification of the 'lost' sites associated with the pastimes of Krsna.
Rupa and Sanatana went to Vrindaban where they were later joined by their nephew Jiva and other
disciples, the most important of whom were Gopala Bhatta, Raghunathadasa and Raghungtha Bhatta.
26
These disciples became known as the Six Gosvamis and together they founded temples and religious
communities at Vrindaban and Radha-kunda.

Caitanya himself seems to have done little to organise his followers into a sampradaya; this was
achieved by his companions Nityananda and Advaitacarya and by the gosvamis in Braj. Rupa and
Sanatana, succeeded by Jiva, became the highest authorities in the movement on doctrinal matters. it
was due to their association with the province of Gauda that the movement became known as the
Gaudiya sampradaya. They did not present their doctrines in theistic philosophy of the traditional type,
as represented by commentaries on the Brahma-sutras and other universally acknowledged Scriptures,
but adapted classical aesthetic theory (rasa-sastra) such as it is found in the works of Bharata Muni,
Abhinava-gupta and Ananda-vardhana. Rupa Gosvami was the prime exponent of this blend of
traditional aesthetics with a psychology cum theology appropriate to bhakti and its literary expression.
In his Bhakti-rasa-amrta-sindhu (probably composed around 1540) and Ujjvala-nillamani he provided
Caitanya’s emotional bhakti with a theoretical framework which in turn influenced other Krsna sects,
including those of Vallabha and Nimbarka. Rupa’s theories, and those of his successors and imitators,
made devotees and poets more conscious of theological interpretations and mystical symbolism
derivable from the theme of the love between Radha and Krsna.

Rupa analysed the emotions of bhakti by applying a psychology and pathology of love in terms
borrowed, with appropriate modifications, from the aesthetics of courtly love poetry of the classical
Sanskrit period. Erotic sentiments are sublimated into religious devotion, the devotee becoming a
rasika, equivalent to the sahrdaya or connoisseur who was able to appreciate and relish Sanskrit love
poetry. Bhakti was thus represented as, in the words of S.K .De (p.169),' a literary erotic emotion
transmuted into a deep and ineffable devotional sentiment, which is intensely personal yet is
impersonalised into a mental condition of disinterested joy'. The underlying mood (sthayi-bhava) of
such an emotion is erotic, passion for Krsna (krsna-rati) which the devotee can relish in his mind as
bhakti-rasa. Rupa adapted the elaborate classifications of poetic imagery and other elements of literary
expression to the context of bhakti in order to encourage devotional poets, their audience and the
ordinary worshipper to adopt and cultivate the feeling (bhava) appropriate for a participant in one of the
Krsna lilas, such as a female attendant (sakhi) promoting the love play of Krsna and Radha or the
mother Yasoda adoring her divine child.

Among notable works produced by the six gosvamis and their circle was Hari-bhakti-vilasa, normally
attributed to Gopala Bhatta which described all the rituals and other observances to be followed by
Gaudiya Vaishnavas, citing the Puranas, Smrti and other prestigious texts. Narayana Bhatta, using
citations from the same sources, wrote a full account of all the sacred sites in Braj entitled Braja-
bhakti-vilasa, thus helping to establish the pilgrimage trail which incorporates all the places around
Mathura which can be associated with an incident in the life of Krsna and his companions. At Radha-
kunda the poet Krsnadasa Kaviraja wrote a biography of Caitanya in Bengali entitled Caitanya-
caritamrta. It was only much later, in the 18th century, that this sampradaya was provided with a
commentary on the Brahmasutras (Govindabhashya of Baladeva. Vidya-bhushana) and a link was
sought to be made with the older sampradaya of Madhva.

Prema-bhakti centred on the love of Krsna and Radha, is the main pursuit of members of the
sampradaya, though Caitanya himself is often worshipped in the form of an idol, sometimes
accompanied by Nityananda, the two of them being thought of as incarnations of Krsna and Balarama.
The main centres of the sect are at Nabadwip, Puri and Vrindaban and its membership includes both
householder gosvamis (who. look after temples), lay devotees and groups of ascetics. Followers are

27
grouped into numerous parivaras (‘families') which are associated with -prominent disciples of
Caitanya.

Vaishnavism in Orissa
The earliest record of Vaishnavism in Orissa is provided by a dynasty of rulers in the Gupta period who
associated themselves with Vishnu-Narayana or styled themselves parama-bhagavata. From the
middle of the 6th century, however, the rulers were Saiva for a period of over five hundred years, thus
there are no records of grants made to Vaishnavas during this period. From the 11th century onwards
there are references from central India indicating that there was a famous temple of Purushottama, at
Puri, while in medieval texts the area is referred to as Purusottama-ksetra. Images of a four-armed
standing Vishnu in a bluish stone (called Nila-madhava) have been found in Orissa, indicating that the
Purushottama cult was current among the ruling classes between the 11th and 14th centuries.

From the early 12th century Vaishnavism flourished under the Ganga dynasty and Coda-ganga, who
died in 1147, founded a new temple for Purusottama/Nilamadhava on the site of an older one which
may have dated from the 10th century. The temple was intended to reflect the power and prestige of his
rule and in 1230 the whole of Orissa was dedicated to Purushottama while the kings pretended to rule
under the overlordship of the deity. The cult of Purushottama as a form of Vishnu erotically associated
with Laksmi or an epithet applied to Krsna as a lover of the gopis, together with the promotion in
conjunction with it of the worship of a ferocious Narasimha, is perhaps indicative of influences from
the kind of Sakta worship which had been propagated in Orissa by Vajrayana Buddhists in the period
lasting from the 7th to the 9th centuries. By the end of the 13th century Purusottama became known as
Jagannatha, a name which had been associated with Tantrism and esoteric practices. Gradually
Jagannatha became accepted as the main title of the deity at Puri and was applied to other
representations carved in the same style which were worshipped elsewhere in Orissa.. It would appear
that a stone image of Purusottama was replaced by a wooden effigy of Jagannatha as an attempt by the
Ganga dynasty to legitimise its rule and unify their Hindu and tribal subjects by merging brahmanical
and tribal cults in order to give the social hierarchy a common identity through the worship of
Purusottama-Jagannatha as a patron deity of the state.

Nowadays the great temple at Puri houses three crudely formed wooden images which are identified
with Krsna (Jagannatha), Balarama and their sister Subhadra (who was substituted for the infant Krsna
and dashed against a stone by Kamsa but rose up in a terrifying form to prophesy his eventual death at
the hands of Krsna). There is no evidence for the existence of this wooden trinity before the 13th
century, and it is possible that initially only one or two of them were worshipped in the temple, but the
origin of the figures is to be found in the worship by the tribal people of Orissa of deities represented
by wooden posts. Various local myths attempt to explain how the wooden Vaishnava triad came to be
made and to explain why they have the form of trunks with large heads and eyes and stunted arms.

Initially both Saivas and Vaishnavas worshipped them in the Puri temple, but gradually Saiva elements
were suppressed and a Vaishnava style of worship prevailed. Two groups of priests supervise the
worship of the deities, one of them being an originally non-brahmin group called Daitas whose main
function is periodically to renew and consecrate the wooden triad, the other comprising Brahmins first
appointed in the late 13th century, perhaps because a more standard or Sanskritic form of worship was
required as the temple began to attract more and more pilgrims from all over India. Two festivals
attracted particularly large crowds of pilgrims, namely the annual procession of the deities in three

28
huge wooden cars (ratha-yatri) and their 'new embodiment' (nava-kalevara) which normally occurs
every twelve or nineteen years (i.e. whenever a year has two months of Asadha).

In the 16th and 17th centuries the temple suffered attacks by Muslims, probably attracted more by its
enormous wealth than by any desire to suppress the cult, which resulted in the destruction of the deities
or their periodic removal from Puri. After these troubled centuries the deities were restored and their
worship became more distinctly Vaishnava with particular emphasis on the identification of Jagannatha
with Krsna. Caitanya’s devotion to Jagannatha must have helped to popularise the cult among the
masses and to encourage the identification with Krsna while at the same time weakening the
domination of the traditional priesthood over the cult since his form of worship was essentially non-
ritualistic. By the end of the 16th century the tradition had arisen that Caitanya’s earthly existence had
culminated with his absorption into the image of Jagannatha and stories were told of how he had
danced ecstatically in front of the temple cars during the ratha-yatra. Caitanya helped to popularise the
Krsna and Radha- element in Orissan Vaishnavism and the expression of devotion through chanting
and processions, but the propagation of the Gaudiya sampradaya in the region was largely the work of
Syama-nanda and his companions in the early 17th century. The doctrines of the sampradaya, however,
seem to have made less impression than the example of Caitanya’s fervent devotion. He came to be
regarded as an embodiment of Jagannatha and many shrines were dedicated to him in Orissa.

6. Vallabha and the Pusti-marga

Vallabha, a Tailanga brahmin whose family came from near Rajahmundry in Andhra Pradesh, was
born in Madhya Pradesh while his parents were returning from Varanasi, the traditional dates for his
birth and death being 1478 — 1530. According to sectarian tradition he was a brilliant scholar who,
while still a boy, won a great debate for the Vaishnavas against the Saiva monists at Vijayanagar as a
result of which he was offered the leadership of the Sampradaya of Vishnusvami. This, however, is a
story invented by his descendants who wished to claim prestige for their sampradaya by relating it to
the older school of Vishnusvami even though Vallabha made no such claim and, unlike his successors,
did not refer to his philosophy as Suddhadvaita.

He is said to have travelled extensively in his youth visiting places of pilgrimage and delivering
sermons on the Bhagavata-purana He married and made his family home at Adail near the confluence
of the Ganges and the Yamuna on the opposite side of the water from Allahabad, but the spiritual
centre of the sampradaya he founded was the Govardhan hill near Mathura. According to sectarian
tradition the goddess of the Yamuna revealed to him the location of Gokul, the place near Mathura
where Krsna had grown up in the care of his foster parents Nanda and Yasoda while Krsna appeared
before him and instructed him to initiate disciples and go to Govardhan where he would discover a
deity. The deity which Vallabha is said to have discovered at Govardhan, called Govardhana-nathaji or
simply Srinathaji, was an image of Krsna holding up the hill in order to protect the people of Braj.
Vallabha is said to have begun the worship of this deity and to have arranged for the construction of a
temple on the Govardhan hill which was completed after much delay, in 1519. The Gaudiya
sampradaya, through association with a saint called Madhavendra Puri who was in Braj at the time,
also claims some connection with the temple at Govardhan, and even Vallabhite sectarian tradition
states that initially Vallabha’s followers supervised only the administration of the temple while the
actual service of the deity was conducted by Bengali disciples of the gosvamis at Radha-kunda and
Vrindaban.

29
Vallabha presented his philosophy in a commentary on the Brahma-sutras called Anubhashya ( a work
completed by his son Vitthala-natha), another on portions of the Bhagavata-purana entitled Subodhini
tika, a text called Tattvartha-dipa-nibandha and a series of short works known as Sodasha-grantha.
Parabrahman, represented by Krsna as Purna-purushottama, is the substratum of apparently
contradictory attributes and is untainted by maya the magic power which he employs to create the
world for the purposes of enacting his lila-s. He is present in all levels of existence, but the gradations
from divine to material existence are dependent on the proportions in which he allows his manifestation
as bliss (ananda), consciousness (cit) and 'being' (sat) to be apparent. He is both inherent and
instrumental cause, pervading the world in a multiplicity of forms but without undergoing any
fundamental change — a doctrine of unmodified transformation (avikrta-parinama-vada) which is
expressed by the analogy of clay being made into a pot or gold being used to fashion various kinds of
ornament. The individual soul (jiva), a manifestation of the sat and cit aspects of Para-Brahman in
which his ananda is concealed, is controlled by Parabrahman acting as an inner force (antaryamin) but
remains lost in samsara until, through divine grace, it realises its essential nature as a part of
Parabrahman. The importance which Vallabha gave to the role of grace, which is called pushti led to
his sampradaya becoming known as the Pushti-marga ('the way of grace'). No actions performed by the
Jiva can oblige Krsna-Parabrahman to impart the blessings of his grace, all we can do is cultivate
humility and devotion and dedicate everything to Krsna. The mantra of initiation used in the Pushti-
marga, called the brahma-sambandha, is a formula which expresses the initiates dependence on Krsna
and his willingness to dedicate everything — his mind, body and wealth — to his service.

Vallabha was eventually succeeded by his second son Vitthala-natha who wrote some philosophical
works which gave more emphasis to ideas of rasa and bhava as propounded by Rupa Gosvami and his
followers. He also did much to elaborate the service of Srinathaji and make it more attractive by
introducing more festivals, enlarging the deity's wardrobe, providing it with feasts and incorporating
songs in the local vernacular (Braj Bhasa). Although Krsna was worshipped as a companion of Radha
and the gopis, special emphasis was placed on vatsalya-bhava whereby he was envisaged as a baby or a
child. The Bengali priests were forcibly expelled from the temple, allowing Vitthala-natha to assume
control of the worship of Srinathaji and develop it as he wished. He made several trips to Gujarat and
other parts of northern and western India and attracted many devotees, particularly among the merchant
classes. The Pushti-marga offered a style of worship in which devotees could enjoy the good things of
life as long as they made a token dedication of them to Krsna. Vallabha himself had stressed that
renunciation was not as effective as the path of grace and devotion, that one should follow the life of a
householder and experience tapas (penance) not by deprivation and mortification, but by experiencing
separation from and longing for Krsna (viraha or viyoga).

Vitthala-natha developed the Pushti-marga into a widespread and popular sect and, at the end of his
life, gave each of his seven sons a deity so that they could carry on his mission, almost as if it were a
family business. The different branches of the Pushti-marga which were established by the distribution
of the seven deities became known as gaddis, Each having its own temple at Govardhan or Gokul.
They were not like other temples but were built in the style of the house of a noble or rich merchant,
hence they are referred to as haveli rather than Mandira. The haveli was the residence not only of an
important deity but also of its custodian who, as a guru, head of the gaddi and a descendant of
Vallabha, came to be regarded as a semi-divine personage. Although other sampradayas had hereditary
gurus, none of them developed the notion of an inherently sacred family to such an extent as the Pushti-
Marga. The wealth and status inherited by Vallabha.’s later and senior descendants tempted some of
them to take advantage of the obsequious deference shown to them by their devotees, culminating in
various scandals during the last century which considerably damaged the reputation of the Pushti-
marga, though eventually led to some attempts at improving its image.
30
Until the advent of Aurangzeb the gaddis remained at Govardhan and Gokul while followers of the
Pushti-marga contributed to the development of the pilgrimage route around Braj which incorporated
the many places associated with episodes in the life of Krsna. Aurangzeb reversed the policy towards
Hinduism which had been followed by his predecessors and began to make things difficult for the
Vaishnavas in Braj. In 1669 Srinathaji was removed for safety from the temple at Govardhan and, like
several other important Vaishnava deities in Braj, was taken out of the area. After a journey lasting
over two years the deity eventually found refuge in the Rajput state of Mewar where the ruler granted
land in a valley in the Aravalli mountains north of his capital at Udaipur so that a new temple could be
built for Srinathaji. The town which grew up around the new haveli became known as Nathdwara and
is today the most important pilgrimage centre for members of the Pushti-marga. The other gaddis
moved to Rajasthan and Gujarat where they received the protection of local rulers and were closer to
their large following among the merchant classes of western India.

7. Hita Harivamsa and Svami Haridasa

We may conclude this survey of the major Vaishnava sects by mentioning two smaller groups of
devotees which have evolved as a result of the inspiration of two well-known 'poet-saints' of
Vrindaban. Neither of these groups shows much interest in formal theology or philosophy since they
aim to generate in the devotee an experience of the rasa inherent in the amorous play of Krsna and
Radha through emotional identification with participants in their eternal lila.

This emphasis on emotional identification and experience has led to the use of the term rasika
sampradaya to describe any kind of group following such a path . It represents an extension of the type
of bhakti formulated by Rupa Gosvami and his followers in which the pursuit of emotional
identification and involvement takes the place of theology, philosophy and ritual. The term rasika
sampradaya is applied to groups of devotees who seek this kind of experience and is also used for
some branches of the Ramanandi sampradaya.

Hita Harivamsa wrote two compositions which are regarded virtually as canonical texts by his
followers, namely the Caurasi Pada, a collection of eighty-four poems in Braj Bhasa, and Radha-
sudha-nidhi, a Sanskrit work in praise of Radha. He was born early in the 16th century in a village
between Mathura and Agra and, after receiving instructions from Radha in a dream, settled in
Vrindaban and began the worship of a deity called Radha-vallabhaji, the beloved of Radha His poems
contain very little in the way of doctrine since they are mainly descriptive of the love of Krsna and
Radha, referred to as nikunja-lila ( 'sporting in the bower or nitya-vihara eternal play, or delight'). The
poems concentrate on this theme, the only aspect of Krsna mythology which was relevant for Hita
Harivamsa and his followers, and are seen as a refinement of the Bhagavata-purana. The central theme
is the beauty and perfection of Radha, contemplation of whom leads to spiritual experience and who
helps to make Krsna accessible to the devotee. The devotee must aim to become like one of her
companions or attendants (sakhi or sahacari) who watch and promote the love play with Krsna. The
sakhis have a more intimate connection with the divine couple than the gopis and do not experience
love in separation (viraha) because they do not desire Krsna for themselves and are not abandoned by
him since they participate in nityavihar

This eternal love play takes place in the eternal celestial Vrindaban, thus the town of Vrindaban near
Mathura as its terrestrial counterpart is the spiritual centre of the sect. The sect or movement which
grew up around Hita Harivamsa became known as the Radha-vallabha sampradaya and its main place

31
of worship is the temple of Radha-vallabhaji which is in the custody of gosvamis descended from him.
The worship centres around the singing of the verses of Hita Harivamsa and his followers in a musical
assembly known as samaja and, as in other Vaishnava sampradayas, the darsana of an elaborately
decorated image of Krsna.

Svami Haridasa, a younger contemporary of Hita Harivamsa, also settled in Vrindaban and began the
worship of a deity (Banke Bihariji). He was also a poet whose songs became canonical texts for his
followers. He has acquired the reputation of having been a great musician and has left one collection of
18th verses known as Siddhanta ke pada, though they contain hardly anything in the way of
philosophy, and another of a hundred and ten verses called Kelimala which describe the love of Krsna
and Radha. Nitya-vihara is regarded as the highest expression of love and only Radha’s sakhis may
enter the eternal bower and witness the eternal delight. Because Haridasa and his followers emphasised
the need to cultivate sakhi-bhava they have become known as the sakhi-sampradaya.

Due to a schism between the gosvami and ascetic followers of Haridasa the accounts of his life are
confused and, in addition, have acquired a certain amount of miraculous detail. Haridasa was himself
an ascetic (virakta) and never married, so the gosvamis claim descent from his brother. The ascetics,
who maintain a guru pupil lineage (guru-sisya parampara) say that the gosvamis are descended from a
priest who was not related to Haridasa. The ascetics and the gosvamis seem to have split early in the
eighteenth century over the question of the custody and worship of Banke Bihariji and have remained
unreconciled ever since. The gosvamis, who have custody of the deity, claim to belong to the
Visnusvami sampradaya while the ascetics are affiliated to the Nimbarka sampradaya. The ascetic
branch has produced more literature, mainly in the form of commentaries on the works of Haridasa or
verse in Braj Bhasa- dealing with Radha and Krsna. One of the ascetic Acharyas, taking up a theme
expressed 'in some of the poems of Haridasa that everything happens through the will (iccha) of Krsna,
coined the term icchadvaita for the supposedly philosophical standpoint of the sampradaya.

Since neither of these groups has a Vedanta philosophy enshrined in commentaries on canonical
Scriptures it is questionable whether they should be referred to as a sampradaya at all. They are rather
movements or cults within the general current of Vaishnavism which may be likened to other localised
and smaller groups which have drawn their inspiration from a saint with a particularly impressive
personality or way of expressing his devotion.

32
 THE RISE OP THE WORSHIP OF RAMA
AS A SEPERATE CULT WITHIN VAISNAVISM
Lecture, 24-2-1981, Prof Hans T .Bakker.
Some of the members of the list of Visnu’s Avataras belong to older periods, e.g. matsya, kurma,
varaha, who in the Vedic literature were considered as manifestations of Brahma/Prajapati. Vamana is
already considered to be a manifestation of Vishnu in the Brahmana period. Krsna was the first human
historical being to be deified and was considered as a manifestation on earth of Vasudeva (200-100 BC,
BhG.).

During the period AD 200-400 all these forms and manifestations of Vishnu/Narayana/Vasudeva were
systematized, listed, and a first attempt was made to fit them into a comprehensive theological system.
The lists that resulted from these systematizations, which are found in the Narayaniya section
(Mbh.112,321-339) and other parts of the Mbh. (Mbh.(Bombay) 3,272; AD 200-400) include from the
very beginning some other manifestations of Vishnu, namely Bhargava Rama, Narasimha, Rama son of
Dasaratha, and some others which are omitted or only figure in later extensive avatara lists.

In this period these manifestations of Vishnu are not yet entitled avatara, but pradurbhava i.e.
appearances (cp. P.Hacker 1960). We may say that Rama son of Dasaratha was reckoned among the
appearances of Vishnu on earth as early as the 3rd-4th century AD. The first text that deals with this
manifestation as such are the books I and VII of the Ramayana in which the term avatara however is
not yet used, and which therefore (and because of other reasons as well, the horoscope of Rama’s birth
(Ram.I,17,8-10) corresponds with 11 March AD 200 (see Ferrari d'Occhieppo 1979) may date from the
third or fourth century AD.

At the end of the fourth century there seems to have originated a tendency to draw up a (standard) list
of ten manifestations (pradurbhava) of Vishnu which also features the future one, Kalkin (found in the
Purana-panca-laksana (PPan"c.) p. 514f., i.e. Harivamsa and some of the oldest parts of the Puranas.
This new doctrine developed during the 5th century when a new denomination of these ten incarnations
of Vishnu came in vogue: avatara (ava-tr— to descend). As for Rama son of Dasaratha, this new
appellation is found in the Ramopakhyana of the Mbh. (3.260 ff.), and in the colophon of Kalidasa’s
Raghuvamsa 10 (both fifth century).

We note that during the classical period of the Gupta reign the formation of Vaishnavism as a coherent
theological system was basically completed. This fully fledged Vaishnavism is reflected in the oldest
Puranas, which may date from the 5th and 6th centuries, e.g. Vishnu-purana Matsya-purana and
Vishnu-dharmottara-purana. Iconographicaly this theology is reflected in Vishnu temples built during
the Gupta period, though very little of them remains nowadays. According to the H.C.I. (111, 427): " In
the inscriptions of the Gupta Age there are references to temples or flag-staffs of the God Vishnu-
Narayana-Vasudeva throughout the length and the breath of India, in Nepal and the upper regions of
the Beas in the North, in Bengal in the East, in Kathiawar in 'the West and the trans-Krsna region in the
South where some of the early Pallava and Early Ganga rulers were devout Bhagavatas." The Gupta
rulers themselves just as their allies the Vakatakas styled themselves as parama-bhagavatas.

33
One of the oldest surviving Vishnu temples is the Dasa-avatara temple at Deogarh (6th Century), which
has reliefs depicting scenes of Vishnu’s appearance as Rama according to the Ramayana story, Popular
themes were e.g. Rama in exile in the forest and the transformation of Ahalya (Ahalya- uddhara).

After this sketch of the formative period of Vaishnavism in which a human hero Rama, whose deeds
were depicted in the kernel of the Ramayana (books II-VI), was transformed into a divine incarnation
and as such acquired a place in the Vishnuite pantheon, we shall now concentrate on the development
of a separate cult in Vaishnavism that considered Rama as the highest manifestation of the Lord
Vishnu.

The rise of this cult seems to be relatively late and not to have taken place before AD 1000. In the
centuries AD 400 — 1000, the story of the deeds of Rama enjoyed an immense popularity, though this
does not necessarily imply that Rama was the exclusive object of a religious cult. This popularity is
reflected in many texts which are generally termed Rama-katha. One of the earliest texts of this kind
after the Ramayana itself, seems to be the Ramopakhyana in the Mbh. (5th century). Most of the later
Puranas include a Ramakatha and the story is theme of several Kavya works, such as Raghuvamsa and
Uttara-rama-carita, to mention only the most well known among them.

The story of Rama was also adopted by the Buddhist and Jaina religions and featured in their
popular literature, the Buddhist Dasaratha-jataka the Jaina Pauma-cariyam of Vimalasuri and the
Padma-purana of Ravisena being the most important.

Iconographical popularity of the Rama story during these centuries is indicated by the depiction of
scenes of the Ramayana on temple walls. Besides the aforementioned Dasavatara temple, the Patthara
Ghati temple at Nalanda should be noted (AD 600—800) : Forest scene, Rama and Sita in the
panchavati Ravana threatening Sita, Hanuman bringing the mountain, and the Ahalya-uddhara scene
(Desai 1973, 116ff.).

Inspite of his divine character Rama is depicted in these centuries only in connection with his deeds as
a human being. Idols in which Rama is depicted as a God in his own right and which served as objects
of worship (puja) are not found before AD 1000. This seems to be in conformity with the oldest
iconographic descriptions of Rama in Sanskrit literature.

The Brhat-samhita of Varahamihira (AD 587) does not describe Rama as a special form in which
Vishnu is to be worshipped, but simply lists him together with Bali and says that his representation
should be 120 angulas high. Another old iconographic text is the Vaikhanasa-agama (quoted in Rao).
Here an image of Rama is described as endowed with two arms, holding in his right hand the bow in
his left the arrows, clad in a red robe, and wearing a crown (kirita). (Note that the common
paraphernalia of Vishnu conch, cakra etc, yellow robe, and four arms are still absent). No iconographic
descriptions of Rama are found (as appears from the compilation of the Vaishnava Iconography from
Pancharatra texts by Smith 1965) in what are generally considered to be the oldest Pancharatra
samhitas (Jayakha-S., Sattvata-S.and Pauskara-S. called Ratna-traya), AD 600-850 (Gonda 1977).

In fact only one sanctuary which appears to have been exclusively devoted to Rama is known to us to
have existed during this period, namely Ramagiri (modern Ramtek) a hill 45 km. N.E. of Nagpur in the
North East of Maharashtra. This hill was situated only about 3 km from the old capital of the Vakataka
realm: Nandivardhana. As already noted the Vakatakas, as did the Guptas, styled themselves devout
Vaishnavas.

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The Gupta realm was connected to the Vakatakas by matrimonial alliances, notably Candragupta II's
daughter Prabhavati-Gupta who was married to the Vakataka king Rudrasena II. In two inscriptions
issued in the first half of the 5th century by this queen, in which she calls herself a “extreme devotee of
the Lord” (atyanta-bhagavad bhakta) this sacred place seems to be mentioned; one charter was issued
"from the footprints of the Lord of Ramagiri" (ramagiri svamin-pada-mulad,CII.V, 33-37), in another
the offering of some villages to a Vaisnava Acharya Canala-svamin was initially offered to "the
footprints of the Lord" (bhagavat-pada-mule-nivedya).Both seem to indicate the presence of a
sanctuary on the Rama-hill. The feet of Rama on this hill are also mentioned in Kalidasa’s Megha-
duta., where it is referred to as the temporary abode of the exiled Yaksa (Megaduta 9 (12)). On the hill
are said to be also situated a hermitage (asrama) and a holy pond where Sita is said to have taken a bath
(Megha-duta 1). A tirtha Rama-giryasrama is likewise mentioned in the Garuda Purana 1:81:8.

Although the evidence implies that we are here concerned with a sanctuary related to Rama there are
no indications that an actual, idol of Vishnu as Rama was installed in a temple. This does not seem
altogether likely in view of the iconographic state of affairs of this period with respect to Rama.

Before the cult of Rama emerged into prominence, the cults of two other avataras of Vishnu had
already gained much ground, i.e. those of Narasimha and Krsna. Krsna is already been dealt with by
Entwistle. Some words need to be said about Nrsimha. That the Nrsimha cult preceded the Rama cult is
beyond doubt. It may even be said that to some extent the Rama cult was modelled on that of the Man-
lion.

The worship of Nrsimha is described in the early technical literature of this period, viz. the Narasimha-
tapaniya Upanishad dating from the 6th or 7th century (commented on by Sankara!), and in one of the
oldest Pancharatra-samhitas :the Sattvata-samhita (Ch. XVII, see Smith 1975, 527). In these texts the
puja of Nrsimha is outlined in accordance with the complicated ritual developed in the Pancharatra
school, which had its counterpart in the Agama literature of the Saivas and the Tantra literature of the
Saktas. For the moment it is not necessary to go into the details of this ritual. It may suffice to note that
the worship is centered on a cult-object that is to bel installed and consecrated; mostly a temple idol.

The Nrsimha-tapaniya Up. served as a model for the Rama-tapaniya Up., presumably one of the oldest
extent texts dealing with the worship of Rama. This text may tentatively be dated about AD 1000. and.-
together with the Agastya-samhita (see below), it ushered in a new era.

Since this iconography was dealt with in the Pancharatra texts it is probable that Rama worship was
already recognised before texts exclusively devoted to this topic were composed. A lengthy description
of Rama’s iconography appears in the Padma S.(See Smith 1969), and in the Visvaksena Samhita
which may both date from before AD 1000. In them idols of Alma, being cul;/objects in which Vishnu
is to be worshipped, are described as having all the usual Visnuite attributes and paraphernalia. Rama
may have two arms, a reminiscence of his human origin and most fitted for a king, but he may also
have four arms being a full form of Vishnu. Up to this day the two-armed Rama idol remains the most
usual one.

Images of Rama in which he is depicted in his own right ( i.e. not in scene of the Ramayana) are found
from the 11th century onwards. The oldest images are not yet cult-objects (idols), but form part of the
temple walls in the Parsvanatha temple in Khajuraho and the Amba Mata temple at Osian (classical
Uvasisa in the Jodhur district of Rajastan, see Desai 1973, 119). In the Khajuraho temple he is depicted
with both two and four arms, in both cases holding a bow and arrows, and in the latter blessing

35
Hanuman with his lower right hand and embracing S’ita with the lower left. The Osian temple depicts
Rgma and Sita in the manner of Laksmi-Narayana with Hanuman standing to the right of Rama.

The oldest temple dedicated to Rama that is known to me dates from the 12th century. It is the
Rajivalocana temple in Rajim, a holy place at the confluence of the Mahanadi and the Pairi rivers in
Madhya Pradesh, near Raipur. The skt. name of this place is not known to me, unless it is Rajiva. This
tirtha became an important Vaishnava centre during the Gupta period, when it formed part of the
Vakataka realm in the 5th and 6th century. The Vaishnava Rajiva-locana temple was built during the
reign of a later dynasty of the Nalas (7th century), maybe by king Vilasatunga (EI. XXVI, 49 ff; CII.
IV, 2, 455. Cp. HCI. III, 190). Additions to this temple, notably a massive entrance in which Vishnu
was depicted as Anantasayin, were made during the reign of the Panduvamsi dynasty (7th and 8th
century) (See Tripati 1978, p. 14, n. 43 in COJ.).

According to the Rajim inscription of king Prthivideva II, a Kalachuri king of Patanpur, (HCI. V, 65)
(AD 1144) the Rajivalocana temple was rebuilt (or restored) by his minister Jagapala as a Rama temple
(CII. IV, 2, 455). From the same period, 12th — 13th century, may date the first Rama idol that is
reported, found in South India in the Madras Presidency and described in Rao I, prt.1, p. 192f.
(including photograph).

If we now survey the extant evidence pointed out above, and come to conclusions, we can fairly state
that the cult in which Rama was worshipped as the supreme form and main avatara of Vishnu did not
rise into prominence before the 11th and 12th centuries AD. This is to say that, though belonging to the
latest period of Hindu rule in North India, it began to emerge before the Muslim power was firmly
established. In the beginning Rama would not have had more than a minor shrine in a Vishnu temple
(cp. Rao 1, 1, p. 191), and the priests who were responsible for his puja would not have formed more
than a small minority of the Vaishnava brahmin community. Nevertheless it was probably in this small
circle of Rama devotees that the first doctrinal Ramaite cult-text originated. Not surprisingly, it was
fully modelled upon the great tradition of the Vaishnava ritual as laid down in the Pancharatra
Samhitas, a ritual that, as it seems, was practised in most Vaishnava temples of the day and to which
also the Ramaite priests may have adhered.

The oldest text of this type is the Agastya Samhita, which deals with all aspects of the Rama theology
and the installation and worship of various types of Rama idols. The only conspicuous differences with
the Pancharatra texts are that all emphasis is laid on Vishnu’s incarnation as Rama (as a result of which
the vyuha doctrine is no longer adhered ,to but replaced by a monistic more Vedantic type of
philosophy (bhedabheda) and secondly, that the topic of building a temple is not treated. We may
tentatively surmise that the reason for the absence of temple architecture in the AgS. may be that there
were no separate Rama temples at that time, since his worship took place only in minor shrines of the
main temple. The Agastya-Samhita may date from the 11th or 12th century. A terminus ad quem is set
by an extensive quotation from it in Hemadri's Catur-varga –cintamani (AD 1260-1270), and a MS
dating from c.AD 1335 in the Darbar Library in Nepal (Regmi 1965, 1, 409-11).

The Agastya samhita and a related text Rama-purva-tapaniya- up. which may roughly date from the
same period or a little earlier, reveal the early phase of the Rama cult and throw light on its origins in
so far as these are accessible for scientific investigations.

The reasons why the cult of some Krsna’s avataras preceded that of Rama, such as Varaha worship and
the Narasimha and the Krsna cults may be sought in the fact that these cults were based on regional,
popular and not specific Vaishnava traditions which were eventually incorporated into the Vaishnava
36
religion, whereas the Rama cult could not rest on any such local or popular form of worship in spite of
the immense popularity of the story of the Ramayana. As to its rise, it had to wait until historical
circumstances favoured such a development. This seems to have occurred when the Hindus were driven
into a defensive position by Muslim power, and conditions were conducive to the worship of a
righteous and mighty Hindu king. This alone would never have led to a cult of such proportions, impact
and importance had not a wave of emotional devotion on the popular level completely changed the
outlook and character of Hindu religion, in particular of Vaishnavism. Consequently the Rama cult
eventually eclipsed such older cults as that of Narasimha, simply because a personal emotional
approach to God was more appropriate with regard to a divine human hero than to a hybrid of man and
animal. This also explains why the cult of Krsna, survived and flourished co-existantly with that of
Rama up to the present day.

37
 Bhagavatas in Ancient India
Here are some random quotes and notes from Sanskrit and Tamil literature giving information on
Bhagavatas, Vaishnavism, Vaikhanasa followers before 850 AD that I collected. There are doubtless a
lot of other information- for instance Utpaldeva's commentary on the Spandakarikas has numerous
quotations from Pancharatra text and Vaishnava Sankarshanasutras (can post them if you want). Shall
collect other references with time. All bibliographic references at the end.

1. Harshacharita of Banabhatta (c620 AD)

There are numerous references to Vaikhanasas in the Kavya literature. Chapter 7 of Harshacharita of
Bana, a work of early 7th century C.E., mentions Vaikhanasa ascetics who spent their old age in forest
hermitages. Bana distinguishes between the Bhagvatas and the Pancaratrins in his Harshacharita. He
mentions the following characteristics of Grhya-munis:

1. Cooked their own food

2. Devoted to Vedic learning
3. Very virtuous, avoided hypocrisy and untruth
4. Well learned in all schools of philosophy and tried to resolve the differences between them
5. Paid a lot of attention to secular arts like dancing, poetry as well
6. Had a passion for Itihasa-Purana
7. Were Vidyadharas and unfailing in the performance of Yajnas

2. Bhavabhuti (750 AD?)

According to Bhavabhuti, these monks spent their times living under trees, in the forest grove and
hermitages. Bhavabhuti also mentions householders adhereing to the Vaikhanasa ideal

3. Kalidasa (5th century CE)

In the Uttara-Ramacharita 1.25, Kalidasa describes the hermitage of Kanva distinguished by features
like Nivara rice, presence of deer, hospitality to guests and the Vedic vaitana sacrifical fire etc.
Kalidasa designates Kanva living in his Asrama with young and old female inmates to be a
Vaikhanasa Muni (there are other texts associating Pancharatrins with Kanvas and in fact the Agama-
pramanya of Sri Yamunamuni says that Sri Vaishnavas are followers of the Sukla Yajurveda Sakha,
Katyayana sutra). If I remember correctly, the Ahirbudhnya Pancharatra Samhita also says that Kanva
Sakha is of the Pancharatrins.

4. Buddha-swamin (500 AD)

In the Brihat-katha-sloka-samgraha of Buddhaswamin (500 CE), we find the following references to

Vaishnavas (Page number references are to the translation, rest to the other book mentioned below):
Pg. 359: Verse 480 "In this way, showing the danda of Bhagavad Gita, as Vishnu did with Arjuna,
Acera forced me to do the cruel act". (Shows that even in olden days, some people thought that Gita is
a war mongering book.

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The statement is actually made with reference to an unscruplous person, which lands Wendy Doniger
into some rather shady company) Pg. 485, verse 59 mentions a follower of the Pancharatra living on
the banks of Sindhu river.
In verse 18.104, reference is made to Gita 18.48
Verse 20.362, there is a reference to the order of the Vaikhanasa ascetics who lived on grains self
grown in the jungle and on the Ganges water.
Verse 21.27 mentions Tridandins inhabiting the city of Varanasi

5. Manimekalai — Tamil Buddhist epic

In Canto XXVII of Manimekalai (400 CE?), the Vaishnavas are counted among the followers of
Vedas and are said to follow or study the Purana of Vishnu.

6. Neelakesi (700 AD?) - Tamil Jaina epic

Description of the "Veda Vada" in Neelakesi: Neelakesi debates with 'buthika', who presides over a
Vedic college in a town called Kakanti. Buthika states that the Vedas are eternal, authorless and self
subsistent. He then proceeds to include all the 'Astika' systems including Samkhya, Vaiseshika,
Pasupata, Mahesvara, Vaishnava, Pancaratra, Parivrajika, Srishtivada (describing the nature of
creation) and Brahmavada together with their branches under the umbrella of Vedas. This view of
Buthika is similar to modern Hindu view that all the multifarious of philosophies are different aspects
of the one Vedic religion. Neelakesi ridicules Buthika for being a follower of the Mimamsa doctrine
which is atheistic. This infuriates Buthika and he refuses to impart the Vedic wisdom to Neelakesi on
the grounds that she is a Sudra lady. Neelakesi objects to this statement by quoting the following verses
from the scriptures of Buthika:

1. Vyasa, born of a dancing girl, became a great Rishi; Hence, it is tapas that makes one a
Brahmin, and not his birth.
2. Sakti, born of a Chandala woman, became a great Rishi. Hence, it is tapas that makes one a
Brahmin, and not his birth.
3. Parasara, born of Swapaki, became a great Rishi; Hence, it is tapas that makes one a
Brahmin, and not his birth.
4. Vyasa, born of a fisherwoman, became a great Rishi; Hence, it is tapas that makes one a
Brahmin, and not his birth.

These verses are found in Bhagavata Purana. Neelakesi questions the notion that the Vedas are eternal,
on the same grounds that constitute the prima facie view in Purva Mimamsa sutras, Chapter 1.
Amongst other things, she states that the Jnanakanda of the Vedas states that everything is of the
nature of Brahman, and that the multiplicity and diversity in the world are unreal. She avers that if the
followers of the Jnanakanda of Vedas describe the creation of the world as false, then how will they
interpret statements like "From the mouth of the Purusha arose the Brahmin"? These statements show
that the doctrine of 'Mayavada' existed even in the early days of the epic, and so Sri Shankaracharya is
not the founder of 'Mayavada'. Neelakesi also states that some followers of Vedas worship Sri Vishnu
whereas others adore Sri Shiva as the Supreme Being Who is worshipped by all other Devatas
including Sri Vishnu. This duality creates confusion in the minds of laity and they cannot decide who
the Supreme Being is. This shows that by the time of the Epic, Shaivism and Vaishnavism were already
established as the two prime theistic traditions in Vedic Hinduism.

39
Neelakesi also attacks the slaughter of animals in Vedic sacrifices. She advocates the use of flour
images of animals rather than sacrificing live animals in sacrifices. In support of her claim, she
narrates the tale of Uparichara Vasu in the Mahabharata. Neelakesi's line of argument is interesting,
because precisely these arguments are offered by opponents of animal slaughter in Vedic sacrifices
even today.

The Gita is also referred to in connection with a lay follower of the Bhagavata religion who, it is said,
knew both the text and its meaning. The Vaishnava Bhagvatas were supposed to know the text and the
meaning by heart. Prathama khanda mentions the Bhagavatas who have smeared their body with the
sacred ash, who rode a bull and were devoted to Shiva. The Bhagavata before his initiation in the order
had to leave his family and other relations. These are the 'Shiva-bhagavatas', to be distinguished from
the Vaishnava Bhagavatas.

7. In the Agama Aadambara (a play) of Jayanta Bhatta of Kashmir,

the main character is a Vaishnava. The climax of the story is reached in the Chakra-dhara-swamin
temple at Srinagar - an actual temple which was subsequently demolished during Islamic invasions.
The hero of the play displays the duality that characterizes Hinduism - a dual allegiance to the Veda on
one hand and an Agama on the other. The Agamas are Shaiva, Vaishnava, Yoga and Pancharatra. The
Buddhist and Jaina agamas are rejected, as also the heterodox varieities of Shaiva-agamas like the
Kapalikas. The 5 acceptable doctrines are called 'Kritanta-panchaka' in Agni Purana 219.31 and
Vishnudharmottara Purana 2.22.134 - 4. The entire play of Jayanta Bhatta must be read- a very good
insight into the nature of our Dharma and our dilemnas.

References:
1. Pt. Jagannatha Pathaka; Harsa-Charita of Banabhatta; Chowkhamba Vidyabhawan; Vidyabhavan
Sanskrit Granthamala No. 36; Varanasi; 1964

2. Vasudeva S. Agrawala; The Deeds of Harsha; Prithivi Prakashan; Varanasi; 1969

3. Poddar, Ram Prakash and Sinha, Neelima (Ed. and Transl.); Budhasvamin's Brhatkatha
Slokasangraha; Tara Printing Works; Varanasi; 1986

4. A. Chakravarti; Neelakesi, the Original Text and the Commentary of Samaya Divakara Vamana
Muni; Kumakonam; 1936

5. Agrawala, Vasudeva S.; Agrawala, P. K.; Brhatkathaslokasamgraha, A Study; Prithivi Prakashan;

Varanasi; 1974

6. Jamkhedkar, A. P. ; Vasudevahimdi: A Cultural Study; Agam Kala Prakashan; Delhi; 1984

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