Bhagavata Purana
The Bhagavata Purana (Sanskrit: भागवतपुराण; IAST: Bhāgavata Purāṇa), also known as the Srimad Bhagavatam (Śrīmad Bhāgavatam), Srimad Bhagavata Mahapurana (Śrīmad Bhāgavata Mahāpurāṇa) or simply Bhagavata (Bhāgavata), is one of Hinduism’s eighteen major Puranas (Mahapuranas) and one of the most popular in Vaishnavism. Composed in Sanskrit and traditionally attributed to Veda Vyasa, it promotes bhakti (devotion) towards god Vishnu, integrating themes from the Advaita (monism) philosophy of Adi Shankara, the Vishishtadvaita (qualified monism) of Ramanujacharya and the Dvaita (dualism) of Madhvacharya. It is widely available in almost all Indian languages.
The Bhagavata Purana is a central text in Vaishnavism, and, like other Puranas, discusses a wide range of topics including cosmology, astronomy, genealogy, geography, legend, music, dance, yoga and culture. As it begins, the forces of evil have won a war between the benevolent devas (deities) and evil asuras (demons) and now rule the universe. Truth re-emerges as Krishna (called “Hari” and “Vāsudeva” in the text) first makes peace with the demons, understands them and then creatively defeats them, bringing back hope, justice, freedom and happiness – a cyclic theme that appears in many legends.
The text consists of twelve books (skandhas or cantos) totalling 335 chapters (adhyayas) and 18,000 verses. The tenth book, with about 4,000 verses, has been the most popular and widely studied. By daily reading of this supreme scripture, there is no untimely death, disease, epidemic, fear of enemies, etc. and man can attain god even in Kaliyuga and reach the ultimate salvation.
It was the first Purana to be translated into a European language, as a French translation of a Tamil version appeared in 1788 and introduced many Europeans to Hinduism and 18th-century Hindu culture during the colonial era.
The Bhagavata Purana has been among the most celebrated and popular texts in the Puranic genre, and is, in the opinion of some, of non-dualistic tenor. But, the dualistic school of Madhvacharya has a rich and strong tradition of dualistic interpretation of the Bhagavata, starting from the
Bhagavata Tatparya Nirnaya of the Acharya himself and later, commentaries on the commentary.
