The Rashtrakutas and their Times c20.78

c20.78

Another characteristic feature of the Hinduism of our period was the popularity of the Vratas. The theory and advocacy of Vratas was a peculiar feature of the Puranas, most of which were either composed or remodelled near about our period. Out of the 113 Vratas mentioned in the Vratārka of S'ankarabhaṭṭa as many as 110 are based on the authority of the Puranas. 128 Vratas mentioned in the Vratakaumudī and 205 described in Vratarāja are all of them based on Pauranic authority. Vratas offered opportunities for individuals of both the sexes of personally going through a course of religious life characterised by self-denial and austerities. There was also the bait of the fulfilment of desires intended for the ignorant. They therefore powerfully appealed to the popular mind, and are still characteristic feature of Hinduism in rural areas. In the Deccan of our period, they were probably becoming popular We do not find any reference to their popularity in epigraphical records of our period. But this fact is probably accidental, for we have ample evidence to show that the Pauranic religion, as a whole, was capturing the popular imagination.