History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v7.c91.157

v7.c91.157

There is an extensive Literature on the Bhakti cult. Only a few of the important works in Sanskrit, their translations and works in English are noted here. Barth, Hopkins, Keith, Dr. R. G Bhandarkar and others have propounded different theories as to what Kṛṣṇa represented, how he was identified with Viṣṇu who appears to be another name of the Sun in the Ṛgveda and came to be regarded as the highest God in Brāhmaṇa times (as in Ait Br. 'Agnir-vai devānām avamaḥ, Viṣṇuḥ paramaḥ) and came to be identified with sacrifice (Yajño vai Viṣṇuḥ). When Kṛṣṇa, the friend of the Pāṇḍavas was identified with the Supreme Spirit, the full-fledged doctrine of Avatāras appeared as in the Gītā. The important works on *bhakti* are: The Nārāyaṇīya section of the Śāntiparva (chapters 322-351 in the Citraśālā edition and chap. 322-339 of the critical edition); the Bhagavadgītā; several Purāṇas, the most important being Viṣṇu and Bhāgavata;¹⁵⁵² the Bhaktisūtra of Śāṇḍilya with the *bhāṣya* of Svapneśvara (ed. by Jivananda, Calcutta 1876) and translation of both these (in B. I. series) by E. B. Cowell (1878); Śāṇḍilya's saṁhitā (Bhaktikhaṇḍa) in the Sarasvati-bhavan Series, edited by Anantasastri Phadke, (1935); Nārada-bhaktisūtra with English Translation by Nandlal Sinha (Pāṇini office, Allahabad, 1911); the Nārada-pāñcarātra (containing the Jñānāmṛtasāra section) in eleven chapters (ed. for B. I. Series by C. M. Banerji, Calcutta, 1865) and English translation of it by Swami Vijñānānanda (Pāṇini Office, Allahabad, 1921); Sir R. G Bhandarkar's 'Vaisṇavism, Śaivism &c' (1913, in the Encyclopaedia of Indo-Aryan Research); 'Das-Gupta's History of Indian Philosophy' vol. IV. (1949), wherein he deals with the Bhāgavatapurāṇa and the doctrines of Madhva, Vallabha, Caitanya and their followers; Grierson's paper 'Gleanings from Bhaktamālā of Nābhādāsa', in J. R. A. S. for 1909 pp. 607-644; 'History of Śrīvaisṇavas', by T. A. Gopinatha Rao (Madras, 1923), 'the Gospel of Nārada' by Duncan Greenless (Adyar, 1951); Nārada-bhakti-sūtras (text, translation and notes) ed. by Swami Tyāgīśānanda (Ramakrisna Math, Mylapore, Madras, 1943) in five *adhyāyas* and 84 *sūtras*; the Ahirbudhnya-saṁhitā in two volumes (Adyar, 1916); Dr. F. Otto Schrader's Introduction to the Pāñcarātra and Ahirbudhnya-saṁhitā (Adyar, 1916); Jayākhya-saṁhitā with English and Sanskrit Introductions (G. O. S. 1931); the Parama saṁhitā (G. O. S, 1946) with English Translation by Dr. S. K. Aiyangar; the Bṛhadbrahmasaṁhitā (of Nārada-pāñcarātra) in the Ānandāśrama series, 1912); Bhakticandrikā (commentary on Śāṇḍilya's Bhaktisūtras) by Nārāyaṇatīrtha (Sarasvatībhavan series, 1921, 1938); Bhaktiprakāśa of Mītramiśra (Chowkhamba Series, 1934); Bhaktinirṇaya of Anantadeva (ed by Pandit Anantasastri Phadke, Banaras, 1937). There is a good deal of Bhakti literature in South India, such as the hymns of the Ālwārs, but no reference is made here to it for several reasons.