History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v7.c91.231

v7.c91.231

Most great moral and spiritual upheavals have a tendency to reach a very low level in course of time. That appears to have happened in the case of bhāgavatas The Atri-smṛti has a verse containing a sarcastic reference to bhāgavatas¹⁶⁰⁵: 'Those who are devoid of Vedic studies learn śāstras (such as grammar, vedānta, logic &c.), those who are wanting in śāstric lore become readers of Purāṇas for others; those who cannot be readers of Purāṇas become tillers; but those who are broken down even there, become bhāgavatas'. Atri appears to say that bhāgavatas are idlers, who do not study Veda or śāstra or who cannot even read Purāṇas to others for their livelihood or do not engage in agriculture and who pretend to be worshippers (or *bhaktas*) of Viṣṇu or Kṛṣṇa and fatten on what is given by others that are deluded into thinking that they have forsaken everything for the sake of their love of God. They become what are called 'buwās' in Marāthi and other modern Indian languages