The Purana Index v1.c3.s7.4

v1.c3.s7.4

When we are examining this question two things strike a student of history. One is the prominence given in the religion of the Guptas to the worship of Varāha, the third incarnation of Viṣṇu and the other is that the imperial Guptas styled themselves as Paramabhāgavatas meaning that they were wedded to the cult of the Bhāgavata. The Bhāgavata school was characterised by the system of Bhakti or devotion. The Śrimad Bhāgavatam deals with Varāha Avatār in extenso and the term Bhagavān as understood in those days was applicable to any god or sage who had all the six attributes connoted by the term *Bhaga*. In these circumstances we are obliged to think that the imperial Guptas, Smārtas as they were, held as sacred the Śrīmad Bhāgavatam as its tenets appealed to them most. We conclude therefore with Sir Charles Eliot that the Śrīmad Bhāgavata could not belong to the latest class of Purāṇas, for "it seems to contemplate the performance of Smārta rights, not temple ceremonial" (For details, see my article in the Journal of the Madras University, January and July 1949, pp 87 to 95 on the *Date of the Bhāgavata Purāṇa*.)