Vaishnavism, Shaivism and Minor Religious Systems v2.c12.37

v2.c12.37

§ 4. Having thus established on irrefragable evidence the existence during the three or four centuries before Christ of a religion with Vāsudeva as its central figure and of a school of his followers known by the name of Bhāgavata, I will now proceed to examine the detailed accounts contained in the literature and especially in the Mahābhārata. This was not done before, because the date of the Mahābhārata or any portion of it cannot be ascertained with any approach to certainty. The Nārāyaṇīya section of the Śāntiparvan, to which we shall devote a detailed consideration, is, however, older than Śaṃkarācārya who quotes from it.