Vaishnavism, Shaivism and Minor Religious Systems v2.c12.55

v2.c12.55

In the Bhagavadgītā (VII, 19) it is stated that "He who possesses knowledge gives himself up to me, believing Vāsudeva to be all." Even in the Bhāgavata Mantra of twelve syllables which is usually repeated at the present day and which is mentioned by Hemādri, it is to Vāsudeva that obeisance is made¹. In Bhīṣmap. chap. 65 Brahmadeva, addressing the Supreme Spirit (Puruṣa Parameśvara), entreats him to become the increaser of the Yadu race and then, referring apparently to a foregone age, he says: "O Vāsudeva, this great secret I have communicated to thee through thy favour as it really is. Having created thyself as the God Saṃkarṣaṇa, thou didst procreate thy son Pradyumna. He created Aniruddha who is Viṣṇu himself, and he created me (Brahmadeva) who am made up of Vāsudeva and created by thee. Dividing thyself in this way, be born as a human being again." In the beginning of chapter 66 of the same Parvan Prajāpati speaks of himself as having asked the supreme lord of all to dwell in the world of men as Vāsudeva (to become incarnate). This Supreme Spirit should, it is said, be known as Vāsudeva, and throughout the chapter that name alone is used in speaking of the eternal God. The substance of these two chapters seems to be that in a former age the Supreme Spirit Vāsudeva created Saṃkarṣaṇa and the rest up to the Brahmā himself, and on the present occasion the latter asked him again to be born in the Yadu race as Vāsudeva, dividing himself into four parts as on the previous occasion. Thus Vāsudeva was the name of the teacher of the religion of devotion, and there appears to be an implication here that he existed with the other three in a previous age. Even as a member of the Vṛṣṇi race the name Vāsudeva occurs in the examples quoted above from the Mahābhāṣya and Kāśikā and no other. In the passages quoted by me in my article on "Allusions to Kṛṣṇa etc." (Ind. Ant. Vol. III, pp. 14 ff.) the name Kṛṣṇa occurs three times, Vāsudeva in three passages and Janārdana in one. But in Kielhorn's edition of the Mahābhāṣya, which is more accurate than the Benares edition which I then used, the reading Kṛṣṇa in two of the three places is supported by one manuscript only and Vāsudeva occurs instead of Kṛṣṇa in one of the two places and the other is entirely omitted, so that Vāsudeva is used four times and Kṛṣṇa only once. In the Bhagavadgītā (X, 37) the Bhagavat says that of the Vṛṣṇis he is Vāsudeva. In the Buddhist Ghaṭajātaka the two eldest sons of Upasāgara and Devagabbhā are named Vāsudeva and Baladeva. In the prose narrative no other name is given, but the names Kaṇha and Kesava occur in the verses that are interwoven with the prose. The commentator remarks on the first verse that he is there addressed by his Gotra name Kaṇha, for he belonged to the Kaṇhāyana Gotra, thus showing his belief that Vāsudeva was the true proper name of the person. This belief he expresses again in his commentary on a verse occurring in the Mahāummaggajātaka, in which Jambāvatī is mentioned as the beloved queen of Vāsudeva Kaṇha. Here also Vāsudeva is mentioned as belonging to the Kaṇhāyana Gotra, and from the verse itself, in which Vāsudevassa Kaṇhassa occurs, it would appear that Kaṇha was the family name, the sense being Vāsudeva, the Kaṇha, so that the author of the verse itself would seem to regard Vāsudeva as the proper name of the individual, and thus he and the prose narrative agree.