Studies in the Upapuranas v1.c9.4

v1.c9.4

¹ According to R. G. Bhandarkar, Nārāyaṇa is ‘the cosmic and philosophic god’.—Bhandarkar, Vaiṣṇavism etc., p. 35. See also S. K. De in Our Heritage, Vol. I (1953), pp. 13-23. The facts that in the Mahābhārata the Pāñcarātra system is differentiated from the Vedic (Mbh XII. 349. 1 and 64), that the Śāstra, written by the seven Citra-śikhaṇḍin Ṛṣis on the mount Meru, is said to have been made consistent with the four Vedas (Mbh XII. 335. 40), and that this Śāstra was meant for the populace (Mbh XII. 335. 39 and 29), tend to indicate the popular origin of Nārāyaṇa. Also Mrinal Dasgupta, Early Viṣṇuism and Nārāyaṇīya Worship, IHQ, VII, pp. 346-79.