Materials for the Study of the Early History of the Vaishnava Sect c7.13

c7.13

In his second lecture the author proceeds to reconstruct the true history of the life of Vāsudeva-Kṛiṣhṇa from such historical data as are available, and points out that Kṛiṣhṇa came into contact with Solar worship, and the doctrines which he learnt from a Solar priest were the foundations on which the superstructure of Bhāgavatism was raised. Next follows the story of the spread of the new faith from its cradle in the valley of the Jumna. An attempt is made to show that the earlier Brāhmaṇical attitude towards the faith was one of hostility, but later on there was a combination between Brāhmaṇism and Bhāgavatism probably owing to the Buddhist propaganda of the Mauryas. As a result of this alliance Vāsudeva was identified with the Brāhmaṇic gods, Nārāyaṇa and Viṣṇu.