Materials for the Study of the Early History of the Vaishnava Sect c8.133

c8.133

Since Pāṇini probably flourished in the fifth century B.C. the *Bhāgavata* (*Vāsudevaka*) sect must have arisen before that time. We learn from the *Sūtras*, iv, 3, 95 and iv, 3, 98, that the new faith was even in the fifth century B.C. a religion of *Bhakti*. It has recently been suggested by Mr. Umeshchandra Bhaṭṭāchārya³ that *Bhakti* in rules iv, 3, 95 ff., can hardly mean religious adoration as it is used in reference to even cakes (*apūpa*). He asks "is not fondness (*anurakti*) a possible meaning in the rules we are considering?" But *anurakti* for one who, as we shall see further on, is identified with Viṣṇu-Nārāyaṇa as early as the *Taittirīya Āraṇyaka* and receives the epithets *Bhagavat* and *Devadeva* in records of the second century B.C., is hardly distinguishable from *Bhakti* in the religious sense as defined by Śāṇḍilya. Another writer suggests that *Bhakti* in the rules of Pāṇini is political *Bhakti* because there is no evidence that Arjuna, whose name is coupled with that of Vāsudeva in rule iv, 3, 98, was deified. It is, however, well-known that already in the great epic Arjuna is regarded as an incarnation of Nara and is called *Bhaktānukampī* like unto Mahendra and Varuna.¹ In the Vishvaksena *Saṃhitā* Arjuna is classed with Brahman, Śiva and a few others among the secondary *Avatāras* of Viṣṇu.²